Scuffs, sharks & karma’s a b*tch
sO….The car got scuffed in a ridiculous car park, that had a warning, only small cars, and looked like it could be the depths of hell: a tight spiral, spanning no less than 5 floors/ coils, of which in this tiny Opel, there was only about 30cm (a standard ruler at school) grace in total, front and back. There were solid concrete walls towering up to the equally harsh looking ceiling, badly lit, but well enough to see the hundred of scrapes of paint from a spectrum of car colours, bits of the more angular wall, with whole chunks clipped out of them. Leon went for a swim to calm down as the whole thing was making him feel rather sick. I had a read and a nap. Then we ventured in the car (after getting it out the hideous contraption that would more suit a prison garbage shoot) to St Paul’s Bay for lunch. We found a chilled out cafe called something with an xejz + a few more letters in the name for good measure. We could view the sunny, rocky landscape. The sun really made the sea come to life. Makes such a difference. I probably repeat myself, but it’s true. I chose a Margherita pizza and Leon has some sort of baked wrap. My pizza had SO much cheese on! I could only manage 3 slices out of 8. Leon ate another 3, and the other 2 went to the faeries. A group of people came in (Latino? Maltese? Not sure) and picked up the guitar. They played lots of songs and we sang along with them to the ones in English, such as Wonderwall, even though Leon was cringing as the guy was playing a wrong note, haha! We had a really lovely time, and a pleasant walk around the bay.
I continued to get increasingly irate messages from our aborted accommodation, Green Grove guesthouse, and this did spoil it somewhat, as it is so frustrating for me that she doesn’t understand why we wouldn’t stay (!!!). I’m not sure what they thought I was getting out of it, as all I wanted was the money back for the 3 nights we felt we couldn’t stay, which in my mind is very generous, as it also wasted a day of our holiday. If it were my guesthouse, I would be offering all the money back and hoping we don’t give scathing reviews to every person who asks, ‘so how was your holiday’ ? Along with the overall ignorance, rudeness and lack of consideration that we received (mainly while driving, in queues, & service from staff), but perhaps due to the fact it’s out of season in March & they weren’t quite in the right frame of mind for tourists yet, my driving style being more ‘structured’, shall we say, than theirs, or cultural differences. I really don’t know, but 80% of people we met, were decidedly ‘offish’ and glaring at us. Weird.
Some very welcoming people we met, were at the 717 grill that we chose to have a second meal at that evening. The cocktails were stupidly strong, and enough to ease the tension that had built from the day. We only had 2 each and Leon was nearly on the floor halfway through the second one! Long Island ice tea, but I think the glass was mainly full of spirits. It probably would have melted the paint back together on the car had I have thought of it at the time! We made our way back to bed by 9ish, where Leon promptly fell asleep, and I watched a lady called Ocean Ramsey swimming with sharks. I have been learning lots about sharks recently. They really fascinate me. Such amazing predators & so intelligent. I will never ever eat anywhere that serves shark or fin soup. It’s toxic, for goodness sake, from the plastic we all put in the ocean! I guess if the fin soup kills the said soup eater…. karma’s a bitch.
27-03-2018