Page 74 of Old Girls Go Greek
Welcome back, hope you had a marvellous time. Ivandidn’tlike the new beef cat food with the gravy you bought for him at all. He threw up in your slippers. So I chucked them away. Sorry about that. He did like the remains of the Sunday lunch I brought him though. Did you know he likes duck breast? And he ate a roast potato too. Either that or he’s hidden it under a chair somewhere. No mice brought in as far as I can tell, but Ididn’tlook upstairs in case I found something. Hope you had a good flight. Ring me tomorrow and tell me all about your adventures. Nicky xx
Adventures. Yes, me. I’d had some adventures. How amazing. And all of a sudden I wanted to have some more.
It was crazy; I hadn’t even opened my suitcase and already the one thing I wanted to do was think about where to go on my next journey. I’d sent off for a new passport before I made this trip, so there were plenty of years left on it and lots of empty pages for airport officials to stamp. Perhaps Beryl was right and it did become a sort of addiction.
Anyway, that evening there was nothing interesting to do, other than put the first load of washing on and open some of the uninteresting letters that had arrived.
I made a cup of tea and sat down at the kitchen table. There were bank statements, utility bills, a letter to tell me that the road through Lower Begley would be closed for two days next month for resurfacing. Well, that was about time; recently the road had become more of an obstacle course with locals driving down the middle to avoid the worst of the potholes.
There were uninteresting special offers from fast food places that didn’t deliver to where I lived, and even if they did I wouldn’t want them. Two glossy booklets from retirement villages, in which I similarly had no interest. A couple of clothing catalogues, another selling horrible shoes for more mature ladies. Okay, I might not be able to cope with stilettos any more, but there was a limit. I slung all the stuff I didn’t want into the recycling. I might be getting older but as of today, I would not go quietly.
I drank my tea and mindlessly ate a few biscuits.
This time yesterday…
Tomorrow perhaps I would allow myself a lie-in to get over the travelling, sort out my laundry and then I would phone Nicky.
I went to bed feeling thoroughly depressed.
* * *
The following day I felt much better.
I had slept well, which was always a bonus. It was lovely to be back in my own comfortable bed and when I woke at half past eight, the rain had gone and in the distance I could see the clouds were blowing away over the Black Mountains. In the field behind my house there was a man on a tractor, busy doing something. I opened my window, enjoying the cool, green freshness, which was so different from the warm, slightly flinty air of Greece. Then I wondered how Anita was feeling.
What day was it anyway? I had to flick my phone on in the end to confirm that it was Sunday. I remembered last Sunday when I had been in Greece and there had been the sound of a church bell tolling somewhere in the town, and we had still been in the excited phase of getting to know everyone, exploring the little streets and enjoying experimenting with new foods and flavours.
I showered and dressed and went downstairs to find Ivan had left a dead mouse in the middle of the hall as a welcome home gift. Back to reality with a bump.
I got rid of that and wondered what to have for breakfast. Toast and marmalade and tea. I hoped whoever was now in my room at Hotel Costas would take a slice of breakfast ham up for the kittens on the balcony.
As I sat at the kitchen table, leafing through the rest of the post, my mobile rang.
‘Anita! How are you this morning?’
‘Fed up,’ she said. ‘I want someone to put out pastries and croissants for me. And I want to go down to the sea again and sit in one of those lovely cafés. Instead, I have my washing to do and Rick’s as well. He seems to have brought back a lot of Scotland with him. Mud and bits of twig over all his clothes. Not to mention a bottle of whisky bought at huge expense from a distillery they visited, and some fudge, and he knows I don’t like either of those things.’
‘Ah, but you have that special present for him,’ I said, laughing. ‘Costas in all his glory.’
Anita giggled. ‘He didn’t know what to say when I showed him that. The nose still isn’t right. He suggested we put it in the loo upstairs which isn’t used very much unless we have visitors. What are you doing?’
‘Laundry this morning, then general unpacking and sorting out.’
‘Awful, isn’t it? Rick says we should have a proper debrief this evening.’
‘I say!’
‘No, not that sort of debrief. Don’t be rude. He means I tell him what I have been doing and he tells me about the garganeys and white-throated fossil pickers or whatever it is he has seen. I shall try to look interested. He said they had a marvellous time. He twisted his ankle in a rabbit hole while they were striding across the heather and had to drive miles out of their way to find a support bandage, Harry insisted on eating oysters and got food poisoning, and his friend Vince broke his glasses.’
‘None of that sounds marvellous to me,’ I said.
‘That’s exactly what I said. Anyway, men aren’t like us. They seem to enjoy the strangest things. I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Will? No extravagant bouquet of welcome home flowers left on the doorstep?’
‘He doesn’t know my address, remember?’
‘Ah yes, I’d forgotten. Well, never mind, come over for a cup of tea this afternoon and we can rehash the glory days.’
‘I’d love to. But now I’d better think about unpacking my case.’
