The Christmas Holiday - Part 6

Busy day, so I'm positing early ... gym first (yes, again!) then I'm off to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ... blimey, it's all go here! Back to the story ...

One evening, sorry can’t remember which; we went to a place for dinner called ‘The Dodgy Dock’ ... dodgy by name dodgy by nature.  Now, we went there a couple of times for dinner last year and it was lovely (was being the operative word).  The restaurant is built out on to the marina was really rather lovely.  However, what a difference a year makes.  Although the food was good, the surroundings had seriously deteriorated and what used to be a reasonably chic restaurant had turned in to a pile it high, knock it out cheap.  A bit disappointing really ... still not as bad as BBs though!

We got a newbie the next day, who came on her own on the Tuesday after Christmas, Fiona ... she was another ‘normal’ person and I’m glad to say that Fiona and I got on really well and as Cordelia was due to go home the next day, I was glad to have someone else on the same wavelength. Cordelia, Molly, Fiona and me all decided to go into the town the next day to go to the supermarket and get a few supplies as well as visiting the local touristy Spice Market. 

Good job we’d decided to do something other than sunbath, because it was clear that it was going to be quite a dull day weather-wise.  We hopped into a cab and trundled off.  Did our supermarket stuff then trotted off to the market which was quite a walk along a really beautiful beach called Grande Anse ... really white beach with the most amazing blue sea.  However, just as we got to the beach, the heavens opened and we dived into what looked like a very uninspiring beach bar.  How wrong can you be!  It was fab inside the food looked amazing.  We all ordered soft drinks and settled in to ride out the storm.  In case you’re interested the name of the bar, Umbrellas.

The rain lasted for about an hour, then started to clear, so we made our way again towards the market.  When we got there, Fiona and I whistled around the market (it’s really small and neither of us bought anything ... I know, I know ... bit of a shocker!) and sat waiting for the other two.  I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not good shopping with others.  I’m a really quick shopper and hate waiting round, especially if they can’t make their minds up. 

We were both getting a bit bored, so I had a really inspired idea ... “Fancy a rum punch?” I asked Fiona ... blimey, her feet didn’t touch the ground!  We told the others what we were doing and where we were going (back to Umbrellas) and off we went ... walking a whole lot quicker than we had on the way there.  When we were three quarters of the way there, the heavens opened.  Caribbean rain isn’t like our rain.  It’s like turning a bucket upside down ... it was torrential.  Luckily, Fiona had an umbrella (how organised) and we made quick work of getting back to Umbrellas.

We decided to order a rum punch each and wait for the other two before ordering lunch.  We finished those drinks and ordered more.  By 2pm, the other two hadn’t materialised and as we had two large rum punches floating around our decidedly empty stomachs and had been watching the most amazing looking food being delivered to the tables around us for over an hour, we were ravenous.  I said, “Let’s give them til 2.15pm, then we’ll order”.  Within 5 minutes, they’d arrived, together with their purchases and we all ordered the most fantastic food ... Oh and Fiona and I had another rum punch!  Yay!  Molly’s face was a picture and I really didn’t care by then!

I had sweet potato fries and a fish sandwich ... I’ve never had sweet potato fries before ... OMG ... they were to die for.  Cordelia and Fiona decided that they wanted desert ... Chocolate Brownie desert.  I’ve never seen a desert so big ... and it was meant for one, I think? (I’ve put a picture below so that you can see what I’m talking about!).  When it came, Cordelia came up with the quote of the holiday:

“Another ripple in the buttock of life!”

Pmsl, I don’t know if it was the rum punch or what, but I found that totally hysterical!  I can’t really remember much about getting the taxi back to the hotel, but do remember that when we got there, the new people had arrived.  Can’t imagine what they must have thought ... Fiona and I were at bit worse for wear at this point ... afternoon drinking does that to you I find!  However, it didn’t stop us from ordering another rum punch from our less than friendly barman.  Can’t really remember much about the rest of that day/night.  However, I do recall having a steaming hangover when I woke up the next day.  However, it soon subsided after breakfast and I was out again in the sun at 9.00 am. 

Well, it’s that time again lovelies ... I really must get to that gym!  Tomorrow I’ll tell you about our trip to Gary Rhodes restaurant, amongst other things - got some fab pictures too.  It was fabulous!

Until then, be fabulous!

Lots of love.

Jx

The Christmas Holiday – Part 5

Well, I’ve had a lovely day today.  When I finally woke up (unfortunately, as I’m not formally working at the mo -just loads of marketing stuff - I haven’t really bothered to adjust my body clock from my hols – the bad thing about that is that my jet lag will probably kick in when I go back to work ... nice!) I decided to go into Liverpool, do a bit of retail therapy and watch The Artist.  The film wasn’t on in my local town ... that should tell you quite a bit about my local town!  Anyway, I don’t want to offend anyone so I’ll move on ... 

I bought a fab top/dress type thing from Jigsaw and a pair of fab, flat sparkly rhinestoned sandals for my next hols.  The Film ... well, that was completely amazing, I absolutely loved it.  Very different and I’m sure it will be up for many Oscars and if it’s not, then it’s a travesty.  The film is in black and white and silent, in order for that to work in this day and age, the story has to be fabulous ... and it was.  The only thing that really annoyed me (and this is a mahoooosive pet hate of mine) was that towards the end, in order to really bring dramatic tension to the scene, it was completely silent (the film has a continuous music score all the way through that helped to tell the story, so when it was completely silent, it spoke tonnes) however, what do you think happened just at the most dramatic part of the film?  Yep, you guessed it; an old dear’s phone (who happened to be sitting behind me) went off!  OMG, I could have throttled her (as could everyone else in the theatre judging by the jeers!).  Stupid old bat.  I gave the loudest ‘tut’ I could muster and turned round giving her the most disgusted stare I could muster!  Oh and I only had a diet coke ... no peanut M&Ms and not hot dog!  Aren’t I good!

On the way home, I decided to drop into the gym ... yes, you read that right ... I went to the gym!  I’ve lost 3lbs of the 6lbs that I’ve recently put on over my hols and I’ve not even been back a week yet.  So as I’m on a roll, I thought I’d better go with it!  As it happens, it was lovely cos I bumped into a few people I haven’t seen for a while and had a good catch up.  So all in all, a rather lovely day!

Anyway, enough of all that.  Back to the holiday ... Christmas Eve, we decided to go out for dinner ... twice in two days!!! Molly and Sue had been for a walk into the local town, St Georges, during the day and found a place they said looked wonderful for dinner.  So that night, off we all trooped.  When we got there, I was a bit disappointed (that’s a bit of an understatement, but I’m trying desperately not to over dramatise) the place was a bit of a dive and that was looking at it at night.  Molly and Sue had seen it in the daylight!  We obviously have different standards.  They’d described it as ‘lovely little place’ ... more like ‘horrible little hovel’! Hmmm maybe that’s harsh ... then again ...

It’s really quite small with bar to the left and tables which opened up on the marina, ‘nice’ you would have thought except this was obviously the family’s living room as well as the restaurant as there was an old battered green leather couch and chair in one corner with a baby cot complete with sleeping baby (which woke up at intervals and screamed the placed down – lovely). Molly found it quaint, I found it disturbing!).  The floor was old lino and the walls had been written on by numerous patrons over the years (I’ve seen this done before and it can look really cool ... this didn’t, it just looked like it was done to avoid having to paint).

The food ... worst I had on the island (I’d have preferred to stay at the hotel) ... the cost ... more than the Aquarium.  I’d been warned earlier in the day some people around the pool that they can rip you off and to cheque your bill carefully as they were well known for it.  Rip off indeedy doody!  The name of the place, for your reference, BB’s.  DON’T GO ... it’s awful. 

The one good thing about the place was the rum punch which was quite strong, but yummy and when it came round to ordering desert (I don’t eat desert) I decided to order another.  I think that so far I’ve omitted the fact that I was the only one who drank out of the group.  Never, ever before have I been the one on a singles holiday that drinks the most.  Never!  Now, bearing in mind that I’d only had 2 drinks ... just the 2 and they weren’t massively strong, when I ordered the third, Molly piped up, “Aren’t you loud when you’ve had a drink”!!!! 'Loud’ when I’ve had a drink’!!!!!!  OMG, I’d only had 2 and was fully with it – let’s face it guys, you know when you’re drunk and when you’re not ... I absolutely wasn’t. 

Well, I don't know what hit me (maybe I was more drunk than I thought) but I was bloody furious ... FURIOUS ... This woman, who’d already inflicted all her considerable issues on me is now telling me, on my holiday, that I’m ‘loud’ when I’ve had a drink!!!!  Now I don’t often get angry, but hell, I was angry! Here’s me, come away for a chill, to relax, enjoy the sun/sea and have a few drinks and I’m being criticised after having 2 drinks!  I thought, “Blimey, if you think that’s drunk and loud, you don’t ever wanna experience some of my mates when they’ve had a drink, or me, for that fact when I actually am drunk!”  

She did get to see what loud and leery really was with the group that came in the second week ... they made me look like a nun and her nose was well and truly put out of joint! In retrospect maybe I overreacted a bit, but that was really the last thing I needed to hear, especially from her.  Talk about putting a downer on the evening and prompt removal of the warm glow that rum punch tends to give you!

Christmas day was lovely and I was determined not to let anything else upset me.  Christmas is weird in the Caribbean, apart from a few decorations and the odd tree, you really wouldn’t know it is  Christmas.  Spending Christmas day on the beach is wonderful though ... I really can’t tell you just how fabulous it is!  There’s no hassle, no complaining, no moaning, no arguing (are you getting a view of my Christmas’s before I made the decision to always go away?!) no disappointment over presents, just peace (as long as you manage to steer clear of Molly!).  Bliss!

The meal in the evening was mediocre ... a buffet Christmas meal, Caribbean style.  There was turkey (in a sauce), oh and carrots (they love carrots ... the food of the Devil ewwwwww!) that’s where the similarities to a UK Christmas dinner ended.  I didn’t mind though.  However, I did wake in the night with excruciating stomach cramps (I won’t go into the details!) – I’ve travelled loads over the years and this hotel is the only place I’ve ever had a really dickey tummy (I had it a few times in fact, both this year and last year ... I won’t be going back!).  The entertainment was a bit lame too, so I had another early night ... and I honestly didn’t mind that either!

Well lovelies, that’s it for another day ... still got loads more ... I did warn you that there’d be lots of it ... tomorrow I'll tell you about the quote of the holiday ... “Another ripple in the buttock of life!”

Until tomorrow – be fabulous, lovely people.

Lots of Love

Jx

The Christmas Holiday – Part 4

My kindle was a life saver on holiday!  Bloody love it.  Definitely a best buy and the cover I got for it matched my leopard print covered minx toes!  Lovely!  I read 8 books in all – I finished the Hunger Games trilogy (you’ve got to read those, they’re amazing and I believe there’s a film of the first book coming out soon), a couple of chick lit books not worth a comment and started on a series of books called “Spooks” – Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney.  Fabulous!  Like Harry Potter but with much darker themes and a whole lot scarier!  Set (I’m guessing) around the 1600, the Spook goes round the county ridding it’s inhabitants of dark nasties such as boggarts, ghasts, ghost and various types of witches, especially Pendle Hill witches.  He takes on an apprentice and the story follows his apprenticeship ... fabulously entertaining. 

Matching Toes and Kindle!

Amazingly good books ... my hairdresser recommended them and I’ve downloaded and read 6 now ... I highly recommend them!  I didn’t read most of the stuff I’d downloaded before I went ... I just kept downloading the next Spooks book in the series.  That’s the beauty of the Kindle; as long as you have WiFi you can download different books depending on your mood ... love it!

OK, so back to the story ... the first evening was pretty uneventful as far as I can remember.  I was pretty tired, so I had an early night (not to mention the fact that we were now 4 hours behind the UK so it was pretty late).  The next day, having had a wonderful night’s sleep in one of the comfiest beds I’ve ever slept in, I had an early breakfast and was on my sun bed, by the pool for 9.00 am.  I always like to get up early on holiday ... well, actually, if you stick to getting up early, cos the UK is 4 hours ahead, it actually helps with the jet lag when you get home and as the main reason I go away is to relax and chill from my lack of work/life balance at home, I don’t usually stay up too late.  Is that boring? I don’t really care!

Anyway, I was looking forward to a peaceful day, by my own, sunbathing (I know it’s wrong, but I am still a massive sun worshipper ... I know, I know, I’ll pay for it in the future, but I just love it ... I’m a real technical tanner too *see below!), reading and a bit of swimming.  I know I don’t really talk about personal stuff here, but let’s just say that I’d had a particularly difficult few months before I came away ... in fact, they were VERY difficult and all I wanted was to chill and regain a little of the positivity I’d lost through travelling too much and working too hard ...anyway you get the idea. 

Mid morning, Molly comes and plonks on the sun bed next to me and starts to talk.  Now, anyone with a modicum of self awareness would have recognised that I wanted to be on my own, the signs are really not that difficult to spot ... when someone doesn’t look up from their book when you start to talk to them, you can pretty much guess that don’t wanna talk!  Not Molly ... she launched in to her life story.  Within 10 minutes she’d told me all a multitude of quite horrific things that had happened to her throughout her life culminating in a very serious, life threatening illness together with sepcific details of the surgery she'd undergone.  I did originally write about it in a bit more detail in this post, but decided better of it.  I didn't want to hear it so it would made me as bad as her if I wrote it down here and inflicted it on you guys.

I’ve gotta be honest ... it really upset me, I mean, REALLY upset me.  Here was me trying to get away from my troubles and re-instate my full positivity gene and here was this woman who I didn’t know from Adam trying to burden me with all her, really heavy issues.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I will always be there for my friends and will always listen to them and try to help them with any problem they have ... I also support my clients to the hilt, however, I just don’t want to do it when I’m on holiday and with someone I don't know and who has such deep issues.  I was also genuinely pleased that she'd come through the other side, however, the whole point of the holiday was to get away from having to deal with problems for a while.  Nightmare! 

So that, my lovelies, was my first morning!  You can imagine what I was thinking ... "Great!"

The next couple of days went by without any event.  Molly pretty much left me alone after that and I spent a glorious time basking in the sunlight and practically reading a book a day.  The Friday before Christmas Eve we went to watch a steel band at a place called Prickley Bay ... it was lovely!  We then went for dinner in one of my favourite restaurants in the whole world “Aquarium” (my idea of course) – the restaurant is built into the rock at one side and from decking, opens on to the most amazing beach on the other side ... totally amazing.  If you every planning to go to Grenada, it’s an absolute must and was every bit as good as I remembered.

Prickly Bay Steel Band (perfect partner with Rum Punch!)

Once we’d ordered dinner, they brought the most amazing homemade warm assorted bread roles with the tastiest garlicky/herby butter I’ve ever tasted.  For dinner I had a beautiful seafood salad and for entree had Lobster.  Don’t know if I’ve ever talked about my love of lobster before.... but I do love it ... it’s my favourite food ever ... love love love it!  I’m that sad that I even took a picture of it!

Yum Yum Yum ... Lobster, my favourite

So, a really lovely evening had by all!  The wine was good too ... the first half decent wine I’d had since I got to the island!

Anyway, more tomorrow my lovelies ... I tell you about my little ‘run in’ with Molly and about me being loud when I've had a drink!

Until then ... as always, be fabulous.

Lots of Love

Jx

Note - * Technical Tanning – is where you use different factors for different parts of your body ie 30 on the face, chest and knees (yes knees ... for some reason they can have a tendency to burn!) and a lower factor for everywhere else ... in my case, usually 15. 

The Christmas Holiday - Part 3

So, at the end of my last post, I promised to give you a rundown of my holiday companions.  Let me describe the motley crew (major understatement!):

·        Molly (I’ve changed her name ... you’ll see why in later posts) – 60 something lady who was kinda huge, both tall and stout!  (I’ve got quite a lot to tell you about her as my posts develop, so I won’t say too much here)

·        Jean – a rather large black lady (we couldn’t make out her age, although she said she was a student, so I’m guessing early 20s) – she hardly said a word for the whole week.  She just kept saying “hmm” “hmm” – even when no-one was saying anything ... very odd.  When you asked her a question, you get a very short answer, followed by “hmmm”.  I didn’t see her much during the holiday.  She never sun bathed, I never saw her in a swimming costume and she either wandered around (who knows were?) or stayed in her room for the whole week. 

Don't get that.  Why would you stay in your room when you're in the Caribbean????? I find that lots of people do it ... you’ll see them toddling off to their rooms and I’ll ask them where they’re going, “To my room for a lie down” ... there are beds on the beach for goodness sake!! What’s the matter with these people!

·        Sue – a lady in her 60s, who again, I didn’t really have a proper conversation with ... she was very quiet.  The only thing I found out about her was that she had a son in his 20s.

·        Alvin (changed his name too - dunno why really!) – Alvin, bless him.  Alvin was 57 and had hurt his shoulder before he came away, so his arm was in a sling.  For the whole holiday, even when he was on the beach or round the pool he wore a shirt (both long and short sleeved), long elasticated waist shorts, socks and trainers.  Honestly ... I kid you not!  I spent most of the time around the pool and would watch him commandeer a spot in the shade every morning and stay there, fully clothed either playing with his iPad or messing with his iShuffle.  Now, we’re talking a constant 32˚C/89˚F heat here! I don’t think it’ll surprise you when I tell you that he still lived with his mum.

·        Cordelia– love love love Cordelia (real name!) ... the only normal one (besides me, obv!) there.  We got on really well and she was somewhat of a saviour in the midst of all that oddness!  I missed her hugely when she left (she was only there for 10 days and had already been there a couple of day when we arrived).

I don’t think I’ve missed anyone out, if I have, they must have been spectacularly quiet, either that or I drank far more rum punch than I remember!  Anyway, these were my holiday companions for the first week.  It changed for the second and as I’m trying to keep this in some kind of chronological order, I’ll get to them in a later post.

So ... Once I’d cleared security (me being the last one from the whole plane ... how the hell did that happen?!) we clambered on to the mini bus to the resort.  Luckily it’s only a 15 minute transfer, which is always a bonus when you’ve been travelling for so long.

We checked in at the hotel and which I guess I should tell you a bit about.  I went there last year so I kinda knew what I was coming to ... it’s far from fabulous, however the people I was away with last year were amazing, absolutely fabulous and that made it one of the best holidays I’ve ever had!  It’s really pot luck who you end up with on a singles holiday ... it really is! Up until now, I’ve been really quite lucky with the people I’ve met, of course, you can’t like everyone, but as I say on the whole I’ve been really lucky.

As I knew the hotel wasn’t fantastic, I really didn’t want to go back, but if you want to go on a singles holiday, you can’t just walk into a travel agent and say, “I want to go here on this date and this is what I want to spend”, you’re severely limited to what’s available and what ‘singles’ tour operators are going where (it’s even more restricted at Christmas/New Year) ... I really wanted to go back to St Lucia again for a bit of 5* luxury, but they wanted over £6K for 2 weeks ... I’ll repeat that, £6K for 2 weeks!!!!!  Now it’s not that I can’t afford that, luckily I can, however, I just find it ridiculous to spend that on a 2 week holiday... and at the end of the day, it’s not that good!

Back to our hotel ... the location is amazing and very central, it has the most beautiful beach, the rooms are fab ... large, comfortable and clean – the beds are to die for - that’s pretty much where the positives stop.  I think I’ve probably been a bit spoilt from previous holidays, especially the St Lucia one with Champers on tap, but again, I knew what I was going to having been there last Christmas.

We were supposed to be ‘soft’ All Inclusive (soft meaning soft drinks included and only 2 glasses of rather fowl vino with dinner).  However, the food ... its availability and the service left a lot to be desired! The food at breakfast and lunch was fine, although at times, we did wait up to an hour (in the end, due to all the complaints to our Rep, they did a buffet breakfast each morning – Alvin complained about that though, because he couldn’t lift the lids on the servers and he said that the food was cold when he came down at 10.00 for brekkie ... my answer to that – having a rather smart mouth as I do – “Have breakfast earlier” ... that didn’t go down well!  Ho hum.). 

The evening meals were a complete nightmare, they rarely had what was on the menu, what they did have was often cold (although I do find that most food in the Caribbean rarely comes piping hot like we have it in the UK) and could take anything up to 2 hours to come.  Towards the end of the holiday, due to that and a few other things, me and one of the new guests, Fiona, ended up eating out most nights ... but I’ll get to that in due course.

All that said, I actually did have a good time (I was probably a bit more tolerant of the hotel negatives than my companions - especially those in the second week - cos I’d been before and knew the pitfalls).  I pretty much kept myself to myself really and largely sat on my own round the pool each day (bliss!) and had a fab rest and re-charge of the batteries.  Regarding beach versus pool ... I usually like the beach for the first week of a holiday, until the sand starts to get on my nerves (I can't stand my whole body crunching when I re-apply suntan oil!) but this time, I was far too tired to be bothered with it, so stayed by the pool ... it was right on the beach anyway ... so I had the best of both worlds.

Well lovelies, I must get on (off to the gym now!).  Stay tuned, I’ve still got lots to tell you, including my being told off for being loud when I’ve had a drink (and I’d only had 2 drinks ... I kid you not!), a tipsy, rainy afternoon and the fabulous dinners we had out.  Until then, be fabulous!

Lots of love

Jx

The Christmas Holiday - Part 2

Hello lovelies, before I continue with The Holiday Story, I just thought I’d have a quick catch up.  Well, you know I told you about my weight gain in my last post ... well, being a bit of a control freak, I most definitely can’t have ‘weight gain’ – not 6 lbs of weight gain anyway, plus my wardrobe's far too big to even think about replacing it cos I can't fit in anything!  So I went back to the gym yesterday for the first time in about a month and guess what ... I can hardly walk!  Getting down the stairs this morning was not a pretty sight.  I never do anything half heartedly ... if you’re going to do something, do it properly I say, so I went for it with both barrels!  Still, no pain, no gain and on the positive side ... I’ve lost 2lbs already, so it’s not all bad!  I'm bloody starving though ... think my stomach must have stretched!

I really should go to the gym today, but didn’t get up til nearly lunchtime due to the fact that I stayed up last night until about 2 am catching up on the Downton Abbey Christmas special I missed while I was away (twas fabulous!) ... life in fast lane folks, that’s me!  I also watched Ab Fab and am a little concerned that the older I get, the more I’m starting to resemble Patsy!!!!  I kid you not ... I found it ever so slightly disturbing!  

I’ve decided that I’ll do some yoga later when I’ve finished catching up with my writing.  Priorities first and entertaining you guys has gotta be a priority!

Anyway, that’s enough of that ... back to where I left off from my last post ...

Once I’d checked in at the airport, I went through security without any hiccoughs and then hit duty free with a vengeance!  Think I lost the plot a bit ... Oooops!  Purchases included:

·        THE most expensive pair of sunglasses I’ve ever bought – gorgeous, blingy, Bvlgari! Yum Yum!  (I am a bit naughty ... I’m a bit obsessed with sunglasses and I usually buy a pair pretty much every time I go away- designer of course, none of your Oakley or Police here!)

·        Chanel blusher

·        Lancome mascara

·        100ml of Issey Miyake (my fav perfume ... I’ve worn it forever)

·        £56 worth of suntan lotion (I was a bit gutted here cos usually boots have a 2 for the price of 1 offer on but just my luck, they didn’t this time ... first time ever!)

·        Sun dress from Accessorize

Yum Yum Yum, my beautiful new Bvlgari's

I probably would have bought more only I couldn’t fit it in my little roller cabin bag and I wasn’t about to carry it!  I’m not gonna tell you how much I spent, but it wouldn’t take too much working out!  I so enjoy airport shopping ... who am I kidding, I enjoy any kind of shopping! 

Once I’d had my fill of shopping, I had a minute until it was time for the flight at 9.00 am.  Actually, the flight went fine without any major events ... in fact, luckily, there was no-one sitting next to me so I managed to sleep for most of it and I had my extra leg room so I was really comfortable.  I think I slept so much due to the lack of sleep the night before (what with me being sick an all), so I guess it was a blessing in disguise especially on a 9 hour flight.

I must say here though that I flew with Monarch ... never again on long haul – NEVER AGAIN!  They may be fine for short haul but definitely not long.  You had to buy all your drinks (pretty much unheard of on long haul) and I bought a bottle of champers with my dinner (£14!!!!!) and there were no TV sets in the back of the seat in front (archaic!).  They played ‘Planet of the Apes’ which you had to try to watch on TV screens every 10 rows or running down the middle of the plane.  That works great when people stop in the aisles to talk to each other ... NOT!  It’s been forever since I’ve been on a plane like that ... in fact, I can’t remember the last time ... there won’t be a next I can tell you... it’s BA or Virgin all the way now!

When we finally arrived, much to a lot of people’s horror, it was raining.  Now, this always makes me smile.  People go on holiday to the Caribbean cos they love how beautiful it is with lush green foliage, beautiful exotic flowers and tropical rain forests.  They key’s in the title people ... ‘Rain Forests’!  The Caribbean wouldn’t be so lush if it didn’t flamin’ rain ... if you want no rain, go to Tenerife!

It rains most days in the Caribbean, although mostly at night I find.  It can obviously rain in the day, but they’re usually short, sharp showers which (as long as you put your Kindle away!) you don’t need to go under cover for.  There was one day on our holiday when I rained all day, but that’s a whole story in itself so I’ll leave it for a later post.

Once I finally exited the terminal, it was then that I got my first glimpse of my fellow holiday makers.  With the travel company that I went with, they usually give you a list of fellow travellers and say that if you want to, you can meet up before the flight, outside Boots in the terminal.  I never, ever do that.  What if you end up sitting next to someone you don’t get on with for the 9 hours? *shudder*.  No, better to meet everyone when you get there.

Well lovelies, must leave it there for today ... you can have too much of a good thing you know! Lol

I’ll post more tomorrow including a rundown of my holiday companions ... you really don’t wanna miss that!  Until then, be fabulous and enjoy your Sunday!

Lots of love

Jx

The Christmas Holiday – Part 1

OK so, here goes ... Tuesday, 20 December was the day I was leaving to go down to London, stay over and catch my flight to Grenada early the next morning.  I didn’t have much to do that day other than a hair appointment and some last minute packing before a taxi was due to pick me up at 4.00 pm, in order to take me to the airport for my flight at 7.00 pm (you know I hate to be late, so booked the taxi a bit earlier than I needed, plus the airport is a 40 minute drive when it’s not rush hour and I didn’t want to take any chances). 

So with my case all very neatly packed (well you wouldn’t expect anything else would you!) and waiting by the door, the house locked and bolted (not to mention spick and span ... I couldn’t bear to come home to an untidy house ... not that my house is every really untidy ... however, I digress ...) my taxi turned up bob on time.  It happened to be a lady taxi driver too, which was unusual, but as you’ll see, turned out to be an absolute Godsend! 

Well, between us, we lifted my rather heavy case - it was a bit of a pain actually cos my flight to Gatwick with BA allowed 23KG whereas my flight to Grenada allowed 30KG ... I kinda resigned myself to the fact that I would probably be paying excess baggage with BA (I’m not known for travelling light ... well, a girl needs what a girl needs and I like to adhere the old Boy Scout motto of ‘Be Prepared’!) when disaster struck.... the zip broke! OMG ... I can’t begin to tell you the stress!  Everything went through my head:

“I’ll have to cancel!”

“I can’t go!”

“Where the hell will I get a case at this time?”

“I’ve no time to buy one!”

“I feel sick!”

“I’ve got nothing in for Christmas!”

“I’ll have to spend Christmas on my own”

“Would my insurance cover the fact that my case bust?”

“Even if I did buy a new case etc, I’ll have missed the plane to Gatwick ... there’s no other way to get there before my flight in the morning” (It never crossed my mind at that point that I could drive! Panic stricken isn’t even in it!)

... Well you get the idea.  The taxi driver said, “You haven’t got time to buy one, get back and re-pack.  What are you going to do?”  I thought, “I don’t bloody well know what I’m going to do!”  She asked me if there was anyone near that would have one that I could borrow.  “Nope” says I, “They’ll all be in work!”  I remember saying about 15 times, “What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? OMG OMG OMG!”

This went on for about 15 minutes, (well, actually, it was probably more like 2 ... time just seemed to stand still with me being in a complete and utter panic).  Just then, my fabulous, wonderful amazing taxi driver said, “Get in, you’re borrowing one of mine!”   We dived in the car; she rang her hubby and shouted at him to get the big suitcase out of loft we’d be there in 5!  God I felt like I was in Cagney and Lacy or something.  “Hold on” she said, “I only live round the corner ... we’ll be there in a jiffy!”

At this point, I’m thinking, “I’m gonna faint. I’m gonna faint ... Feel sick.  Feel sick!” whilst telling her what must have been a million times how wonderful she was, how I couldn’t thank her enough and I remember saying repeatedly, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! You’re my Christmas Angel!”

So we sped to her house.  Her hubby was waiting for us.  Leapt (I kid you not) to the car and lifted out the case, almost ran into the house (although how he did that with a 25KG open suitcase I’ll never know ... I think we were all having a major adrenalin rush).  He threw the case down in their hall where I proceeded to throw everything from my carefully packed case into theirs.  Phew ... I don’t think I’ve ever packed anything so quickly ... my heart was beating 20 to the dozen and I was shaking like a leaf!

Once I’d repacked, her hubby whisked up the case and deposited it back in the boot of the car ... we jumped in and were on our way (I swear there was even a little screech of car tires on tarmac as we pulled away at high speed!)  The journey to the airport, I can’t really remember much about ... think I was in a state of shock!  I do remember rabbiting on and on about how grateful I was and again how she was my Christmas Angel ... but I can’t remember what else we talked about!

Once we arrived, I obviously thanked her again (think she was a bit sick of me by then!) and I went to check in.  Luckily, due to my obsessive need to be early (now you can see why) I arrived in plenty of time.  There wasn’t a queue, so I was dealt with quite quickly.  When I put the case on the scales (which I already knew was over weight) and relayed what had happened to the attendant, I ended by saying, “I had one of those sub-zero cases and it weighed exactly 23KG ... but I bet with this case, I’m over (weight)” and did a bit of a pouty lip thing.  To my utter surprise she said, “Sounds like a complete nightmare, poor you.  I’ll let you off the £40 excess ... your day’s been bad enough!”  OMG ... I could have kissed her! 

Once I’d got through passport control, I headed straight for the bar (well, where else did you expect me to go ... no point shopping as it wouldn’t be tax free!) and told the barman “Gimme the biggest wine you got!”  He said, “Bad day?”... “Oh darlin’, you ain’t got no idea!” (To hell with the double negatives!).  So I sat quietly, drank that wine, then another and low and behold,  as if by magic, felt much calmer!

Luckily, the flight was fine and I arrived at Gatwick without any more hassle and promptly booked into the Hilton Hotel, which is attached to the airport (a bit more expensive than other hotels in the vicinity, but you don’t have to mess around the next day with transfer busses or taxis - I like to eliminate as much as humanly possibly, any obstacle that may make me late).  I really felt a bit sick by this point (not sure if it was the wine or the stress) and didn’t fancy room service or dinner in the restaurant, so I grabbed a crayfish and rocket butty and a packet of cheesy puffs (although they can make your fingers a bit orange ... I love them ... they knock Wotsits into a cocked hat!) from M&S in the terminal before I got to the hotel.

Once I checked in, I nibbled on the sandwich, although didn’t eat much of it ... in fact, I didn’t even eat all my puffs, not like me at all ... I thought maybe it was the alcohol, but then again, I hadn’t had that much.  I fell asleep pretty early, but woke up about 4.00 am in a huge sweat.  You know that kinda of sweat that you have just before you throw up?  THAT sweat ... low and behold, 5 minutes later, that little bit of sandwich I’d eaten the night before ... well, no need for details, you know what I’m saying.

After that was over, I sat on the bed and tried to pull myself together, “Bloody typical” thinks me (my positive thinking having left the building).  It was 5.00 am by this time, so I got showered, dressed, re-packed, paid the bill and made my way back into the airport terminal.  Check in time was 6.00 am....

That’s as good a place as any to end for today ... I’ve got so much more to tell you, after all I haven’t even got to the holiday yet!  By the way, after I got home yesterday, I managed to stay awake until about 10.00 pm.  However, I didn’t wake up until 12.00 noon today!  Ooooooooh and I didn’t look good ... I mean really not good and I felt really groggy!

And so what have I done this afternoon?  Had nails and eyebrows done (gotta get your priorities right) and food shopped.  I’m on a health kick now, probably the same as most people after the Christmas season.  I put on 6 lbs during my hols ... that’s unheard of for me!  I’m totally ashamed of myself, I’ve never had such poor self control but there was just so much good food... and rum punch!  So I’ve gotta get the weight off and quick!

Well lovelies, more tomorrow ... until then, be fabulous and enjoy your Friday night.

Lots of love

Jx

PS ... I'm loving that nail art is back with a bang and the fact that my nails have grown great guns while I've been away ... yay, no more short nails!

Nails done today ... I so love nail art!

Happy New Year Lovelies!

I hope you had the most wonderful Christmas and New Year and hopefully, you haven’t broken too many of your New Year’s resolutions!

Well, as you’ve probably guessed, after around 25 hours of travelling (I’m so tired!), I’m back from my holiday ... two weeks, all inclusive on the beautiful Spice Island of Grenada in the Caribbean and what do I find when I come back ... my blog has now gone way over the 1000 hits mark!  What a fantastic Welcome Back/Christmas/New Year present!!!!  I couldn’t ask for more ... I love you guys.  Thank you so, so much!

I had a really lovely, somewhat relaxing holiday, with some rather colourful characters (I went on a singles holiday and it’s really weird being thrown together with a group of people, some of whom you wouldn’t want to spend an hour with in the ‘real’ world, let alone two weeks!  Plus some really wonderful people who you get along with instantly and hopefully remain good friends with afterwards) and have so much to tell you all about, I’m almost at bursting point! 

Our beautiful Grenadian beach!

This time while I was away, I decided to keep a mini diary – I’ve got a lousy memory and probably would have forgotten most of what happened if I hadn’t written it down, especially after the amount of Rum Punch I drank, which happened to be the drink of the Holiday!  In fact, I think you’ll probably get tired of hearing about it far before I run out of things to tell you.  At least it will keep me busy for a while.

Apologies that this is just a quickie post, but I wanted to check in and let you know that I haven’t forgotten about you all ... but I really need some sleep now, cos I’m seeing double! 

I’ll start writing up my experiences tomorrow when I’m a bit more alert, so keep tuned, my lovelies ... I’ve got lots to tell you about.  Until then, be fabulous!

Lots of Love

Jx


PS ... thanks again for your continued support!!!!!