PART THREE: A BIT ABOUT COOL CATS, NOISY BIRDS, AND ALL THAT OTHER BEACH BABY STUFF...
Another day dawns, and we seem to be racing through them.
Today, the plan is to hit the beach because we haven't been down there to see it yet.
But we have also worked out a better routine after watching the gluttons at breakfast.
We eat, and then we take our coffee's from the bar above instead of the dining room.
We can sit outside, there are a lot less people and we can sit and ruminate, vegetate,
and talk over what we're going to do without the dining room's noise.
It's a much more civilized way of doing things.
Well, that was the plan anyway...
But it's not any of the guests, it's a family of crows that seem to live in the rafters of the roof.
And we thought the dining area was noisy ?
Bloody Hell, noisy tourists have nothing on this bunch.
A guest comes out with his drink, finds a free table directly underneath a couple of the crows.
They both look down in seeming amusement, and one just turns around and craps down the
back of the guy's shirt.
Yeuk !
And we're not talking about a gentle dump here, either.
It was more like a fully fledged assault with a deadly guano.
Of course, he feels the weight of it when it hits, and he is off cursing them, and throwing his plastic
beaker full of water at the pair of them.
Not that they seem to give a shit what he thinks...
I'm glad that we decided to sit in the sun and not under the roof...
They definitely think that they're in charge and everyone staying is there for one reason only,
and that's to feed them...
Twenty minutes later, we've drunk up and are ready to get on with the day when the hotel's owner
appears...
You can tell that they own everything in sight and are in charge of everything that goes on by
their absolute regal bearing and the way that they just appear and take over everything that is
happening or going on.
You're sitting in my chair, so I suggest you move. You have five seconds to comply otherwise I shall
be sitting on you.
Sorry. You were too late in moving... And if you so much as try and get me off your lap, I will happily take your face off...
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the hotel's cat seems to have turned up and he or she is not about to
argue with anybody.
It's their way or no-way.
Having had our own cats in the family, we just settle down again and watch with amusement.
'Another coffee dear' ?
'Yes please...'
'Ok, give me a couple of minutes and I'll be back...'
This should be amusing...
So it's just seen off a family of three people with one withering look.
They made to sit at the same table as the cat, and the cat just leaned forward and held up a paw.
Then he released the claw, which looked like one of those old 1950's black and white American
youth gang films when a flick-knife is brought into the action.
They couldn't move fast enough.
Then it stretched, calmly stood up and jumped off the chair, walking disdainfully past us to get
to the path to the swimming pool or the road archway.
Ok, fun's over.
Time to split for the beach.
It's strange how things change over the years, isn't it.
I wonder how many people reading this are doing the same as us, these days ?
Consider. We have been here three days out of seven and we still haven't been to the
beach, paddled in the sea, or any of that stuff.
And yet, probably ten years ago, nothing would have stopped me from charging down to
the beach and dipping my toes in the water on the first day there so long as it wasn't pissing
down and even sometimes when it was.
Things definitely change...
Anyway, although we haven't been there yet, we can see the sea from the hotel and it looks quite
easy to get there, either by a five minute walk downhill, or by waiting for the 'Beach Bus' which stops
in the road that cuts our hotel complex into two parts and appears every ten minutes.
Ok, decision made, we're walking because we can't be arsed to wait and queue.
Apparently, when we get down there, our hotel has a bit of private beach, but I can't help
feeling it's going to be a bit crowded...
The walk down was quite easy, you get to the bottom, cross the coast road and immediately
walk into a beach area with a cafe, then another twenty yards to the sand and the water and you're
on the beach, which I might add, is absolutely packed with humanity and some not even close...
Ye Gods, it's rammed...
Not a single sunlounger free and scarcely a piece of sand left to sit upon.
Oh well, we can always stand around and take photo's...
The 'Private' beach is about 60 metres wide beachfront wise with the cafe/bar at the back right-hand
side and a small shop nearer the water on the other.
That same side holds a basketball court and a boulles pitch (that's a French game of Bowls if you
don't know) so there is not a lot of room to stretch out.
The beach itself holds a couple of jetty's, one where the speedboats moor and one where you can
actually walk above the sea and find your required depth before diving into the briny...
There are signposts everywhere with all the 'do's' and 'don't's' in multiple languages but the beachguards
and lifeguards are still telling off the idiots who ignore them.
It's not that difficult. Most are put up for people's own safety but idiots abound in any language so they
are definitely the busiest people at the beach.
The views across the bay are absolutely beautiful and occasionally a container ship passes by right
in front of us, but enough of this waffle.
Haddy has just discovered that we can walk straight across the beach front to the right of us to look for
shells...
It's obviously not part of the hotel's beach because parts of it are sadly covered in litter...
You know, the usual. Cans, crisp packets, biscuit packets and bits of broken bottle so you have
to be careful where you put your feet, but one inch deep in water seems to do the trick.
And, very few people are on it, so sitting on an upturned rock while she pokes around at the water's
edge is fine by me.
Ok, we're done. Time to get a coffee from the cafe before we head back up the hill to the hotel and
just a snack for lunch.
I think if we are going to be beach bound, then we are going to have to get there by about eight in
the morning for any chance of a pair of sunloungers.
I'm also struck by the pair of carved mermaids in front of the cafe.
They really do look like whoever carved and cast them had a picture of Joni Mitchell in front of them
while they were doing it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment