October 2022

Holidays with Dad (Greece, Rhodes)

Only took about 12 hours to get there. All of them spent masked up on mass transportation systems.

Other than a few sips of coffee to get me going in the morning..avoiding drinks of any nature seemed the most advisable course of action.

1stly because one had to get in a queue to get it (the drink), and then depending on your bodie's water retention capacitie's one has to get in a queue to let it all out again .... repeatedly.... in the worst case.

Actually not the 1st time I wished I was a guy... and actually just used the gents in the end.

Really feel I have a basic human right to "pee in decency"...

And I am as always surprised to find myself on my own with those thoughts.

Literally throughout the whole experience (or actually never(!)) have I met a single person to even remotely question their " allocated space allowance".

Everybody seems to be loving it...being crowd-channelled through life, or else and anywhere really!!!

So while my Dad quite happily digs himself into his newspaper, I am repeating the list of avoidable hickups to my slightly de-oxygenised brains.

Realising I completely forgot to get one of those diabetes stick on buttons, that start beeping once somebodies blood sugar levels drop.

As I seem to have figured most of his issues and miss-moods are related to his condition of being seriously dependent on sweet stuff for sustenance.... fooling myself with the idea that most of his outbursts and our disagreements could be avoided with a simple strategy of keeping sugar supplies ready and never miss the call for "cake time".

Well if it had only been that easy.....

Since Malta the list of avoidables included:

Whobbly tables

Bossy boots (noisy heels)

Licking the knife

Smoking with the wind turning smoke in his face (near that direction)

Driving barefoot or in flip flops ( my favourite way!!!)

Driving with him in the passenger seat in general!!!

Posing or taking for/of photos ( touching or simply adjusting "his"camera/ electric equipment)

Potatoes in any other place but the basement (actually agree on this one!!!)

Most recent additions are the following:

Ashtray on the table

3 scoops of icecream after dinner

Badly equipped bathrooms (including faulty, outdated sockets, missing toiletbrushes, shower matts being used for exactly that purpose as he does not shower!)

Shared bathroom facilities in generall (Actually very much agree on this one too!!)

Chaimber maids to clean the room and make his bed!

Airconditioning: remember him hating it to be switched on...so I switched it off. Guess what now he hates it being switched off and I had to switch it back on...which I hate!!!

So yeah...As we finally arrived about 6 hous late at our final destination THE HOTEL... I feel I have all of it internalised and from now on the holiday will kick off and all will be well if not wonderful.

Arriving about 11 o'clock local time brought us to check in at reception just in time for the evening entertainment programm in full blow...meaning the internal hotel discoteque is on and swinging away.

All I hear from down below is ABBA playing Dancing Queen.... Young and sweet only 17....followed by Boney-M with a mega blast of DADDY COOL echoing all over the place.

She 's crazy like a fool!!!!

She's crazy about her Daddy

Oh she believes in him!

Perfect timing as just that moment my Dad turns to me for the first time after4 hours .

And all I hear him saying is: "What a SHIT-SHOP!!"

During the next few days it proved evident that not only the carefully selected (must have been!?)...oh so suitable (or not!?) selection of disco tunes had a slightly old fashioned vibe.

Also the bathroom with its unfunctional/missing appliances (as mentioned above) felt a little behind in regard to modern standards.

Well actually I had not noticed (well ok, the paint peeling off in the bathtub was a little annoying... but well I kept reminding myself of the gift horse....) but then I of course did not need to shave to find the sockets were non functional, nor did I stick my head underneath the washing table to find the hole the sink was fixed in was "badly" sawed/cut out..

That and other things(including the missing toiletbrush) my Dad had figured by our second day and noted down to report to his "old pal" at the travel agency (seriously outdated also) who advised him on the hotel but failed to ever show him a full picture of the "Shop" because otherwise he had not been so negatively overwhelmed by the vastness of the place. ....

....Still amazing eye for detail, my old man...

Lindos

After almost a whole day was wasted on running around the surrounding area like crazy in search of information on alternative accomodation, which I thought was ridiculous....

(I rather thought to be positively surprised by all "the space"...because yes the hotel was MASSIVE but not booked at all....so finally.... Some breathing space.)

...the most ancient experience was yet to come...

It was the means of getting up the hill to the Acropolis of Lindos!

After a more than cramped bus ride (was really looking forward to seeing some of the island's scenery but all I saw was people...in the front, to the right in my back, breathing down my neck....gosh when has it started that they are simply constantly everywhere overpowering every impression with their presence?....

On arrival the same ...all I saw was a tiny path up an ant-heap-like hill creaping and crawling with tiny little two legged creatures one line up one line down.

Almost felt like crying.

And just when my Dad said: "Does not look like this is your thing, do you want to wait down here ...? I see the donkey stand!!!!!! And remember reading about it in my Dad's old travel guide!!!! Oh yes please...Donkey rental!!!!

Literally the only way for me to get up there...give my exhausted ellbows a well deserved break (somehow they always seem to stick out and into somebody else recently)...I could have not done just one more waddle in line with the walking dead....

Should I be alarmed about the fact that I constantly feel reminded of Michael Jacksons "Thriller" Video (Sorry from the 80ies again)? But I start to think he was way ahead of his time then...(not that he not ended up one of them anyway - lookswise!)

8 Euro and they even took me an alternative back route....

Almost felt like Jesus ....and I do know now how he parted the crowds (People just jump to the side when the donkey comes along....brilliant)...or was it the seas? Well anyway it all was a long time ago ... so ancient or not but all I needed to save my day!!!!

Rhodes Town

Beach-Time!!!

Almost forgot what it felt like to swim in the sea!!!