Walkabout again

SATURDAY 30th

It's changeover day for the French so they are congregating to get the last of their holiday sunshine around the Sculpture pool. The Jordians are already in the pool, the women fully clothed, and attempting to play water polo. We have yet to have breakfast!

The window has freshened overnight and once again white tops are rolling along in the northerly breeze. We decided to go into the town again but taking the taff taff and walking back. Keith wants a baseball cap to shade his forehead. Despite visiting every suitable shop that was open he was unable to get one that would sit on his head, most having a shallow crown. We have plenty at home but always forget to pack one, same with adaptors! The Egyptian who is usually sitting outside his Antique shop was missing so I took the opportunity of looking at some of the items outside knowing I would not be pestered. At least the searching brought us to the off licence where we could get beer and wine at half the hotel prices. There is nothing to say we cannot bring drink into the hotel but all bags are searched at the front door security gate. We do not have to enter the hotel by this route as the staircase in our block leads onto the back road by the edge of the golf course. So much for security!

We took lunch at the 'Al Fresco' their speciality being Italian food and mainly pizzas. Not a favourite of ours but we cannot comlain as it is on the house, along with our drinks. However as we got up to leave one of the waiters came chasing us to sign for our drinks. Mohammed the bar manager was not very happy about this and as we signed the bill he was giving the waiter a good telling off.

By now the wind was very strong and as we returned to our room leaves and dead flowers had blown onto the landings and corridors. The wicker chair at the top of our staircase was nearly outside our room with the cushion and the plywood base spread about. We put it back together and found a sheltered spot for it. There is a lot of comings and goings with the maintenance men and Management seem to be everywhere so we guess it must be the time of year for an inspection. The sun tried to make an appearance but the thick cloud won the day.

We had booked to eat at 'Breeze' tonight as Tuesday and Saturday's are their seafood night and the fish is delivered fresh on these days. We stopped for a happy hour drink at the'Tanour' and asked where the till had gone. They appeared to be having a bit of bother with it last night but Ahmed said it has been taken away to protect it from the rain. Rain the weather reports have said nothing about more rain! Walking down to the 'Breeze' we said the towel boys had turned all the sunbeds onto their sides so we guess we are in for some bad weather. Every table in the small round restaurant was taken and every patio heater was on. But as we ate our meal the wind dropped and heavy rain began. Thankfully it didn't last long.