Posted: 31st July 2013.
We have adapted to life in the Med with little effort, it would seem. Because of the heat, we now understand why the people have such a relaxed lifestyle. We too have adopted some of their habits. For instance; waking late, doing what is needed to be done, then having a siesta in the hottest part of the day. Our afternoons are lazy and we find it best to wait till the sun is setting before thinking about cooking. This means that the evening meal is usually eaten around 9-10pm. Bedtime is well after midnight, every night. Oh, and everyone seems very comfortable with taking their clothes off to swim, sun bake and shower on the back of the boat. And so ‘when in Rome’ – our daily cycle goes on!
The other day I stirred from my sleep late in the afternoon. I was hot and sticky! I could have dived overboard. That would have cooled me down, but with the high salt content of the sea water, drying off in the sun after swimming your skin feels sticky once again. So a quick rinse off in fresh water at the back of the boat was my best bet. We had very few neighbouring boats and the off shore breeze gave me a beautifully private view of the open ocean. So I sat on the back step, removed my sarong and luxuriated in the flow of cool fresh water from the shower head. Besides, no one knows me here, and everyone does it…., and there is no one in sight!
I held the shower hose above my head letting the water wash over my face and down my body. It felt good!
Suddenly I was aware of the cheering voices of many! I opened my eyes to discover that the wind had swung the boat around so that I was now in full view of a crowd of tourists seated on sloping benches as they watched the afternoon dolphin show in the ‘Marine Land’ tourist attraction beside the beach. I quietly finished my shower, took the sarong from the step and wrapped it around me as elegantly as I could. Somehow, I don’t think that the crowd were cheering at me. Surely the antics of the dolphins had their full attention – at least I like to think so!
Every day or so we take time out of our busy schedule to go ashore to visit a cafe or bar nearby. We connect to their free wifi to download emails and check in on Facebook. It is our way of keeping in touch with family and friends back home.
Just the other day whilst doing so, we became aware that our three daughters were enjoying an evening meal together. So we took the opportunity to call them on FaceTime using my iPod touch. All went well with the connection at first and we enjoyed the antics of our grandson who was waving and showing us his face (and inside his mouth) way too close to the screen! We laughed and said, “oh well, that’s what you do at two and a half!”
It soon became obvious though, that they had trouble hearing us and that the audio connection was fading in and out. Yet, it took some time to realise that everyone in the room was looking at us.
Picture this –
Gordon: “How are you Rach? …….Rach, how are you?………..How is work going?……work…….Yes WORK !!!…..how is IT!!” (His voice is loud at the best of times, but it was just getting louder and louder)
Me: “Gordon, everyone is looking at us!……..Gordon……..Gordon, it is no use, they can’t hear us! (See Margaret Roberts, had to say it three times!) Anyway, we had to abandon FaceTime and stick to instant chat on Facebook. Never the less, it was fantastic to see them all, especially our grandson Nate!
The adventure continues!