My Neighbours

I live in a two-bedroom apartment in a block of six units. All of the units are occupied by women. Horrifying enough in itself, there are at least a dozen different ways that these women make my life a living hell.

The woman who is my next door neighbour is a night-shift nurse at the local hospital. She leaves for work around 10pm and returns around 7am, all day every day. Nothing to moan about yet, until one is met with her daily departure and arrival habits. For some inexplicable reason, this woman practices her tennis swing on her front and back doors, every time she leaves or comes home. I have no doubt that my whole street is alerted to her presence, either coming or going, and I can imagine them all nodding in unison when they hear her doors slamming: ‘Oh yes, the woman in number 6 is back again.’ This woman puts her hear and soul into slamming a door, and she’s getting better. Every Saturday morning, circa 7am, I am woken by the familiar sound of her door. Better than any alarm clock ever made, I am often left enraged and prone to a bout of swearing and dedicated shuffling around the house trying to find a notepad so I can write her a note once and for all and tell her that unless she stops slamming her stupid doors every morning then I am complaining to the landlord and she’ll be evicted before she has time to slam another door. This is my usual Saturday morning routine, and each week I promise myself that I’ll endure it just one more time before I slip that note under her poor and abused door.

My downstairs neighbour woman is a hopeful opera singer. By hopeful I mean she’s been to one audition, was rejected, came home, cried (loudly) and then decided she’s giving up opera to become a pop singer. Becoming a pop singer for her means supporting herself through the process, and she does this by holding singing lessons, every night of the working week from 4pm to 7pm. By now, I have learnt the voices of all her students (and given them all accordingly-fitting nicknames because, let’s face it, they all suck) and become accustomed to not being able to watch TV, talk on the phone or read during the hours of 4pm and 7pm. But recently, she has decided that she’s extending her lesson time until 10pm. So now, after a hard day at work, I come home to six morons singing flatly. And don’t for one second underestimate the power that a badly-made apartment block has in carrying decibels through flooring.

Solution?

I'm thinking about the M word. A lot.

Greece and Romania, June 2008

Darryn and I took ourselves on a little holiday to visit the home of democracy, philosophy, politics and art as well as my home country of Romania. What follows is a rough documentation of our time in Greece.

Thursday, June 5 - Athens

I know Darryn's writing one of these too, and let's face it, his is undoubtedly better. So I'm not going to try and write beautiful sentences or anything. I'm just going to tell it how it was, kind of the no frills version of events I suppose.

So we arrived in Athens and we were pretty buggered. But there was hope - waiting for us was a hotel, a bed (or possibly two), hot water and the promise of something infinitely better than a 30cm by 30cm airplane seat. We waited at the luggage collection, wondering to ourselves if we'd ever be the lucky ones that got our luggage first. Hey, I said, we could be. We weren't. In fact, we didn't get our luggage at all. Yes, we waited and watched the other lucky passengers pull their luggage from that rotating assembly line, keeping our eyes peeled. We waited and watched the number of passengers around us diminish until the band stopped. But no luggage. This seriously could not be happening to us. Why not? Because we'd spent like forty hours on a plane and in airports in three continents. Because we hadn't slept. Because there was a unsatisfied kid on our last flight, who kept yelling shit in another language. Because we'd eaten pork in black bean sauce for breakfast, thanks to Air China's definition of 'breakfast'. So you see this simply couldn't be happening to us. But you know, it was, and we had to accept it. So we dragged our tired arses to the lost baggage counter and filled out some forms and were assured that it would all be delivered to us at our hotel within the next three days.

After shedding a few tears (actually I surprised myself because I was ready to kill people, but, like I said, I only shed a few tears - no understatement) we decided to skip the 35 euro cab fare to our hotel and opt for the Athens Metro. Which turned out to be a good experience because we familiarised ourselves with the public transport in the city and got a little confidence back. The hotel - Hotel Apollo (no props for originality there) - was located pretty damn close to the Metro stop so we wheeled ourselves in and 12 hours later we were showered, rested and as satisfied as one could be with no underwear. Actually wait - before all that we went out and did a grueling two hours' worth of shopping, stocking up on panties, shirts and shoes for the next few days.

Friday, June 6 - Athens

The next day we were relieved to discover that one suitcase had arrived - mine - and after a nice breakfast and some Internet cafe action we took off to our next hotel (a five star one) to start the tour. We left our bags there and took off to see the Acropolis and other surrounding sites, including a totally beautiful walk through some truly stereotypical Greek streets with houses made of crumbling walls, blue shutters and lots of cats. It was great.

That night we met with our tour guide and the fellow members of our tour group - it suffices to say that they were all (well, the majority) annoying Americans. Looking back now, all of them were actually really nice. We decided to stop being so judgmental from now on and try being nice for a change. But hey, at least we got some good laughs out of it at the time. And most of them were annoying on that night, asking ridiculous questions like: 'So, how careful should we be when crossing the road in Greece?'

Saturday, June 7 - Athens

Today we embarked on a 'discovery' tour of Athens - trouble is Darryn and I had already discovered pretty much all there was to discover in Athens thanks to our cunning sense of adventure and desperate search for garments. Anyway we got talking to some of the people on the tour bus, and hey, they weren't all bad. Still stupid though, in my opinion. We saw lots of dogs and stuff, and made it all the way to the Acropolis where, I'm sad to say, the fifty thousand-strong crowds had a somewhat sobering effect on the whole experience. But we got some nice shots. Darryn kept goofing around on the video camera and I got the shits at one stage because he cut me off mid-sentence. Seriously, I was saying some important shit.

After a tour of the old city we went on a three-hour long search for an Internet cafe with the mission of discovering some authentic Greek theatre or classical music concert or any bloody thing which would make this a little less like an organised tour and little more like an authentic Greek experience. Anyway we found an Internet cafe but didn't find anything else. Darryn's suitcase showed up later so we got happy.

Sunday, June 8 - Corinth

Today it was time to leave Athens and start the land tour. Kill me now because I don't actually remember what we saw today, even though I'm only writing this one day later. But it started with rocks and ended with more rocks and that was about it. Don't get me wrong - the history behind the rocks was fascinating, and I got some great shots. We also visited some giant theater (the oldest in Greece), where, thanks to its design, the acoustics were so magnificent that when people perform concerts and plays there they don't need microphones or amplifiers. There's a small spot in the middle of the 'stage', where if you stand facing the theater, your voice is carried at perfect pitch to the 50,000 seats surrounding you. Pretty cool. After Darryn had a turn on the spot, singing some aria, it was back on the big bus where we were carried off to the giant Corinth Canal, where we saw some cool coloured water. Lunchtime was conducted in this restaurant that was supposed to excel in Greek specialties, but after a cold plate of spaghetti with cat hair we soon realised it was just another tourist trap. The ten or so tourist buses outside the joint should have given that away but we must have been too tired to notice. Then we came to another realisation: these tours are all the same. They all promise an 'authentic' experience; what they really give you is fabricated shit made especially for tourists. Food, souvenirs, hotels - it's all specially designed to look like the real thing and you pay an arm and a leg for it thinking you're getting some sort of experience. But you're not. You're getting broke and an upset stomach. Darryn and I decided that this would be our first and last tour - next time we're doing this on our own. We have much more fun anyway and we are young and cool enough to get by without the help of some crappy travel agency. Something that fits in here that I forgot to mention: the other night we payed 52 euros each for an optional excursion to an 'authentic' Greek restaurant in Athens where we were promised real Greek food and real Greek dancers doing real Greek dancing. Instead we got microwaved frozen meals and a couple of dancers that looked like death. By this I mean you could tell they would rather have been anywhere else but there, dancing in ridiculous costumes for a bunch of tourists who don't give a shit anyway. Dude, they weren't even smiling. Anyway we both got the shits with that, since we worked out it was the most expensive dinner we've ever payed for in our lives.

So anyway, we made it to the hotel at our last stop, Nafplion, at around 4.30pm or something, only to find out there'd been a massive earthquake not 50km from where we were (6.7 on the Richter scale) and there were all these houses that had collapsed and people had died. We counted ourselves lucky and one woman in our tour bus reckons she felt the tremor, but I think she's a bullshit artist. The hotel was pretty damn awesome. It had a Jane Austen feel to it, with massive French doors and windows opening out into a beautiful garden and a huge swimming pool, where the hotel staff were setting up for a wedding. We decided to make the most of our swimmers so Darryn and I held hands and jumped into the pool together, where we frolicked about for half an hour before dinner. It was a lot of fun actually, especially with Darryn doing his whole 'Spiros' thing. The Sweet Home Alabama family was there too, their three daughters looking at us with furrowed brows, for whatever reason.

During our rather satisfying and awesome dinner we sat at the table with the other Australian couple on the tour - a bar owner and her husband from Melbourne. They were great dinner conversation and they told us all about their trip to Egypt, convincing us that yes, we should totally go there, and soon. We also talked about religion a little (the woman is a Serbian Orthodox) and life on the road. After dinner Darryn and I took a cab to the centre of town where we discovered the most wonderful, beautiful and enchanting little town that I've ever come across, with the exception of maybe Rimini in Italy (but I've since decided that this was better). The whole town had streets made of small blocks of marble - marvelously clean, shiny and colourful. It was a joy to walk on. There was a town square (like in the old days in England) where children were playing hide and seek, riding their bikes and eating ice cream. I got a couple of beautiful shots of them. We walked the narrow streets with little pink flowers blowing everywhere and discovered shops far removed from the ones we've seen so far (tourist crap). Shops selling hand-crafted children's toys, unique wall clocks, quaint lamps and heaps of other awesome stuff. Darryn had to drag me out of each one to save me from spending hundreds on fairy lights and the like. We were both in awe and decided that this was a place where we could both live one day. We wandered the streets some more and watched the people who loved life. It was great. Around 11pm we called a cab to take us back to the hotel, only to discover that our cab driver was a raving lunatic. He was driving whilst watching a soccer game on a mini TV installed in his cab. Yep. Kept his eyes on the TV the whole bloody time. I was watching him (and the road, simultaneously) and I can honestly say he only took his eyes off it just once - when he turned a corner. But hey, this is Greece and that was soccer, so who can blame the guy, right? I mean, it was Euro 2008.

Monday, June 9 - Mycenae

Darryn's birthday. After an awesome breakfast we embarked on our second day in Mycenae, where we visited the archaeological site of Agememon's palace and tomb and some other rocky things. Agememon was the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War and we learned all about the myth so that was fun. Then we got taken to some pottery store where we were given a demonstration and encouraged to spend our fat dollars on ancient pots. We both found something we liked (for presents) but I learned my lesson from the trip to Spain and decided to wait and see because we'd probably find the same stuff at a store down the road for half the price.

And, as it turned out, we did. We stopped for lunch at some dodgy restaurant where everyone sat down to eat except us. After a couple of rice cakes and extremely loud, giggly jokes we wondered down the town street (yes, there was only one) and stumbled across a massive souvenir shop that sold the exact same pots for, you guessed it, half the price. So we stocked up.

The hotel tonight was pretty crap, and we didn't enjoy it much. No pool either. Just had dinner and watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Tuesday, June 10 - Olympia

We got up at 6.30am for an alright breakfast before doing a three-hour tour of Olympia to visit the site of the first Olympic Games. Then we stopped for lunch in the town of Olympia where I desperately wanted some baklava. Poor Darryn has run half way across town to get me some…he’s been gone for a while now and I'm starting to worry a little. Oh, here he is running back down the street with my baklava.

Darryn is so sweet. He got me baklava and I was happy because I was craving it. It's so good. It's just puff pastry, nuts and honey baked in the oven...but it's the most delicious thing ever. Anyway, we got back on the bus and headed towards Delphi, a delightfully small town with just two streets: the upper and the lower. Delphi is on top of a mountain, and our hotel was at the top of Delphi, so the view from our room is pretty spectacular. The hotel had a pool and a gym, but neither in very good working order, so we decided to skip that. Dinner was set, not a buffet like at the last hotels. This sounded promising at first, but sadly it left a lot to be desired. We had lemon chicken soup (good), eggplant with Bechamel sauce (great) veal with potatoes and salad (very bad) and panacotta (very, very bad). I was hoping that some baklava would appear, but alas, it did not. The hotel's internet (one computer in a corner with a chair) was supposed to be free, and, like all free things, it didn't work. So after dinner Darryn and I decided to head out and explore the town. Darryn finally found his photography feet and he took some great shots of the city lights and the view of the surrounding countryside. We walked into town where we found a reasonably priced Internet cafe and we caught up on emails. Then we walked the rest of the town (about two minutes) before heading back to the hotel.

Wednesday, June 11 - Delphi

One week exactly since we left home. It feels like a month! The trip has been good so far, but Darryn has mentioned a couple of times that perhaps we should have waited. That we didn't have quite enough saved to go on this trip. Mum has said the same thing, but I didn't listen. I know they are right, but I'm still enjoying myself. And it’s obvious that Darryn is too. I wish we could continue like this forever, going from place to place. He's also getting quite creative, and he says he's got lots of great ideas for stories.

Today we headed off to the top of some mountain to see the site of the great Oracle of Delphi. We learned all about the myth of Apollo and his priestess, who would drink sulfur from a nearby volcano and begin hallucinating. The priests would have to interpret her crazy ramblings and finally deliver a very obscure answer to those who had traveled thousands of miles just to ask the Oracle one question. In any case, it didn't deter anyone, because they kept on coming. The poor priestesses would eventually die (drinking sulfur will do that) and be replaced by the next lucky 50-year-old woman. It took two hours to get through the site and then Darryn wanted to climb another fifty thousand or so metres to the top of the mountain to see some forgotten stadium. Anyway I made it, eventually. Then it was another hour of museum time, after which we finally went to lunch in a small and delicious cafe with the best view ever. They played the soundtrack from Life is Beautiful and we had salad, chips and eggplant and everyone was happy. I even nipped down the road to get some baklava, so I was even happier.

After a three-hour nap on our way to some monastery town, we got to our hotel which thankfully had a pool. We played around for a bit in the water and went down to dinner where we had another nice chat to the other Aussie couple, who told us all about their life. They got married young and then went on a two-year adventure around Australia, picking up work wherever they could - I thought this very romantic.

Thusday, June 12 - Kalambaka

Last day of the land tour. This morning we visited two monasteries in Kalambaka, high up in the cliffs. These places were so remote and the atmosphere, except for the swarm of tourists, would have been serene and beautiful. Instead, it was just beautiful. We learned all about the Orthodox religion and the differences between it and Catholicism and saw lots of beautiful artworks painted on the walls of the monastery churches. The fact that most of them depicted the most violent scenes I've ever witnessed is just testament to one of the many faults of religion, but we'll save that discussion for another time.

After lunch it was time for a six hour drive back to Athens, which Darryn and I spent talking, listening to philosophy and music, playing charades and hating on the woman behind us who stretched out all over the back seat. We got back to Athens around quarter past six in the afternoon and we got all the details for the cruise the next day. A 6.15am wake up call left us in a bit of a sour mood, since we had intended to stay out late and go to bars and the like but we thought what the hell. We got ready and strolled through the town to the trendy area known as Psiri, which we had stumbled across on our first day. We had dinner at one of the restaurants, and then went to possibly the best sweets shop in the whole world. Darryn had a chocolate cake and I had baklava (shut up) and he proceeded to film my progress. It was a rather big piece. Athens at night was simply stunning, and the best part was not seeing any English tourists anywhere. The young people well and truly came out of hiding and the streets were full of friends and lovers. We walked around for a bit taking in the sights and then went back to the hotel for sleepage.

Friday, June 13 - Mykonos

After a very hazy morning and quick breakfast we set off to the port of Piareus where we were greeted by our ship: a massive cruise liner called Aquamarine. Okay, massive is a bit of an exaggeration because it's actually one of the smaller cruise liners (it holds 1400 passengers) but it looked massive to us because we've never been on one before. Our cabin was pretty small but all the essentials were there (we had to pay extra for a port hole and we thought we could live without one for three days). We were greeted by an enthusiastic Greek called Dimitri who took us through the procedures. Basically, another tourist trap. The ship is full of American tourists, the entertainment is C-grade (a bunch of washed-up performers playing old folk songs and the like) and the food, well, I doubt it's anything special. We met up with a couple from our old land tour (everyone else was doing the seven day cruise) and they're quite nice. A brother and sister called Lyn and Willy from the Philippines, who are very sweet. Lyn is totally taken up with Darryn since she found out he's from the Philippines too and they've been very kind to us. All the crew onboard are also Filipino, and because Lyn speaks the language, she's been able to sus things out. Dimitri gave us the usual spiel about the optional excursions: that they're a must, they're fantastic, they're wonderful, great value for money and include a few trips to some 'authentic' pottery houses. Yeah, right. Darryn and I had a good chuckle at that. We've learned our lesson. Anyway the only excursion we were thinking of taking was the one in Turkey, since it is another country and probably not as safe as Europe. But after we heard Dimitri talk us through it we discovered we'd be paying $100 each for a one-hour tour of an archaeological site (i.e. more rocks). We then decided to go it alone, like on all the islands, and just hire a taxi for an hour or two to do a tour of the city and bazaar. Lyn and Willy were delighted with this idea and they asked the crew if it would be possible. The crew told Lyn there was nothing better than doing exactly what we'd planned, so we're quite happy with ourselves.

Before lunch Darryn and I visited the Sun Deck, where the pool, deckchairs and bar kept us happy for a few hours. Of course, it's not all great. We found out that drinks are actually not included in the price, so we basically have to drink water if we want to save money. I have no doubt the food they'll be serving will be stupid crap like hamburgers and fish and chips, but we'll see.

I was totally right about the food. We lunched in the restaurant (as opposed to the Bistro or Taverna), so presumably, it was the classiest place onboard to dine. We met up with Lyn and Willy and when I saw the menu I nearly fainted. Hamburgers, fish and chips, carrot soup, snitzel and hot chips. Great. I ate barely anything and when the boat got moving I started to feel a little sea sick, so Darryn and I went back to our cabin for an afternoon nap. We got up and got dressed and went ashore on Mykonos, a lovely and rather small island with a maze of very narrow streets. Dimitri took us on his 'tour of goodies', which lasted about twenty minutes, and then we had about two hours of free time to explore. I was really hungry and thirsty so we went to a small cafe to have some baklava and ice cream - with two beers - and then walked around the streets and took hundreds of photographs, including a few of the beautiful sunset. We also came across Mykonos's mascot, Pete the Pelican. Pete is a one metre-tall island pelican with pink feathers who got stranded here some years ago and the locals took to feeding him and parading him around as their mascot. Anyway he's really cute and he had a small procession of tourists following him around for some time, cameras at the ready. We got back onboard and went to dinner, where we weren't actually allowed to sit where we wanted. We got put on a table with two Canadians, one French couple (oldish) and one American couple (youngish), none of which spoke to one another during the whole meal. Darryn and I of course got the giggles pretty bad so we were sitting there talking crap and laughing while they were all looking on, thinking we were crazy. After dinner it was time for the Latin Fever night show (a bunch of crappy entertainers - including our drill sergeant for the boat drill earlier that afternoon - in feathers and glitter dancing to Spanish music), which neither of us enjoyed very much because we were feeling sick from the boat motion.

Saturday, June 14 - Rhodes

Today we docked on the island of Rhodes, which was significantly larger than Mykonos. Darryn and I got local maps from the tour lady on the ship and set off adventuring. We walked the old town first and marveled at the architecture and then slowly made our way up to the local beach. We found a marina with local boats offering one-hour and half-day cruises and the like, and we thought why not, since we had until 7pm that night. We wanted to get to Lindos, which was apparently a great little town south of Rhodes. Unfortunately, all the cruises had already departed that morning, so we had to settle for a one-hour boat ride around some of the closer beaches. We were ready to jump onboard and pay our money when the mean Greek boat dude told us he was no longer doing one-hour rides but rather half-hour rides because there weren't enough people for the former. When the people on the boat awaiting departure heard our conversation they protested and said they too had wanted the one-hour ride but were told the same as us. Together we made six people, more than enough to set sail. But the Greek dude wouldn't give and I got the shits and we walked off.

We continued towards Elli beach, where we had to pay 4 euros each to use a frickin' beach umbrella and chair. Anyway, Darryn went in the water (alas, too cold for me) while I amused myself with the video camera. After a lazy nap in the sun we set off with the intention of finding a bus which could take us to Lindos, but instead found a really awesome old fortress and castle, partly deserted due to an archaeological dig still in process. We tried to climb rocks and trees and then amused ourselves with a game of hide and seek. Then we walked around the fortress and discovered a small opening that gave into the old castle itself. We got all Indiana Jones and climbed through, scraping our knees and what not, and took a walk around the dark, cob-webbed archways and overgrown courtyard. It was so fun. After exploring some more we went back to the new town with all the fancy shops and found ourselves an Internet cafe with great crepes (chocolate and banana and chocolate and strawberry) and checked our emails for an hour. Well, we did more than that. We got to reading some cool articles and in the end I ended up entering the New Yorker cartoon caption competition with Daniella's old address (because you had to be a US citizen to enter). It was quite hilarious (the idea, not my caption). After that we took off back to the ship for dinner and a cocktail party thrown by Trafalgar (which was, ahem, crap).

Dinner was arranged seating, which was pretty unfortunate. We got to sit with Lyn and Willy though so that was okay. It was Greek night so we had to eat Greek food. Trouble was it wasn't very Greek and the lamb I ordered tasted nothing like that night we dined in Athens's Psiri district. Anyway I felt a little sick and ordered a plate of potatoes. I was happy when dessert came around though, because being Greek night dessert was, of course, baklava and various assorted Greek delicacies. After dinner we went to the cocktail party, got our free cocktail, didn't drink it, and went back to our cabin.

Sunday, June 15 - Ephesus, Turkey

It was an early start today because our crap ship docked at Patmos at like, 6am. After a quick breakfast we left the ship solo and it wasn't long before we were making our way to St John's grotto, laughing at the fools on the ship who had payed something like 50 euros for the same trip. We had a lovely uphill walk on a long road and soon we were on top of a mountain overlooking the whole island. St John's grotto was a tiny place, which has since been converted to a church. We stayed at the mass for a little while with the locals and then made our way back down to the ship.

After lunch we got ready for our trip to the Turkish port of Kusadasi. We were flying solo again so we were warned about the cab drivers, because our intention was to hire a cab for about an hour or two to take us to the archaeological site of Ephesus and back again. Lin and Willy came with us, as well as two French girls from the boat, and we ended up hiring this young guy with a big cab for 20 euros each. He took us to the house of the Virgin Mary first (Lin really wanted to see it) and then to Ephesus. The ruins of some once-great city, Ephesus was amazing. The most intact archaeological site we'd seen on this trip, and it was truly easy to imagine Romans and Turks meandering down the marble streets and through the heavy archways. The city was huge - it took us about an hour to walk through it. Most of the buildings (library, temples, houses, even brothels) were only half destroyed. The most magnificent was the two-storey, thirty-something column library, which resembled the temple from the final scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The cab driver turned out to be a pretty nice dude (even though he drove at like, 150km/hr) and he got us back to ship safely, with one hour of free time left. Darryn and I wanted to visit the beach, but halfway there Darryn noticed that the video camera was missing. I was the last one holding it so my heart skipped fifty thousand beats and I ran all the way back to the taxi rank. Luckily the can drivers were all very nice and helpful and we were soon reunited with our camera. After that we decided to give the beach a miss and just settled down at some restaurant with a glass of beer (and some baklava for me)

Back on the boat we tried our hand at a rather unsuccessful round of Cash Bingo before dinner and after that we decided to go to the casino and see if we'd have more luck there. We did, and we ended up with a profit of like 5 euros (double our initial offering, so all things considered it was a great win). Then we packed up and went to sleep, dreading the 5.45am wake up call at Athens the following day.

Monday, June 16 - Athens

Last night was a nightmare. The hussies from across the hall kept playing loud rap music and shouting (after we went to bed) and then our Indian next door neighbours began testing out some snare drums they bought. Darryn had to get up and call reception and after fifteen minutes someone finally came down to check it out. The noise got lower but not completely and we both had a troubled sleep.

We woke up at 5am and had breakfast and cleared our room, and for what? It took the ship an extra hour and a half to dock and for all our passports to be checked, while we waited in the lounge like idiots. We finally got off the ship and were transported back to our Athens hotel. We had about three hours to waste before our bus to the airport so we walked around and did some shopping - Darryn bought a really cool bread knife set and I got a lip phone. Then we had ice cream and baklava and went back to the hotel to watch some TV on the laptop and wait for our transfers.

All clear at the airport - except for the lady at the security taking like half my stuff due to bogus regulations - and then on to Romania. Flight went through Sofia as well so it was delayed by about an hour but we finally got there and Bunu and Buna were waiting for us. They seem to take a liking to Darryn right away and he to them (which I was more worried about) and it was off home. It was great to see home again and we got settled in after a huge meal. Darryn loved Buna's cooking and that made everyone happy. We slept on that ridiculously uncomfortable and hot couch in the loungeroom but soon decided to split, with Darryn generously offering to take the floor (well, I may have told him to, but let's not dwell on minor details).

Tuesday, June 17

I think Darryn is taking over...for now...