Tuesday 24th July
Ok so I’m over 2 weeks late with this blog post but I am
getting old now so it takes me longer to do stuff. Grainne’s birthday just happened to be the
day after mine, so it became a double celebration. We were ‘blessed’ with a
visit from Elle too, who used to work here, but has since decided to go home
and cure cancer (don’t think she’s quite managed it yet, but I’ve got my
fingers crossed). But with it being a week before payday all hopes of a grand
outing to Venice, or someplace different, soon came crashing down so instead we
decided to have drinks on the beach and catch some rays, a much cheaper option.
Turns out the sun didn’t realise our plan and he refused to put his hat on that
day. I swear we even had a little bit of rain! Being grateful for the little
reminder of home, I was very pleased that Italy had made an effort to give me a
little gift for my birthday. I guess I just wished it had given me a bottle of
wine instead. Not one to be put off easily Grainne, Liat, Elle, Ben and I
trotted off determined to head off to the beach and catch some rays to
celebrate Grainne not being a teenager anymore and me hitting quarter of a
century.
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| Little Windswept for my Liking |
Lying under the clouds I guess we should have just been happy
for the lack of rain, however we were grateful for the cheap beer and vodka
which Italy so kindly offers. This supply of alcohol meant that our
disappointment at the weather didn’t last long. In fact at one point we even
forgot how cold it was and decided to try and go for a swim. The sea was very cold;
well it seemed it to me. I was shocked that the others made it in as far as
they did! I did enjoy frolicking in the waves though, despite the beginnings of
frostbite soon setting in. This little dip in the sea was clearly a bad idea,
not only did we have life guards blowing their whistles at us (the Italians are
very fond of RULES, and they do enjoy blowing their whistles repeatedly for
dramatic effect) but Elle’s bikini top went see through (sorry got no pictures
of that). It did shorten our time swimming in the sea though. Everyone left the
sea and attempted to dry off. It’s difficult when no one brought a towel and we
only had huge woollen sandy blankets, still god loves a tryer.
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| Where do you live? Finland! |
Despite the lack of a hot day we all enjoyed our limited
attempt at having a birthday swim. The
important thing was that we were all happy and celebrating, actually more
importantly I have forgotten to mention the one thing we should REALLY have been
grateful for, our new friend ‘Ralf.’ We met Ralf just laying out chilling on
the beach. Some people called him a ball, which I suppose he was, but he had
much more about himself than just being ‘a ball.’ Somehow we had acquired Ralf,
and no matter how much he tried to escape we still managed to bring him back,
he was going to celebrate our birthday’s and he was going to bloody well enjoy
himself. He wasn’t getting away that easily!
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| Where's Ralf? |
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| There he is!!!!! |
After a few drinky poo’s and a few escape attempts by Ralf
it really was too cold to keep sitting on the beach so we decided to call it a
day. I had somehow managed to volunteer to cook a curry, and it wasn’t going to
cook itself now was it. All in all a bloody good enjoyable day
