Saturday 24 August 2019

falling in love...

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching “The mirror has two faces” and there was that scene where Barbra Streisand is at the university giving a class and it’s about love and its socio-historical importance (or something like that...) and in the end she says that, although there’s much to be said about it, we all want to fall in love “because it feels f@cking great!!”. Yes! Exactly! It does! Thank you, Barbra!!

So as I’m laying on the beach, letting the sun turn me into a bronze goddess (or something like that...) while listening to the waves break on the shore, I’m thinking again about that. Yes! I want that! Damn it, I’m not that old! I want to fall in love! Head-over-heels, my-friends-tease-me-about-it, all-consuming, good old L-O-V-E! I want to walk around with a silly smile on my face, I want to check my phone for texts, I want to be giddy like a schoolgirl and tell my besties all about him and count the minutes until I’m in his arms again! In the arms of a man who’s equally head-over-heels in love with me, all giddy like a schoolboy, telling his mates all about me and being teased sensesly by them!

A man who will make space for me in his life because he will be sure that his life is better with me in it! A man who will care and take care of me and who will know when I need him without me having to tell him... because he will know I don’t like to need anyone. A man who will want to see the world with me and share new experiences and also stay in pyjamas on Sundays watching Netflix on the sofa. A man who thinks that monogamy is cool! Oh, and he likes hot chocolate with Kalhua in it.

Yes. Here, today, on this island I decided I’m not afraid to say that I want to fall in love with such a man, nothing less. And I know it’s a long shot but... no more “managing my expectations” to be satisfied with breadcrumbs, no more being scared... I want the full shebang and I’m ready for it! Because, as Barbra said, “it feels f@cking great”! And it is better than shoes! 

Thursday 22 August 2019

dolce far niente...

... is sooooooo much better than shoes!!

I’m officially, since a couple of hours now, in my second week of holidays! Life here on the island is simple... I wake up in the morning, I go for breakfast, then I go to the beach, then I read and take a nap on the patio while the sun is at its highest, then I go back to the beach until sunset, then I clean up, catch up on the news (more correctly, new shoes...), then I go for dinner and then I go to bed and watch the night film on HBO... and the next day, I repeat. Simple. Yet, so far these have been the best holidays I can actually remember! I feel more relaxed than I have felt in 12 years! No, I’m not exaggerating, not one bit!

You see... for years, many years, I would not escape stress not even when I was on holidays... it sort of followed me everywhere and, interestingly, I thought that I was happy with it... and yes, “stress” had a name and two legs and a head and it was a person... not a nice person, as it turned out... so, holidaying with “stress” never allowed me to actually, relax and rest! Never permitted me to do whatever I wanted to do which, in the context of beach holidays, is the absolute minimum! The “sweet doing nothing”! To allow my poor (and getting old...er...) body and mind to recover, to recharge batteries without “having” to do anything!

But now, this time, I can! So, I am! Doing nothing more than working on my tan (yes, it is hard work but it has already started to pay off handsomely, thank you very much...), reading, eating and sleeping! That’s about it! And, you know what?... I deserve it! I have worked my sweet ass off for the last 8 months (ok, the last 6 years but who’s counting...) and now I am finally and really relaxing and resting! The way I want! Having fun my way! And for the first time in a dozen years, I do not have to apologise for it! I only have to enjoy it 😉

Sunday 18 August 2019

tropical rain...

... is not as such better than shoes. But, it can be 😉

So, it’s late afternoon, I have already taken my nap on the patio and now I’m on the beach, working on my tan because well, that’s what I do when I’m on beach holidays! That and reading for pleasure! You see, I read and write for a living and that’s not fun at all so the only times I can actually read just for fun and truly enjoy it it’s when I’m on holidays!

Yes, I digress... I’m on the beach and I see a really dark cloud in the distance, pouring some rather substantial rain in the sea... now, I’m no expert in weather, especially in this part of the world that I visit for the first time, but the engineer in me thinks: “ hmmmm... there’s rain there and the wind is coming this way so very probable that it will bring it here soon”. I know. Some very complex thinking took place... I have my diploma to thank for it... ok, jokes aside, it really looked like it was going to pour! A prudent girl, I gather up my stuff (always better to be safe than sorry... and wet... particularly if it means my iPhone and Kindle are also wet...) and head to the house...

It was about fifteen minutes later that the rain started! Sudden and strong! Like someone was holding a shower head over the island! So much water that fell in the next hour, it was most impressive! And there I was, all protected on the patio, perfectly dry (except for my hair... I had just taken a dip in the sea before I left the beach...), lounging cozily on the chaise-longue, smoking my ciggy and looking at the warm rain that kept falling, making everything wet and fuzzy... and yes, there were some people running to take cover, but I had been lucky! I saw it coming! And under the circumstances, it was indeed a “better than shoes” experience 😊


Friday 16 August 2019

sand under my feet...

...is better than shoes!

I’m on holidays! Long awaited, well deserved, holidays! After one train, two airplanes, one water plane (best thing ever!!) and a boat (yes... that was certainly not in the deal, but due to reasons beyond my control I ended up on a boat for the worst 10 minutes of a 22-hour-long voyage... I don’t do boats, anyone who knows anything about me, knows that...) I arrived to paradise! I cannot describe this place with a more fitting word!

A tiny green island, surrounded by white sand that meets a crystal clear blue sea, the warmest I have ever experienced! And I’m Greek so, you know, the standard is pretty high! Everything is perfect here: My tiny house in the tropical forest, with its comfy lounge chairs on the patio and only 32 steps from the beach; the beach which is the calmest and most inviting one I have ever been to (no loud music, almost no people at all, no screaming kids, nobody showing off their last 13 months’ efforts at the gym)... and the views which are to die for! And that sand... oh, that sand! Brilliantly white, warm but not hot, welcoming, cosy... that amazing feeling of freeing my feet from shoes (yes, I do love them and my feet are indeed spoiled in this respect, but still) and enjoying a break I longed for all summer!

I had a difficult summer... work was most overwhelming, relationships were totally confusing (to say the least...), health could surely have been better... not to mention the idiot who crashed on me in the motorway... but now all that was bad is about 8000km away and I’m here in this peaceful, wonderfully beautiful corner of the world! And I can finally rest my mind and my body, away from everything that stresses me... at least for the next two weeks 😉