Monday 9th March 2026

All good things come to an end, and so it came to pass that it was time to go home.

No early morning alarm, no rush to the restaurant to wolf breakfast, then pick up the packed lunch.

Instead, a lay in bed until half six, then up for a shower, get dressed and pack.

So by eight we wandered down to the restaurant, got a coffee, and took a table overlooking the coast down below.

Soon, Hazel, Dave and Dave joined us. Also, it was good to report we were well attended by three cats.

At nine, we were all to depart in different directions, so we gathered by the bus to have a group picture taken.

Smiles, hugs, handshakes, and we all climbed in our vehicles, and just like that, it was all over.

We visited a small folk museum in a village high above the coast. The eight year old Fiat struggled up the climb into the sky, until we arrived outside the modern building.

My hometown, Lowestoft doesn't possess a museum of much note, just a maritime one. And that's for a town of 70,000 people! This was a village of a couple of thousand, and it had a splendid museum.

Cost €2 to get in; the lady's anxious shoulder shrugging suggested she had no change for our twenty Euro note, so we told her to keep the change, me doing aeroplane sounds and holding my arms out straight in a piss-poor aircraft impression.

She was happy with that, and we walked round the museum, and learned where the unit for measuring jewels and precious metals came from.

We headed towards Paphos, driving along the ridge to the main road, and this route I knew well.

I said there was a new coffee shop on the descent into Paphos, we could stop there for a brew.

So that was agreed.

A half hour passed as we drank and munched a packet of BBQ flavour crisps.

Just down the hill was the picnic area the group had visited earlier in the week, so I showed Jools some of the species, and she spotted an emerging Orchid italica. Which I misidentified as a Dense flowered orchid.

Oh well.

And so we got back to the car for the final drive to the airport, around the edge of Paphos, though small villages to the airport.

We filled the tank, drove to the return lot, handed the keys back, and we had returned the wreck with no additional damage.

Yay.

It was a short walk to the departure lounge. We checked our bags in, walked through to security, and was through in ten minutes.

Well.

We dined on dirty burger and fries, so we wouldn't have to buy food on the flight, and then found a place to sit and wait for the plane to land.

We boarded some forty five minutes late, due to fog in London, apparently. And because of the chaos of last week, the flight was only two thirds full, so Jools and I had three seats to ourselves, and had paid for extra legroom next to one of the emergency exits.

I had downloaded several podcasts, so once airborne, I plugged in and time flew by. And as once we reached Greece, the view was obscured by cloud, so Europe, including the Alps, passed by unseen as the podcasts played on.

After three and a half hours, we were near Paris, and would soon be dropping from cruising altitude, and so I watched out the window as the clouds grew closer, and then we dropped through. And there was Blighty.

Twenty minutes later we bounced on the tarmac in the glow of sunset.

There was the usual long walk to immigration, through the e-gates, where afterwards I called the car people.

Our cases were some of the first off. So we marched out into Arrivals, over the road to the parking garage, where our car was waiting. I was given the key, we loaded the cases, climbed in and drove out towards the motorway,

Not much else to report, other than once off them25, fog came down, not quite thick enough to cause me to slow down, so we headed south east towards the coast and home.

We called in at Marks and Spencers for cheese and crackers, then up Jubilee Way to home.

The house was like a fridge after nine days without heating.

Dirty washing was put in the machine, and off it went, round and round and round.

We dined on cheese and crackers and poor beer. But we were home.

And upstairs, the bathroom should have been completed.

But more of that tomorrow.