Well folks I'm back and the weathers been bloody horrible ever since.
Woke early to a glorious morning and moved my UK motorcycle "Ghost" in to the bar and made my way around the resort to say my goodbyes. Took my Greek motorcycle "Virago" to bar and locked it all up for the winter, called my taxi and waited in my apt for the very last time. Its the end of an era. I moved in to this apt in 2006 when i was still at The Tropicana and its been my home for 7 years, 7 really good years. Its been a great place to live, living room, big double bedroom, washing machine, air con, central heating for winter, a safe, all doors and windows mozzie proofed and it was very secure. People ask me "Will i miss it?" NO, its only an apt after all and the memories will stay with me but why should i miss it when i have my new home which is amazing.
My living room in my old apartment, allot cleaner than a week ago LOL
BLOODY KIDS! Made it to the airport and was straight through with my bag and in to departure lounge. Waited till almost everyone was on the buses then made my way to the gate, Didn't think the plane would be that full but boy was i wrong. Thomas Cook had taken on some of the seats to fly people back to save using their own planes (doesn't sound good). So i had 3 seats available to me. One was by a middle aged man who seemed to be nervous and was coughing up a lung, second was next to a larger than life person, loud and slightly larger than your usual passenger and the final seat was an aisle seat next to a retired couple, great, seat 3 it is. Behind me i didn't realise were 3 young boys between the ages of 7-10. they were excited and looking forward to take off, not a problem, was nice to hear. Take off was smooth and the plane levelled out for a none turbulent flight. It was about 5 Min's after the seat belt sign went off when the tray behind me was dropped down...... then slammed up....... then dropped down....... then slammed up, AAAAGGGHHHHHH! All 3 kids were doing this. Their father was sat across the aisle from them and he didn't do a thing. Then it was kicking the back of the seat, then moving around in their seat so their backs were against the back of my seat and pushing it. The retired couple just Lent forward and read their books. Me, i kept looking at the father in disgust and he was to busy listening to music and playing his games on his iphone, i looked over seat at kids and gave a look that would kill, the kids stopped..... for about a minute. That was it, i had had enough, i got up and pretended to go to the toilet. As i got up i pretended to stumble and elbowed the oldest child in the back of the head hopefully dazing the lovely child. It seemed to work but it was a bit late as it was about 2 hours after take off. So i have an idea, i think for the children's safety (children under 10) they should be restrained with a 4 strap safety belt like in formula 1 cars and they should have child proof catches so only adults can undo them and they can only be undone for toilet visits. Another great idea from the Kevlar brain LOL.
Landing in good old blighty. Sorry i mean grey, wet, dull, miserable Britain i had 2 hours to kill before my train so i treated myself to my first real pint since i left the UK in March, so i sat and savoured the taste. Of course i had to sample more than one just to make sure they were all of the same quality, after all i did have a 2 hour wait.
mmmmmm, a real pint.
Then it was train time. First Gatwick to Reading which took 90 Min's, this was uneventful and calm, THANK GOD!
Then a 45 min wait till my train for Swansea. I forgot it was a Sunday and its student time. All students going to Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea were making their way back to Uni after a weekend home. Nightmare. Luckily my seat was reserved but they were everywhere, on the floor, on each others laps, one was even asleep in the luggage rack. Then the conductor had a complaint from someone (non Student) who had reserved their seat but a student was sat in it. This set off a chain reaction like a puzzle. The conductor made the student move, the guy got his reserved seat but the student who was in his seat also had a reserved seat but wanted to sit next to her mate so she went to her original seat where someone else was now sat and this went on and on with people getting up moving seats and making someone else move. It was quite fun to watch as everyone who had to move had a little rant. Kept me amused anyway ha ha.
Then the last leg of the journey. Helen picked me up from Swansea to make our way home to our little house. HOME SWEET HOME.
I'm not going to do a review of the season as all i need to say is BEST SEASON EVER!
T-shirt sales total from bar was 231 and next season will have an online shop for the new designs.
It seems the flavour of the season this year was "Live Music". Once one bar has a good idea the others follow. The thing is with so many bars having live music this season and many using the same singers the tourists can pick and choose where and when they want to see the singer, so its a real hit and miss idea, finding the next big idea in entertainment for tourists is very difficult.
Some customers say the funniest things, every year i get the odd gem and this year was no exception.
1/ "Can i change this Turkish Delight Cocktail?"
Yes of course you can, may i ask whats the problem?
"It tastes like Turkish Delight"
2/ "Are you showing the England game?"
I Don't have any TVs in the bar, Sorry.
"Does that mean your not showing it?"
3/ "Can i have a pint of lager please!
Yes sir, i have Alfa, Mythos or Amstel?
"I don't want that foreign crap, haven't you got any English lager?"
Like what?
"Well, Stella, Carslberg, Kronenburg?"
Are they English?
4/ (On a rainy day)
How's it going today?
"I'm not happy about this weather"
Ah, well we get the odd day but never lasts for long
"Don't care, when i get back I'm suing Thomas Cook, they said it would be sunny"
5/ (From my friends bar)
"Can i have a Tuna baguette please"
Yeah sure
"One question, does it smell of fish?"
6/ Where did you go on holiday last year?
"We went to Greece"
Your in Greece now.
"Are we?"
Just a few i can remember for now but believe me there was allot more LOL
Now in saying that just the other day i had a complete dumb moment. I walked past a club near where we live and saw people going in all in Halloween fancy dress. I told Helen and she told me it was a "silent disco" to which i replied without any thought "What, you mean a disco for deaf people?". I had this instant vision of deaf people dancing to whatever song was in their head. I do apologies now to any deaf people reading this for my stupidity and if any deaf person visits Oceanic next season i will give you your first drink free for my ignorance. Helen later went on to tell me its a disco where they wear headsets which the music is played through. How do people talk to each other? Its difficult enough to talk in a normal club without headsets. Be a bit weird if you didn't know and walked in to a quiet room full of people having fits and twitches LOL.
I was on Zakynthos for 7 months and never got ill once, been home 5 days and got a stinking cold which is real bad news as i was going to see Ed Tudor Pole (Tenpole Tudor) tonight in a little local pub called "The 3 Salmons" its just a little place for about 60 people, gutted. On a positive note I'm going to see Depeche Mode in Athens on May 10th so I'm letting you know in advance that i will be closed that night just for the one night, will travel over in the morning and come back the next morning, don't panic, its just one night LOL.
Now I'm not on facebook but Helen does an excellent job in keeping the Oceanic chill out bar facebook page updated. I stole here facebook page and left a thank you message to all my wonderful customers and friends. While i was typing my post i saw this picture that was taken at Anne and Johnny's wedding, has someone airbrushed it? Is that really me? I brush up quite well for a special occasion don't i , little bit more of a tan and I'd be happy LOL. Had comments of looking like Heston Blumenthal (that bloody Heston, my nemesis) also anothet said a Welsh James Bond, don't know about that, maybe after this months gym. I'll throw my hat in the ring as Daniel Craig has said he may be giving up the position ha ha.
I start back at my winter jobs next week so looking forward to getting started, i hate sitting round just wasting time, can't think of anything worse.
You should now be able to access the Oceanic website and all the pictures are now on there from this season. http://www.oceanicchilloutbar.com/
Please keep posting any pictures of yourself in Oceanic on the facebook page as Helen shows me the page every week and its nice to see.
I know I've got loads more to tell you but this head cold is stopping my stream of consciousness from flowing like it normally does when i write my blog. so until the snot clears and my eyes stop watering I'll leave it there.
Until next week my lovely followers, try not to sneeze while taking a sip of hot tea, you may burn your nostrils LOL
