it’s pissing in london.
back from alicante spain! nick and I had the most fabulous time. very debaucherous. or debauched. or whatever.
met nick at victoria station, and took the tube to heathrow (after an unplanned minor de-caffeinated detour). went to check in at the bmi counter. only to realise that nick has forgotten the tickets. however, we have a printout of our itinerary and devise a plan – which is to play dumb. after much flirting and pretending we didn’t know how to read (”You mean these aren’t e-tickets?”) the kindly gentleman not only re-issued our tix for free (sans the £35 penalty per ticket) but checked us in and gave us boarding passes and a lovely smile.
i highly recommend bmi, if you can catch their fare sales. everyone was sooo nice to us (even the guy who spat in my cup by accident) and for a 2 and a half hour flight, you not only get snacks and yummy sandwiches, but free booze, *and* our flight got in a half hour early. that’s service.
arrived in alicante (no immigration check! therefore no stamp for the passport, boy was i mad) and went to our hotel room, which was cute. the lady was so thrilled that I knew spanish that she proceeded to tell me about every single person she knew in london and america. we immediately hit the beach as it was 20 C (sooo nice), and had our bare feet in the sand and had many beers at a little oceanfront cafe. then we had a nice meal of mussels and beer at another cafe. then we headed off in search of tapas. went into several tapas bars, but like the little goldilocks we are, none was “quite right”. however we had many beers en route and ended up at a very flash tapas bar, where nick kept us well entertained by trying to order mussels in sign language. had a few more beers, then left and somehow decided to start trying on hats and perfume in a department store?!? well, it seemed quite funny at the time, but when that lost its appeal, it was time for more beer, so we hit a local dive bar which was an homage to jimi hendrix. after a long day, it was time to call it una noche.
next morning was a bit cloudy and cool, but still warm enough to enjoy a cafe con leche by the beach. we thought about hiring a car (they drive on the right! yay for me!) but decided drinking and driving was a bad mix, so took a bus to benidorm, a resort just up the coast. got there, went shopping for a bit, then walked along the beach and marina to a lovely little vanatage spot on a beautiful rock outcropping overlooking the sea. the sun came beaming out, we were warm, we had a beautiful view. what more could you want, you might ask? if you answered “more food and beer”, you are right. wandered down the boardwalk, and went into a few cafes, before we had a paella dinner with the british senior shuffleboard club. nick, as per usual, had more ensalada rusa (the girl is addicted) and we watched the sun set and the crowds go by over yet more beer. went in search of some nightlife, and ended up at, of all places, an american rock bar. live music and good crowds (a countrified version of “highway to hell” was particularly amusing). 50s biker americana and biker wannabes everywhere. more beer and free-pour vodkas. ended up talking to two spanish guys (pedro? and david), and snogged for quite a bit (*not* nick, as she will point out, so maybe just me) and suddenly we had to catch the last bus to alicante. however first, nature calls and the palms trees looked a bit dry… (*not* me, as I will point out).
caught the last bus, however the busdriver was quite peevish, and basically yelled at us (guess we were supposed to get some sort of stamp or something, which we sorta ignored). we then spent the entire ride back poking the back of this woman’s helmet hair which was frozen in place. got a call from kate and mum because my beloved pats made it to the superbowl!!, and almost missed our stop, which did not endear us to the bus driver any further. oh well.
got off and started to head to the hotel. we are walking along, and I see a man who is laid out on the ground in an odd manner. go over to see if he’s okay, and it immediately becomes clear he’s *not* okay. my cpr training kicks in. he’s barely breathing. i’m talking to him in spanish, trying to get a response out of him, and his eyes are rolling about in a very disturbing manner, and he manages to tell me he needs the police or ambulance. I run over to this taxi stand and pound on the window of a taxi and tell the driver this guy is in really bad shape, and he needs to call for help. at which point he tells me he *can’t*!!! fcking prck!!! i run back to the guy, and am making sure he’s still breathing, keeping his airway open, checking his pulse, and asking him if he can hear me or speak, and some women come over and tell me the police are coming, and i’m telling him help is on the way and he keeps sliding out of consciousness, and this other taxi man comes over and tells me I shouldn’t be helping him, because they know him and he’s just drunk. which he definitely was, but he was also barely breathing. so i am kneeling there yelling at the taxi driver that i can’t just walk away from him (oh, because he might *die* by the way) and all my chest compression-to-breath ratio stuff is running through my head and i’m trying to see if he has some sort of medical condition or a head injury. and the police finally get there and i tell them what happened. and then we just walk away. no lie. (oh, and i was *not* kneeling in this man’s piss, and i did *not* have to wear those same jeans for the next 24 hours.) we go get a sandwich and some chips, and then go home to sleep.
the next morning, we have a lovely coffee at the marketplace. go vainly in search of nick’s zapatos (red pumas, which we had seen all goddamn weekend in every single shoe store, but when we want to *buy* them, they were nowhere to be found). I bought some perfume (”flower” by kenzo, in case you were wondering. *no one better buy it! it’s my scent!*), had some pasteles from some yummy bakeries, had some more tapas and beer by the beach, and then it was time to head to the airport, where we had more beer, bought some candy (gotta use up those euros you know) and had more wine and sandwiches on the plane.
all in all, a fcking brilliant holiday weekend. view the blurry pics here.
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