It all seems so long ago now, but this was the family holiday that I had always promised myself. After alpha died it was hard to get motivated to do it, and for the entire duration of the holiday we all kept thinking of him. It was the first foreign holiday where beta was able to join us.
We started at Gatwick of course, and arrived early enough to visit The Red Lion. Of course it's not a pub in the traditional sense, being past the security area at Gatwick. On the news that day (and on the TV in the pub) was the fire at Eastbourne pier.
The flight was uneventful, which is good news. We had booked 2 rooms in Rhodes, one for the wife and I, the other for beta, gamma and delta. The hotel was nice, not great, but nice. We had booked 'all inclusive' after a good experience in Fuerteventura. This hotel was chosen thanks to the reviews, the main complaint being that they served chicken nuggets every day. This was music to gamma's ears.
Sadly they must have listened to the complaints, as the food was a bit more varied. What we didn't eat at midday made a guest return in the evening meal (a great advert for recycling). The pool was excellent. Anyone with teenage daughters will understand this, but beta was very moody to being with, we worked out this was due to the lack of free wifi, so after paying to get online she was in a better mood.
gamma worked out why the fridge did not work (it was not turned on), but when it was turned on it was so loud that you could not sleep (which explained why it was turned off)
The drinks was 'free', and it's safe to say we made the most of it.
We went out on my Birthday, beta was attacked by killer bees (no, not really, a single wasp was slightly annoying).
Our local store was Mingos, which visited often. [sing] mingos, mingos, da, da, de, de, da]
One night we were woken up by a very loud argument between two other holiday makers. The swearing was crazy, and at 2 in the morning we were not impressed. A long line of '..and you are a f**king **' followed with the equally well educated response of ' f**k off'. We saw them the next day at the pool and they were nice as pie to each other, but the kids and I started mock arguing '.. and YOU need to get a drink', ... ' and YOU should get the ice cream'. To this day we often get a mock argument going starting with 'and YOU..', so perhaps we should thank them for being so rude, they inspired us.
The hotel played the same 3 albums several times, including one by James Blunt, and a song by the recent X factor winner. There was a song that played over and over and we could not work out what the lyrics were, we guessed at 'Santa was a Jerk whore', but thanks to Shazam we now know it as 'Come On Now (Set It Off)' by Tube and Berger, but my lyrics work better.
I am writing this up many years after our visit, and the memory is not what it used to be. I really had a great time and it was a bitter sweet event having the kids together.
