Tuesday 30 September 2014

Long time no see

Well off we went to Palma Mallorca early September for a week in the company of Dolenta, Andy and his cousin Stephanie. An early Sunday start the taxi picking us up at 4.00 am and taking us all the way to Gatwick as there were no trains except the Gatwick Express which would have proved more expensive in the end. Uneventful flight out and we arrive in sorching sunshine just after midday...



We get to the Hotel Saratoga our home for the week at about 2.00pm, a slight delay as the room is not ready but then check in is at 3.00. We have a little wander for 30 mins then back to unpack etc and off out.

Monday madame is set on buying some Mallorca pearls and we go a wandering to compare what the shops have to offer. We find her favourite and decide to leave it until later in the week in case she ses something better. Back to the hotel for a wash n brush up, slap on and out to dinner with Andy and Steph.
Up with the lark the next day, well not exactly it doesn't get light until around 7.30 which to me is half the day gone. Grab the camera and I'm wandering...



Back to the hotel to get the slap on and then all of us, minus Dolenta meet up for breakfast at BeeWi opposite the hotel, a lovely little cafe which has free wifi! We all go our seperate ways and meet up for lunch later then its the hotel pool on the roof



Post breakfast its going to be a beach day. As Dolenta's mother and father and friend Lola and her two girls are to join us. Madame, Step and I get a cab to Illetes and grab a slice of the beach. My god its hot and its not long before I'm in the water.



Luckily we get a lift back with Lola to the hotel and we get ourselves ready for dinner.
Tuesday we are off to buy madame's pearls, just the two of us.....



The afternoon is spent with Dolenta's mother and her excellent Paella at the end of which we all doze off :-) Post snooze we all attempt to walk it off and descend on a local material shop before madame and I wend our way back to the hotel finding this sign along the way....



Wednesday madame and I return to the material shop, she has her eye on a few fabrics. A slow stroll up Avenue Argentina, across Plaça Madrid and up Carrer Francesc Martí i Móra to the shop where she selects three fabrics and off we go again. All too soon it time for holiday beer and lunch, such is the life of the holidayer. The afternoon is spent at the hotel pool where we meet six female forty somethings on a break and very welcoming they were, well after their initial discussion over whether I was female or not and the result was that... 'it is her husband' LOL. Still the result was that I got my bum felt which I enjoyed enourmously. All of us out to dinner that night at a decidedly upmarket restaurant for tappas to belatedly celebrate Andy's birthday. Another fabulous exhibition in the gallery above the restaurant.



Thursday is the obligatory tourist bus trip around the island, a non-femme day. Well sitting on the top deck of a bus in blazing 90+ temperatures with makeup sliding down your face is not a good look is it.



The evening is spent at Momo, a restaurant owned by a friend of Dolenta and his partner who is rather taken with me ;-) Aaaanyway after a fabulous meal we crawl our way home around one o'clock in the morning.



Friday is another beach day, this time we catch the bus, a 1.5 euro journey each as opposed to 15 in a taxi! After much splashing about in the water madame, Andy, Steph and I repair to the bar leaving the rest to the sand and sea for the afternoon where we prove quite a hit with the lady that runs it. Madame and I have an evening wander alone window shopping and wind up almost getting lost in rapidly darkening and emptying streets until we find our way back.




Saturday and our last full day, things to buy, bags to start to pack etc etc. It's back to Momo for dinner and all too soon its over. We say our goodbyes and crawl back to the hotel.



An uneventful journey home apart from nearly missing the plane and that was that, until next year.



Monday 1 September 2014

Proud

So we went off Proud City on Saturday night, a friends birthday which started as a group of ten but turned into a group of eight due to illness. Aaaanyway I thought mmm, City of London, wanker bankers and more money than sense which was right and wrong at the same time. The upshot was I elected not to 'dress'. A good decision as I would have been the only 'trans' and I was seated with my back to the stage runway less than a foot away which would have guaranteed me being dragged onstage. A lovely meal and all things considerd not too expensive as it was a Groupon offer at £29 each. I must admit burlesque is not really my thing, yes it is entertaining but its just not me. That said the young lady with the hula-hoops was excellent but my personal highlight was the compere, Joe Morose, funny, witty and a great voice, luckily he was onstage in total more than anyone else. The crowd was surprisingly well behaved especially as it consisted mainly of hen nights, must have been six of them. It gladened my heart to see so many real girls struggling to cope in heels before they got to the drink let alone after and as for appropriate dress to their size, mmmmm perhaps not.



Sunday saw Stephanie over for some photo'sthen off to Brent Cross. Poor Steph, she realised her outfit error too late, a little too short and flimsy, ooop, or she said to me, if I do this again tell me not to.