postcard from Menorca day 3
The evening meal was another chance for itchy and scratchy to sample new foods. Joseph is behaving himself quite well, being autistic sometimes his patience is non existent, but he has learnt that he must queue and be aware of other people around him and to look where he is going. When he goes into his own world and his mind wanders he can crash into people without realising, obviously in a self service restaurant this can end in tears.
He is showing no apprehension when comes to selecting his nosebag and the ice cream freezer is taking a hammering every meal. Stephanie likewise is not used to this sort of thing but she is loving the chance to sample little bits of everything.
Evening entertainment was a parrot show, five parrots doing a few tricks on the stage, like riding a toy bike, pulling up a flag, doing some kids fisher price toys, etc etc. All entertaining stuff for the kids, I have seen the same sort of thing before, in loroparque (lanzarote) and in a big zoo in Singapore.
Sadly, again the laser pen dickheads were out in force and again the guy who was doing the show had to plead to the children and the parents to pack it in. It all fell on deaf ears again. On about four or five occasions the red dots hit the birds eyes and they went into one flew off their perches under a table. I wonder what goes through the parents heads, one wonders if their pet dog got the same treatment at home would they still turn a blind eye?
It was silly hot indoors, the reception lobby area, which has the big screen inside also has a big thermometer which was fixed on 31 degrees last night! There is no air-con in the lobby and it really could do with some. I went in to watch the olympics, hoping to see Mo Farrah but got the wrong night, watched the girls 5000m but it was so hot we all went back to the apartment to make use of the air-con in there. Luckily all apartments here have air con and flat screen tellys so we could watch the 400m relay in a cooler environment. The kids were drained anyhow so it was a good move.
We found the egg station in the restaurant at breakfast this morning. I had noticed a few fried eggs on plates around the restaurant yesterday so I was determined to discover its whereabouts this morning, it was hidden behind a section of the restaurant we had not been to but the bloke in charge of the griddle didn't have a clue.
There was a queue of about 8-10 people all with empty plates in their hands, this bloke was asking each person individually how many eggs, then he duly cracked the one or two eggs then asked the next one. The fried eggs were the little chef style griddled eggs, cremated on one side and raw on the other! Not sure what Edwina would of made of this. He didn`t have the brains to crack a few eggs at a time until someone further down the queue suggested it. He then spent about two minutes cracking eight eggs on the plate, braking four of the yokes in the process. The comedy continued when, after asking the lady at the front of the queue "one or two lady?" he then scraped up the last of the eight eggs that he had just put down on the plate, it only had about 15 seconds on the plate and had barely turned white. Plenty of giggles and shaking heads along the queue as most of them dispersed towards the bain maries and the toasters instead.
This morning we have booked Stephanie into another kids club activity, some sort of Shrek party, which cost me ten euro! I have noticed that there are three activities per day for each age group and one of them is chargeable (from 5-10 euro) which I thought was a bit naughty. Yet another hidden charge on this holiday that the brochure forgot to mention. They charge for a cot, twenty euro a week, and also pool towels at twenty euro deposit and one euro a day! so its the best part of £25 for four towels per week.
Another thing that was advertised which has not appeared is the A-la-carte restaurant, which could be booked two nights per week, that has not been open all season apparently.
I will be looking into some car hire today, I reckon tomorrow or monday we will have a wander around the island, mahon, the capital, is just down the road and the former capital Ciutadella is at the other end of the main road that connects each end of the island, possibly less than an hours drive apart. If we detour to a few busted buildings, for some culture and a beach or two for the kids along the way we can shop a bit in the towns it should make for a nice couple of days.
It is a hot day again today, gotta be well over 35 degrees, i'm still in the apartment writing this, Joseph is on the 3DS and Stephanie and Yasmin are splashing around in the pool just outside our front door.
Whilst writing this Ed McKeever has just won us yet another gold for GB in the kayak, apparently that is number 26. The feel good factor in England must have gone up, if only on a temporary basis, but at least it brings a few smiles to peoples faces.
I`m just gonna make a phone call and check the girls are looking after my seafood stall in clacton are ok then I'm gonna slap some sun cream on and have a splash around.
Love Michaeel, Theresa, Itchy and Scratchy xx