infoxicated

Myself and a mate at work had a game of tennis the week before I went on holiday, and after weeks of failing to organise it we actually had a good game. Word spread quickly about the fun that could be had from a mid day knock-up, to the point where we now we have six of us playing at lunchtimes, with money being invested in new equipment by some.

It’s a long time since I’ve played a lot of tennis – we’re going back almost ten years here – and I have to say I’m a bit rusty. I’m getting less than 10% of my first serves in, and my lame ass second serves are easy return fodder. Once the ball is in play my shots are a little eratic, too, although I’m getting my eye back in slowly but surely. Fortunately, the fact that none of us have played a great deal has made the games competitive and comical in equal measure, so it’s a good laugh as well as a bit of exersize.

I used to look forward to lunch times so I could play a game at my desk for sixty minutes, but it seems so much healthier to get away from the monitor or screen and run around instead. I couldn’t play tennis every day of the week, admittedly, but every other day would be spot on. Hopefully we can keep the momentum up through the winter now that there’s a solid group of us who are up for it – by next summer I might have gotten that first serve ratio up above 20% ;o)

Lost in translation
“We are never, ever flying to a foreign country again when it’ll be dark when we arrive!” I ranted, as we drove into the darkness on a road somewhere outside Faro, lost just ten minutes after picking up the rental car from the airport.

Despite seemingly having access to all the other benefits of 21st century technology, Portugal appeared to lack the bare essentials I’d come to expect over the last decade or so of being a driver. Okay, I’ll concede that it’s expensive to run electricity cables everywhere in order to light the signs. But what about those cats eye things that I’ve seen in many other countries? Surely they could stretch to some of those to make the junctions a damn sight less terrifying while you’re trying to avoid the racey natives, hell bent on getting to where ever they’re going.

Two and a half hours of second guessing ourselves later, we happened upon our destination of Parque de Floresta, for our weeks’ stay in my Auntie Alison’s holiday villa.

Once we were shown to the villa by a lady from reception, we wolfed down the pizzas that the restaurant had furnished us with at short notice, before going straight to bed, exhausted from our travels.

Familiar faces
Next morning we woke to brilliant sunshine and a beautiful blue sky, as the full splendour of the resort was unveiled in the warm light of day. In the main, it’s a golfing destination, and even thought I don’t play the game I could see the attraction of playing in a place like Portugal. We were there for some rest and recuperation, though, and left the golf to the well to do folk that looked bronzed enough to have spent most of the year there.

Instead, we planned to drive into Lagos to meet Kieran and Ele, the friends we’d said goodbye to back in June when they’d set sail from Liverpool in their boat Dart Warrior.

Last weekend Sue came up to visit us and, as is becoming a habit of hers, brought with her a weekend of brilliant weather. On the Saturday we decided to make the most of it by dragging the seldom (once) used barbeque out from the shed and putting it to good use.

I had cut the grass at the front and rear of the house, done all the borders, and basically earned a darn good feed from my hard work in the sunshine. So, when Fliss and Sue returned from their mini-expedition to a nearby lighthouse with stacks of barbeque ingredients in tow, the scene was set for a welcome feast.

Considering it was only our second attempt at a barbeque, it all went rather well. Everything tasted great – from the sausages and meatsicles especially so, although the steak maybe went on a bit late. Stuffed from our food, we ended up sitting outside in the warm evening until after nine, chatting about almost everything under the sun.

We ended up in a discussion about the evils of videogames, as Sue had read articles about the “horrors” of Grand Theft Auto. I defended the game by pointing out to her that the game actually contained a very strong anti-drugs theme, yet the industry never mentioned that. Unconvinced, Sue had decided that all games were a waste of time. Staunchly defending one of my favourite pastimes, I pulled out the big guns – EyeToy and SingStar.

With the efforts of both myself and Fliss, it didn’t take long to convince her that those titles were a whole lot of fun. The end result being that we bundled the garden furniture away, went indoors and spent the next few hours either flapping around in front of the telly, or enjoying the comedic value of our respective performances on the microphones.

After all the fun, we woke on Sunday sounding a little hoarse and feeling a little bit rough. What better way to recover than by having a barbeque, we thought!