One thing I will never find attractive poolside (or anywhere) is men in speedos. Even the fittest rugby player would not look good in one, but you never see blokes like that in speedos. It's always middle aged men with a paunch - or worse! The Flavio Briatore syndrome, I suppose, although in his case I think it's his bank balance that attracts women, not his figure, and he nver looks good in one no matter how sexy he finds himself. Then again, I don't look fabulous in a bikini, but I still wear one. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.
12.21 pm Compared to past holidays, this one has been quite dull in the people watching department. There are none of the usual single and desperate mums batting their eyelashes at every man in sight. There haven't been any couples having domestics. It's almost Stepford calm! The staff are the most interesting, such as the belly dancing Tunisian transvestite, who has informed me (out of his drag) that there will be more belly dancing tomorrow.
3.53 pm The afternoons seem to bring clouds and rain, but after the heat of the morning sun, and considering David's love of afternoon siestas while on holiday, this is not a bad thing. I've enjoyed sitting out on our balcony reading for the past hour. A few boats, a couple of swimmers, but that's all that's out there. A camel went past on the beach a little while ago. It's all very relaxing.
I can see the walls of Hammamet's ancient medina from here. I need to convince David to take a walk along the beach in that direction tomorrow afternoon. He can indulge his passion for arguing, I mean haggling, to his heart's content. We'll probably end up with a piece of tat just for the sake of it, but that's beside the point.
I'm glad this holiday came when it did. It's hard to believe that it was only ten days ago that I found a lump in my breast and only three days ago that the doctor was able to reassure me that it was nothing sinister. Not only does it help to relax after a stressful and scary week, but I also feel like I'm not just existing - I'm experiencing life. Not that we've done anything exciting the past couple of days, and this hotel is about as European as you can get outside of Europe, but the sounds of the calls to prayer from the mosque, the taste of fresh fruit grown locally, the smell of the air blowing off the sea ... It all is wonderful and feels new and different!
5.02 pm I just had a wonderful half hour, while David churned out a few snores and tries to sleep off a bit more of the man flu, sitting by the beach reading, walking along the water, watching a camel go past and making the waiter try to understand that all I wanted was orange juice - not necessarily in that order. I now have short drenched in salt water and sand stuck between my toes, but I don't care.
If last night's Tunisian meal is anything to go by, I think tonight's Italian will be another belly buster, but I musn't comment to David how it will take extra time in the gym to work this holiday off. Fortunately I have been eating a lot of fresh fruit, but the chips here are delicious, so I've been having those just about every meal as well.
6.10 pm I'm going to have to wake David up soon, but he's sleeping so peacefully, and he has been poorly the last few days. I've been sitting on the balcony listening to the waves. It's really all you can hear here, except for a chirping cricket and a barking dog. I've also been enjoying the feel of the light rain on my feet. It's too dark now, but up until a few minutes ago I could see a heavy downpour out at sea.
On the negative side, I feel a case of cystitis coming on, and this is the first holiday I haven't brought sachets of cystitis treatment with me! I'm relying on flushing it out with water and dealing with the discomfort with ibuprofen, but I hope it goes away! I haven't seen a chemist nearby, and I'm not sure I oculd expain adequately what I need.
9.19 pm What a lovely evening meal! We ate in the hotel's Italian a la carte restaurant, which is at the edge of the private beach. I even got sand between my toes again! The table was laid out with candles and flowers - very romantic! The waiter was so sweet. Every time we said thank you, he would say "Thank you too". Fortunately the meal wasn't as overwhelming as last night's Tunisian. I ate everything from the shrimp soup, to the plate of tomato and cheese, to my stuffed quail! Okay, I didn't quite finish of the dessert, but it was close.
We had the restaurant to ourselves for most of the meal, until a large family with children came in as we were finishing our main course. If there is anything guaranteed to put a killer on the romance, it's a baby screaming and toddlers throwing food! But they had as much right to be there as we did, so we can't really complain, but the restaurant doesn't do kids meals, and the kids don't seem to be very impressed with their "chicken" (the stuffed quail).
Poor David. We've come back to the room quite early because David has a bad headache. Since this evening's entertainment out by the pool seems to involve bingo (last night it was a snake charmer), I'm sure he's devastated!
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