Vacation - Crete

Been to Crete for a week with my two kids, my mother and my brother's two kids. This was a Christmas Gift from her to the kids (without first checking with the parents, and I was told to join as she couldn't manage all four of them on her own).

We stayed in a decent apartments hotel, although I missed central heating as it gets freezing cold and damp at night. It had a nice pool, were the kids enjoyed some hours. And the hotel was right on the beach so I could spend my hours down there overlooking the sea listening to my walkman.

Great foods as always. Drank some fantastic Raki (the Greek version of Italian Grappa) but also had some *really* nasty Raki which hadn't been filtered enough and left a terrible oily aftertaste (I smiled happily at the proud maker of the shite as he looked like he'd gone through some hard work to produce it). Interesting, but not unexpected, weather: rain, 15 degrees and windy one day, then 25 and sunny the next. I was pleased I had brought not only my bikini but my padded windstopper jacket which I wore some of the days as well as every night.

So all in all a great holiday then? Ehrm, well...

I was 16 when I moved away from home and after 10 minutes with her I remember why. Being with her is like riding a roller-coaster filled with lunatic dictators. I do lover her, it's just that I cannot stand being around her for very long. She lacks important social skills, but is the first to point out if anyone else is in error. She is intimidating when addressing just about anyone, and gets offended if anyone doesn't address her properly. She doesn't listen to anyone, but expects all to listen to her at any given time. She has terrible mood swings and has no patience, what so ever, if anybody (and we're especially talking about *kids* aged 9-13 here) is acting up due to being tired, warm, cold or hungry.
If there is such a thing as Kharma, I am scared to think of what she'll be in her next life. And I feel sorry for her. All the time.

But it was a great holiday. I had some really good talks with the kids (not surprisingly due to some of grandma's odd outbursts during the day) where I was happy to hear what they'd felt (mostly that she was over reacting) and how they manages to cope with her.

I listened to some great music and realized that I need more time away from the office in order to be able to listen to some music as it requires me being relaxed in order to enjoy it.

I read The Wasp Factory and Complicity by Iain Banks. Both good, so will go hunting for more of his works.

We visited an old friend who used to run a restaurant, but now runs five of them in Rethymnon. I was delighted to see how happy he was to see us all again. Truly heartwarming.

And we all have a nice tan so winter felt far away until we came back last night only to find it was -1 degree and frost :-)

PS. the picture is especially for Anna