Cyprus - Monday 12th May 2008

This morning I was woken by a man outside my window on the phone. I can’t remember what he was saying but he was there. I surrend and managed to peel myself out of my bed. Still hazy I went out onto the patio. By the pool, I saw Rich, still clothed from last night, laying on his side, on a sunbed, in direct sunlight.

I thought to myself, “Crikey, he’s up early” then I realised that, no, he had not yet been to bed.
AS “RICHARD! WAKE UP!”
RB “What? What’s going on?”
AS “Go inside, you’ve been laying in the sun for hours!”
RB “I’m outside?”
AS “GO INSIDE!”

I wanted to roll him straight into the pool. But I are neeevil harharhar!

Rich went inside and crept upstairs to bed.
The front of the house looked like a bomb had been set off and there was shite absolutely everywhere. Which we are very sorry for by the way. Unfortunately drunk people can’t see mess. That’s a fact for you science fans out there!
After a quick tidy up, we went to have a quick shop up the road then back to chill by the pool for the day. Haven’t really got much else I want to add for today, yet.

(I felt really bad about this. I should have done a bit to tidy up before going to bed, but, of course, I rely on the kindness of others sometimes. Never mind, everyone learnt a valuable lesson. And Richard avoided sunstroke, which was a stroke of luck.)
Would have avoided it more if he had gone in the pool.
We had a nice loungey day by the pool today, good to chill out and relax. I think I might have developed a small case of heatstroke today.

(Loungey day was good. I’ve gone on a bit about not wanting to just sit around, but after 3 days on the road, a little rest day was nice. I think a ‘3 on, 1 off’ type schedule is ok. We mucked about in the pool. I have still managed to avoid burning significantly, which is something of a minor miracle, and figured out how to use a snorkel. I think this may come in handy at some point. It took ages though, I had to figure out how not to breath through my nose, which might sound strange, but I try to be an ‘in through the nose, out through the mouth’ kinda guy, so it was a bit weird. Anyhoo, pointless info aside, it was a good day. And Laura learnt how to pick a Frisbee up off of the bottom of the pool. This was very impressive, and I’m inordinately proud of her.

Yeah I did! Go me!!! I was sooooo proud of myself for getting down to the bottom cos I just don’t do water. I’d say that it was down to the teacher, but then his head might get bigger, so it was all down to ME!!!

We chavved it up big style for dinner though – now, come on, who the hell has a take-away when on holiday? Well, we did. Granted, I think Laura was still having her kebab craving from the other night, but still. It was pretty odd, eating from polystyrene containers next to a pool, I can tell you. Andy and I retained some semblance of coolness by just making a sandwich from the meats and stuff that we had in already, and just having a side of chips. Although the fish from that place was nice.)

The others are going out tonight for Karaoke and Football, I’m staying in with Anna to continue the relaxation. Giggidy.

Lovely sunset today,… but, It didn’t come out so well so today I have no photos,… odd that.

(So, karaoke and football. Well, the karaoke was much of a muchness really. Some people sang. Some were good. Some were less so. Goldy pretty much took over at the start of the evening, as there weren’t too many singers there, which was good for him, because otherwise he would have just had to watch me chewing my fingers down. I was happy, because we got to up the volume on the outside TV so I could hear the crowd. I need to hear the crowd, or I just don’t feel like I’m watching the match.

Cue boring bit for anyone that doesn’t like football. Firstly, I was nervous. I’ve seen Leeds mess up far too many times to be confident of them doing anything right, so Carlisle winning, gutting as it was, wasn’t a complete shock. I’d already steeled myself for it. What was surprising was just how good a game it must have been for the neutral. It was real end to end stuff. Their keeper had an absolute blinder, and deservedly won the man of the match award. He pulled off four or five top class saves, one of which seemed pretty much impossible until he did it. The volley which led to their first goal was top drawer, and our late goal really set up the second leg, which I’m looking forward to. What did get me, however, was thinking about how Leeds have set me up for falls over the years.

Since 89, when I started following them, they’ve managed to make me think we were great (90-92), have a nice period of steadiness (94-97), give me regular European football (98-02), then suffer a near terminal decline (03-present). In that time, there’ve been plenty of glories, failures, and some glorious failures – promotion, quickly followed by a league title, a tonking in the League Cup final in 96, UEFA Cup semi defeat to Galatasary (which saw two of our fans stabbed to death in Istanbul – which would surely have led to our expulsion from European football had roles been reversed, but at least served to show me early doors that it’s one rule for us, and one for the rest), a Champions League Semi final defeat to Valencia, which was ok, because we never expected to get that far anyway, relegation from the Premier League, another final tonking – this time to Watford in the Championship Play-Off final, relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in our history, and then the fifteen point deduction which just went to prove that, truly, no-one likes us. So, this latest setback, coming on the heels of all that disappointment, should come as no surprise, but it still hurts. Football, you are indeed a cruel mistress.
BORING
Anyway, back to matters at hand. We did a bit of karaoke after the match, then left. Rich, Goldy and Laura wanted to get food, so we drove round trying to find a kebab house, which we eventually did. They then tried to pass strips of meat off as some kind of spiritual experience. Nice try. We got back at about 2:30am, and went pretty much straight to bed, ready for another exciting day in the sun…)

The football trip was a good night out. I wasn’t drinking, and was royally upset by the fact that it cost me more to drink non alcoholic cocktails than it cost for the boys to drink beer. The sacrifices I make eh? Anyway, Leeds played quite rubbish to be honest, but the goal at the end of the match at least gave some hope for the next game, as at least they only have a 1 goal deficit to make up. And the glee on their faces was enough that you’d almost think they’d won the game!