There is a depressing element of Groundhog Day about us going on holiday – it rains, or there is civil unrest.

(Though I have to say that since we booked ill-fated visas for Syria in 2011 and then were told by the Foreign Office that we would be on our own if we went – we didn’t –  our jinx has been confined to rain.)

So, here is this holiday’s tale so far.

(Now you have had the spoiler alert, you needn’t read on to find out what happens if you have better things to do – and I have to say, that as I write this, there is a brief glimpse of sun over the sea, so this is after all, a privileged person’s complaint.)

For those of you still with me, here is the timeline:

Packing:

Despite the weather forecasts, I think positively and pack summer stuff – after all the forecasts say it is going to be sometimes sunny. ( I am still in the warmer travel clothes I arrived in.)

My best beloved, optimistically, packed snorkels. 

The airport:

I am a nervous flyer and anyway like to be in good time, so we are there early – despite a Monday morning rush hour drive involving the M25 and a blinding sun in my eyes.

The BB settles down for a paper, a cappuccino and almond croissant whilst I wander about getting things I don’t really need, and forgetting the one thing we do really need – a guide book to Corfu.

Since I met him, our holidays have involved, thinking where might be nice, booking it with no further research, and buying a Rough Guide for me to read on the plane so that we know what to do.

Mmmm no guide book……

The Gatwick electronic boards show that our flight is ‘Go to the Gate’ but no gate is shown. I pace about nervously, whilst the BB says, there is plenty of time.

Eventually, it shows ‘Boarding’ but still no gate and at this point, my ever laid back and patient BB decides we ought to find out what is going on.

We find an airport information desk and they tell us the gate.

We join a few other enterprising souls who have found the mystery gate and are told to sit and wait, and wait and wait.

The flight:

It is with a small Polish carrier and there are all of 20 of us on the flight.

Nice, I thought, not least as we were at the front with extra leg room and there were a million places to put your overhead luggage.

We had, as the Polish captain said the ‘usual Gatwick’ wait of 30 minutes before we could get a slot to fly, and then we were off.

One of the nice young cabin crew men came to take our order for food and drink. He wrote it down and took it away – there were about 8 of us at the front of the plane.

He smiled, and told us it would be about 10 to 15 minutes for the food.

It was the worst cheese and tomato toastie in flight memory – cold and with only one slice actually toasted – after 15 minutes, really? 

The women cabin crew came to the front after their (arduous) food service of the other say 10 people at the back – and one of them sat texting.

Now, I know that the rules about mobile phones being switched off is silly – but really! In front of the passengers?

The drive:

A nice holiday rep at the airport said our drive would take her about 20 minutes so we, not knowing the road, should think about 30 minutes.

And, she said, the weather forecast was looking up.

Nice she may have been, but truthful she certainly wasn’t.

This is not the first holiday we have had this year, and it is also not the first holiday we have had where a lot of uphill and downhill sharp s-bends and sheer drops, a newly-hired car, and me ( a relatively cautious driver)  have been involved.

Thank god it was not the height of the season so there was, as we were told, no one on the roads – well not quite actually, … I’d say it took us about an hour.

( We had been warned by the hire car woman that the turn into the public car park was a killer for scraping the underside of the car – and that was not covered by the rental agreement – so I was told to take it wide to the left. But not so far to the left that I scraped the passenger side on the bushes – because that was not covered either….)

We are thinking of taking the bus tomorrow.

When we arrived, we went down to one of the many tavernas overlooking the beach – all very nice and the sun setting. 

We ordered wine and what turned out to be very nice fish, and watched the sun.

Then there was the creeping black of cloud on the horizon.

Then it got bigger and became what you would call, a bit dramatic.

Is that a bad sign I asked the waiter.

He was evasive – it seems to be a trait here to not tell the tourists bad news – but eventually he agreed, indeed it was a bad sign.

We watched the sun go down behind black cloud and wondered what you do in a small-ish Greek resort in the final week of the season when it rains….

So, the place we are staying is nice but rather basic – though as I sit here there is a view of the sea. 

(Admittedly it is a bit full of white caps and the rain tends to take the edge of it but hey ho the BB went swimming this morning.)

I decided to cook lunch – we are after all self-catering – and got some tomatoes, peppers etc and then found the kitchen has no wooden spoon, no decent sized frying pan, no tin opener and no scissors……

We decided against eating outside.