A SINGLETON ON LESBOS ISLAND - Part 5

Day four; Woke to the sounds of, Love is in the Air; by Paul Young on the alarm clock radio, then showered and went to the restaurant to join the good doctor for breakfast. Making arrangements for our shopping trip, I suggested catching the number nine bus, she said, “The resort runs a courtesy bus to the village at ten, we could do a little shopping then take in some lunch,” which sounded perfect.

At ten o’clock we climbed aboard chuckle bus, with a dozen other happy shoppers for the Lesbos village experience, after passing a few donkeys along the way we were there in no time. There was no plan, just wonder up and down the village, checking out the shops of interest along the way, which in the case of the doctor was every one. The girlie boutique, the souvenir shop, the chemist, another fashion shop, and then bustling market that happened to be on that day.

It was relentless but I wasn’t buying into the shopping experience. The good doctor suggested that I grab a coffee, and read the newspaper in the taverna across the road, and she would join me shortly. I did not need telling twice.

I bought myself an espresso, and started reading one of the English tabloid’s. There on the front paper was a photo of the Right Reverend Bob, hand cuffed and naked accept for a pair of Jesus sandals and a policeman’s cap covering he dignity, outside the Birds of Paradise Hotel. In the background were six of his chums and a dozen scantily dressed girls.

The companying article read, “The Greece government was cracking down on the growing sex tourist trade on the islands, and today had raided one of the well known brothels on the Island of Lesbos.

The Right Reverend Bob protesting his innocence, said “He was a twitcher and only here to watch the birds.” That might well wash back home with his local congregation, but methinks the Greek judge will see him as a dirty old man.

As I turned the page to study page three of the paper, the doors swung open, Oh my God, there they where, the canoeing expedition team. When they saw me, their eyes lit up and started shouting, “It’s Billie Big Bananas.” They made their way over to me, some shaking my hand, others patting me on the back, and then Canoe Girl give me a playful kiss. They asked me how I was doing, and went on to tell me that they were on an expedition to hike to the top of Cardiac Hill, and this was their base camp.

As they were getting a round of drinks in they asked me what I was having, I said, “I’m good” but they insisted, and shipped me in a larger, and the mandatory ouzo. They all come over to my table, where we started talking about what a great day we had on the last canoeing expedition, whilst guzzling large amount of largers, and ouzo.

As they were having their last wibbly wobbly before setting off to conquer Cardiac Hill, the doors swung open like they do in a western. It was the doctor, carrying six bags of shopping under each arm staring at me, and if she had had a six shooter, I felt I would have been a dead man.

I looked at her through my beer goggles, with my arm around Canoe Girl with the lovely bra puppies. She glared back at me shaking her head, and then stormed off. At this moment in time I wasn’t quite feeling the love of the good doctor.

At this point one of the guys shouted out, looks like we have another one for the expedition. With that remark, we started to make our way up Cardiac Hill. It was a long drag, with the heat of the midday sun beating down on us, but after two hours we had done it! We had reached the top, and the best thing of all we had reached, the Summit Taverna.

With an almighty roar we sank our first larger on top of Cardiac Hill. The first one didn’t even touch the sides, so we were soon onto our next, and then another. After the initial excitement of conquering the hill had died down, feeling a bit heady, the Canoe Girl and I went outside, to sit on the terrace and take in the views.

Two hours later, I woke to find the taverna empty except for Canoe Girl by the side of me. Feeling like rubbish I woke her up, thinking I wonder if the number nine bus runs back from here. There was no way we could walk back, so we clubbed together and asked the barman to order a taxi to take us back to the resort.

Once we arrived back, we said our good byes, and I went straight to my room to crash out, not even bothering with the evening meal.