After two minutes of lying on that hot sand and under that blazing sun we decided to rent a couple of beach stools and an umbrella. Then all was perfect, until... drama!
A Fruit Vendor's Tale
The fruit man was making the rounds.
'Fresh mixed fruit! Crete watermelon! Vitamins! Proteins! Natural Viagra!'
At least that's what it sounded like. Amusing to most, and sales to some, and then, out of nowhere the Incredible Greek Hulk appears. This was no tanned Bruce Banner slowly simmering under the heat. This was an 'I've been angry my entire life' rage monster. Huge. Arnold in his prime. He took the tray of mixed fruit that this guy had been selling, cursed him out and purposely humiliated the man for life by taking a piece of that juicy watermelon and crushing it on this man's head (fortunately, he had a cap on), before finally escorting him off the beach. Judging from fruit man's demeanor, this probably wasn't the first time he'd been caught selling on the wrong turf, and probably not wanting to risk further humiliation, did as he was told. I truly felt sorry for him though. One minute a successful fruit hustle, the next, melon to head and shamed to silence. The melon munchers of course couldn't care less, busily Hoovering down whatever fruit they had left before Hulk came by and slapped it away.
On second thought, I didn't feel sorry... I felt terrible for the guy. Where else in the world would a grown, appropriately dressed, working man get a watermelon smashed on his head? Publicly? In broad daylight with men, women and children looking on? If that were me, and if the sand wasn't so hot, I would have clawed through it and buried myself.
But lo and behold, 5 minutes later, he's back! Alas with no fruit. In fact he returned to give back some change owed to the couple from his last interrupted sale. Now, that is a soldier. Respect! Then he ran off.
And now a group of chatterboxes, ten of them miraculously finding ten chairs around us and just won't quit the jibber jabber. I'll take screaming kids on the beach over talkative adults any day. Okay, maybe not today. Tomorrow. Or the next. But still.
After two hours, the four Euro per chair fee is proving its worth. There is a slight breeze, but make no mistake, the umbrella overhead is working overtime; I have not gotten an additional tan so far today. Why are there still no waves though? Is the tide out? Ah well, a swim further out is in order. So, I went out but discovered that as far as swimming goes, I am not in shape. And the extra food still in my belly is not helping matters. Treading water, I rest a bit to let my heart rate settle down. As with most activities, speed is my motivation so I expend quite a bit of energy getting from point a to point b as fast as possible, rather than just taking my time. I swim back to shore at a leisurely pace. It takes a while. No rush though; just holding onto these rare moments.
Seems like everyone had the same idea that Wednesday is beach day. It's 11:30 and the place is now packed. I go back for a swim a couple more times and work up an appetite just in time for lunch.
After lunch, pool, drinks then dinner. After dinner, a stroll, people watching, surprisingly bad ice cream, then back in the room around 11. Took a while for me to fall asleep since my excitement had been building up towards our trip to paradise tomorrow.
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