Packaging day

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It took me a while to get off to sleep last night, due to the racket being generated by the group that seems to have occupied every other room on the floor. Until about 1AM, they were running up and down the corridor, shouting, singing, and slamming doors. Some of them still seemed to be under the impression that my room was part of their booking, so I had numerous rings of the bell and knocks on the door.

In a complete break with tradition, and inspired by the surroundings, I decided to adopt a policy of tolerance, so I switched on the TV and found myself watching "Freaky Friday", which didn't quite fit with my understanding of karmic payback.

Due to the limited space available in my backpack, I decided to post home some bits and pieces that I didn't want to be lugging around for the rest of the trip - entrance tickets, pamphlets, and other assorted sightseeing papers, CDs that I'd burned from my camera card, etc. I packed everything up into a plastic bag, then it had to be wrapped in a specially sewn cotton package, with wax melted onto some of the stitches, before it would be accepted by the Post Office. Due to the package weighing less than 1kg, my only option was to send it by air, which should reach home in 2-3 weeks (vs 2-3 months for sea) but costs about 30% more (though only $15).

I'm (sort of) ashamed to say that I spent the evening watching trashy movies on TV - the Boxing Day schedule here is no different to the UK in that it gets packed with popular offerings. In my defence, this is only a small town and I think I exhausted all the sightseeing possibilities a couple of days ago ...

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