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The holiday started slightly ominously with one of those annoying arguments where you're told off by your wife for something they think you haven't done, you feel innocent of the charge but for whatever reason you can't be bothered arguing about it but go into a 24 hour huff as a precaution.

Considering we only had a couple of hours sleep as we had to be up at 2.30am to catch the flight, that, added to the above non-argument, meant we were both knackered and slept most of the first day, the rest of the day was spent largely in a huffy silence.

Fortunately the sun, beauty, and charm of the glorious island of Kefalonia melted us into a more average way of relating and soon we were doing all sorts of holiday related activities. One of those being to hire a car and travel the length and breadth of this mountain-dominated island, stopping off at all the holiday brochure beauty spots, namely Myrtos beach, Antisamos beach, Assos and Fiskardo.

This was our second trip to Kefalonia, one of the Ionian Islands off the coast of Greece. Our first visit was 9 years ago. We returned to the small village of Katelios, which now has an expanding waist line similar to my own, with developments all up the valley. The coach took us to Studios Notos apartments (run by Cosmos). The apartment was clean, with a hairdryer, air con, satellite TV, a single bed, a double bed and an iron, amongst other things. It's in a great location, only a few metres from the beach and the tavernas, but nice and quiet with a little sheltered garden and patio to sit in. The garden has roses, a small plum tree with thousands of sweet little plums on it, a money plant, and various trees, plants and bushes. In the next garden are lemon, orange and banana trees.

Due to the rubbish exchange rate, everything in Kefalonia seemed expensive. Nine years ago eating out was as cheap as chips but now it's the price of fine dining in London (without the benefit of it being anything like fine dining). In one restaurant a full English breakfast was nearly £12! Still, an evening meal in the balmy warmth of the setting sun by the gently lapping sea and the panting of the local begging dog is one of those joyous occasions we always look forward to after an energetic day traipsing round the island.

And if you can't afford to eat out don't worry Lidl has now opened a retail outlet on the island....

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