waterfia

Our friends were leaving at 4.30 in the morning today. We had all been due to fly back on Friday, but that flight had been cancelled, presumably because of the lack of demand, They had got an alternative flight back today, but we were unable to get one until tomorrow. Never mind, it's hardly a hardship having to stay here another day! It was sad not to be coming back together though. We said our goodbyes last night - close friends as we are, we're not going to be up at 4.30 to see them off. In some ways, we were grateful that the Friday flight had been cancelled, otherwise we would have arrived late on Thursday (see ) and then rushed to get in a quick swim in the Dead Sea before getting an early ... read more

It was, again, a very early start, as we needed to get to breakfast and be waiting at the hotel reception for a guide at 7.30 ready for our Petra tour. This time it wasn't Achmed, but a man called Khamal, who's obviously used to the British grasp of names and languages and was keen to stress that his name isn't Camel. We have been making some effort with Arabic, although those efforts have, so far, only stretched to "Salam" ("hello"), "Sabah El Khair" ("good morning") and "Shikran" ("thank you"). Khamal also introduced us to "Yalla Yalla", which means "get a move on". We were a bit dismayed to see all the coaches parked outside the Petra entrance. It's clearly going to be busy in there! Something that was also parked outside was the tourist police, ... read more

This day actually started with a continuation of the day before. Our flight left Heathrow in the early evening, but that meant, with the two hour time difference, that we did not actually arrive in Amman until 1.30 in the morning. Definitely not the most sociable of times to arrive in a new country. Thankfully, we were being met at the airport and we were surprised to discover that meant being met before we went through immigration. We had understood that the visas were being arranged for us on arrival and we were wondering how they were planning on doing that, so all became clear. That said, it was very disconcerting when someone we had only just met took our passports and disappeared, apparently to go and get an additional stamp. All was good. He then ... read more

Before I went to bed I was very careful to check the tide and then double check and then treble check and then got my wife to check. It was high tide at about 4.00am, so it would be going out and definitely, definitely not going in by the time I got there for sunrise. I got up at 5.00am and drove back to Happisburgh. There were no problems getting to the sea defences this time. I had them all to myself again for a while, until two other photographers arrived (different to the two in Cromer last night - see ). At least I could now take some additional reassurance that I wouldn't get trapped on the beach. And if I did, I wouldn't be the only one and I'd have some company whilst we ... read more

As it was our last morning in Malta, we decided that we would get up and go for an early morning swim in the sea before breakfast. There's a little marked-off section of the inlet for hotel guests to swim in. I think the markers is to stop the guests from swimming too far out, rather than to stop sharks or other sea monsters coming to get us. According to my wife, the sea was a lot cooler than it was when she had previously gone for a swim, but it was still warm enough for me to get in - I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to cold water. After the sea, we also went for a swim in the pool. It was reassuring to see that only a few people had ... read more