When You Gonna Wake Up

"When You Gonna Wake Up" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1979 album, Slow Train Coming. The first of three albums he released exploring themes of Christianity, it won him a Grammy for best male rock vocal, and a lot of angst from the music press and die-hard fans. I have the album in my vinyl collection and still enjoy listening to it, especially when I am out walking on my own. I should clarify that I also have a digital copy of the album on my phone, in case you thought I carry a turntable, amp and speakers with me when I'm out walking.

When you gonna wake up were also the words that I wanted to shout from the top of the stairs this morning. I woke at 7.30, but mindful of Laura's instruction not to get up and bash about noisily before 9 am, I stayed in bed until the appointed time. To be completely honest, I mistakenly thought that Laura meant that we would all rise at 9 and rejoice in some cheery banter before organising a family breakfast, but it was not to be. By the time the rest of the family appeared at 10.20, I was getting stir crazy, hungry and craving a caffeine fix. To be fair, our flight yesterday took off before 6 am, and we had all been up since 2.30. Breakfast required a short walk to the supermarket for fresh bread and croissants but was well worth the effort, and the complimentary filter coffee provided by our hosts went down a treat. Fortunately, food and caffeine are powerful mood enhancers and harmony quickly returned to the household. I am just slightly concerned the others may view the late breakfast as an early lunch.

There is something cathartic about relaxing in a new environment with very little structure other than the concept that food and perhaps a small beverage or two will happen at some point.  It seems that confession is not the only thing that is good for the soul.  As an aside, I am loving my new Bluetooth keyboard. So much easier on the thumbs, especially for one whose advancing years are breaking into the arthritic phase of life's journey. Perhaps you will read that and worry that it will encourage me to be more verbose, however I promise to exercise restraint, in the interests of your continued participation in my musings (and for the sake of your sanity). In a brave move, Team Shady has relocated outdoors to the dining table. The wall of the apartment and the overhead awning are providing excellent coverage for everything except the Wi-Fi. Team Sunny is back around the pool, indulging in various forms of relaxation. As the sun reached its zenith, Kevan came to the patio for a bit, clutching his iPad, but after 5 minutes or so he grew tired of our (lack of) company and set up a rival shade hugging team under the trees.   

Hunger and a collective reluctance to walk further than necessary in the heat prevented us from visiting the old town last night, so that was our plan for tonight. It was a pleasant stroll of just over a mile into the centre, where we found an excellent restaurant by the shore, with spectacular views across the bay. The bay was home to luxury yachts of varying degrees of grandeur, none of which were manned (or is it crewed?) - Laura watches Below Deck on Netflix, I'll ask her. In tune with the nautical surroundings, I ordered the shrimp risotto, which was delicious but also challenging as in how to delicately extract the flesh from the whole large shrimp placed decoratively in the middle of the dish. A brief chat with our waiter confirmed my suspicions - grab it, break it, peel it, eat it - it was messy. Fortified by our evening meal we explored the narrow streets of the old town, finding both the medieval church of St Cassius and the smaller Church of Our Lady of Mercy, built in 1650 during the Siege of Candida and the plague, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary as an expression of gratitude for protection during those troubled times.

There was a wine and ham festival in full swing in the main square, which was tempting and although I couldn't say for certain, it seemed like admission was free. It was buzzing and if we had been on our own we would have gone in and imbibed. However, since Jackie and I are the only wine drinkers in the present company, we denied ourselves and opted instead to slowly stroll back home, accompanied by an unnecessary ice cream.Read more