Arcambal

We welcome you with open arms, G.O.A.T.s of Mount Olympus.

“Meet me at midnight”, the opening lines for Taylor’s best album (in my personal opinion). Fitting, then, that it is 00:03 as I take to my phone to write.

Today was fairly hectic, the plan was to walk for half an hour to catch a 1h30 ferry, get a bus for 3 hours, a metro for 1h30, before arriving at the airport to catch a 2h30 flight. Once we arrive in France, we would drive for around two hours until we arrived home.

So far, so good!

We woke up and lay around a bit (or at least I did, Mum and Dad were packing and preparing away). There was, in fact, nary a need to rush, since we only had to be out of our place at 11.

So I didn’t rush. At all.

I chilled in bed, packed leisurely, ate breakfast while reading… basically like my holiday was beginning and not ending.

At eleven, we were ready, and so began our stroll for the last time down the streets of Greece, with a view of the Aegean Sea. It still hadn’t quite hit me that this was it, that we were leaving. Strange things, holidays. You think they’re going to last forever when you’re in them, and once they’re over, it’s gone, never to exist again. Poetic.

We hung out in town since we were a smidgen early, and filmed our final transition (follow us @alolliru!!), before heading to the port. After a twenty minute or so wait (during which my sisters and I planned our future matching tattoos), I spotted the boat at a distance, and so we all got up to begin our battle for the last time.

The wait was excruciating, and in an effort to not repeat the problem of last time I was filming the entire time. The extensive documentary ft. the after-battle interview will be out tomorrow, of course.

Filled with purpose and big boots to fill from her last time, Lily just about ran, so fast was her walking. Weaving through crowds, she was at one moment neck and neck with a similarly motivated young woman. But a fatal flaw was made on that woman’s part, leading to Lily being, once more, the first to make it onto the boat, victorious, triumphant, still striding forward as the rest of us fought for a place in the crowd.

It was, needless to say, art. I’m so glad that our final battle as comrades was this one, a tale of triumph and honour and surviving the Great War.

The ride itself was uneventful. I began to edit our videos and some transitions, and thought about how I would write my blog today. Midnights themed is not easy, there isn’t really a recurring theme other than that of teetering between a breakup and saving the relationship, so really not applicable to this day. I did not reach a conclusion.

Luckily, I realised that what made it Midnights themed was the fact that I am writing this at midnight, now closer to 1am but in Greece it would be 2am, but still. Many songs from her 10th album were written at night, the thoughts that one thinks when one is tired and has no filter, when you learn your true thoughts, then?

This is the case today, what I am writing is what I am actually thinking in real time. Lucky you!!

However, perhaps not. In fact, maybe going with a theme of Taylor Swift albums may make my blog less interesting, since I no longer strive for comedy or even personality in my writing, instead choosing to focus on songs and feelings and moments. Is this a bad approach? I don’t know, but I assume that if I weren’t a Taylor fan, and I were reading the blog, I would be saddened by the change. However it is easier to write since I am not funny by nature so trying to make jokes is not an easy task, really.

Anyway.

After we left the ferry for the last time (having for once sat on a different level, and it was unanimously decided that it was a better level despite it being the same just smaller), we boarded our bus.

Some seating complications were had in the beginning, though they were quickly resolved. Lily and I watched some Supernatural, a show on prime that is better than it seems at first, (yes mum, it is). However once we began to get closer to Athens, we took a break, mentally preparing for the long metro ride ahead of us.

Once we arrived, it took some time to get the tickets, the guy behind the desk was a bit slow to act. And so we watched as two trains went by, the second leaving seconds before we were allowed through the gates.

There was then, of course, a fifteen minute wait until the next one. Because of course.

Mum began to get annoyed, worried that we would miss our flight. We did not, of course. We were hours in advance.

We got on the metro, stayed for five stops, then switched to a different line (it is worth noting that a train that we were not taking came before ours, and dad figured out where the door would be, and stood there, so when our train arrived, we were the first ones on, and got good spots, it was pretty cool), this one was sixteen stops, the distance seeming depressingly longer and longer between each one.

And it seems my senses are still perceptive, because this was in fact the case.

But Allegra and I managed to amuse ourselves. We decided to see if we could hold hands for all sixteen stops, which we did.

It was kind of gross, because we both got really sweaty palms, so the sweat was intermingling.

Ewwww it’s kind of icky to think about.

But sixteen stops (and some excessive hand wiping) later, we were at the airport.

After check ins and bag drop offs and security checks (I got patted down because the sensor went off, and, as one does when this happens, I began to wonder if maybe I had forgotten that I had a bomb or something on my person and began to get really stressed), we were able to relax for a bit at the airport, getting (pretty bad) food, browsing books in WHSmith, and buying alcohol for the neighbours.

At a suitable time, we strolled down to the departure gates, filmed the end of our last transition, took cool photos with boarding passes, and then got on the plane.

It was pretty good looking, Lily and I sat down next to each other, with mum, all was good, I was settled in, when disaster (or more like slight annoyance) struck.

Some kid was travelling alone, and protocol calls for them to clear all the seats next to him. So Lily and I got moved to the back so this one kid who was about the twins age could get three seats to himself! Honestly, if I didn’t get so annoyed at Lily for blaming the patriarchy at every inconvenience and thus discrediting the cause, I would blame the patriarchy!

My question is, why couldn’t the kid have the two seats at the back of the plane with no window, right next to the air hostesses gossiping and the bathroom that people went to twice a minute apparently?? I mean seriously, we did book those seats 🙄.

Friggin kids.

But Lily and I made the best of it, and though the turbulence was annoying, we were distracted by Supernatural and magazines. So it was okay.

The food, however, wasn’t, consisting of a sandwich that was really pretty bad, with either sweet falafels or sweet sauce, but in a bad way, and a buttery biscuit. I did get tomato juice, which is top tier though.

I think I want tomato juice for my birthday. Take notes!!

Three hours or so later, we landed in our home country of France. Collecting baggage, showing passports, and then we’re done.

Just… go live the rest of your life, I guess. Have fun!

That’s when it really hit me, that Greece was over. Done. I’m not going back, at least for a while. I began to write this blog to take my thoughts off of that as we waited for the shuttle, but it didn’t much help.

My tiredness lead me to try and talk about it, and my confusion at time itself. I mean really, as I said to Tate, when you’re in the moment, nothing else matters because it’s not conceivable (at least to my mind) that it’s ever actually going to end.

Theoretically, I know that it will be over, but in my mind, it’s just “you’re doing this thing now, so how could it ever be over? It won’t be.”

Except it always is, but it doesn’t matter because something else is happening already!!

So that’s basically what I rambled on to Tate about until the conversation shifted to bad school systems that need a reform, and also to sweet sandwiches.

We arrived at our car, packed it up, and drove off. It felt slightly anticlimactic, I felt melancholy (in the theme of Midnights, I guess), but as we drove onto the motorway of Toulouse, Teenage Dirtbag by I don’t know who was put on, and Allegra, dad and I sang along, even though I don’t actually know enough words, which did lift my spirits. It was no Mr. Brightside by the Killers though, I’m still hoping that one will play because I actually love it and we are listening to dad’s “Big D Rocks” playlist, so there’s hope yet!

I’m going to end this blog here because that is where I’m at in my day, because it’s 1:30 am, because I’m so tired and because the driving is making my typing go crazy and my eyes are too tired to pick out the mistacos.

Honorary mention today goes to Mum and Dad for organising such a bopping trip, Greece was 10/10, I’m glad we did this, and I had a great time, elaboration on that tomorrow.

Midnights is a perfect album, I recommend listening, especially to my personal faves, The Great War, Lavender Haze, Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, Dear Reader, and Hits Different.

Peace right out.

Cheeeeese!!Read more