Ancient Wisdom

A non-medical post for a change. See what going on Holiday does for you!

And for those that were worried I managed a whole week away without being "outed" once. The fact that it was almost too hot to move and so we spent all day most days in either the pool or the air conditioned bar might have had something to do with it... but whatever the reason a week free of unsightly scars and blemishes and tales of medical catastrophe was most welcome.

As a family we Jests are a pretty unadventurous lot. It took us until last year to brave a non-anglophone holiday with the kids (then aged 9 and 12) unless you count a dismal weekend in EuroDis' some while back, but that's hardly non-anglophone really and anyway it was cold and horrid and half taken up with airport delays and I really don't want to talk about it so there.

We had such a great time last year that we rebooked the same week at the same resort for this year, right at the start of the kids summer hol's, on an island in the Aegean. It's been blissful, if hot, as I said. It was also lovely to arrive back there to be welcomed in the restuarant by our waiter from last year, the redoubtable "George", as though we had never been away. We had very much hoped he would still be there (our little one had quite a thing for him last year-- now supplanted by Captain Jack Sparrow, but I'm specifically not allowed to tell you about that). She's now 10 and he is probably close to 60, very small, and very dapper, and his English is flawless, though he enjoyed teaching her little bits of Greek last year and she enjoyed using them again this year. And the most amazing thing was that he had truly remembered us after all that time and all the people he must have seen in the interim.

This holiday we also got to discover that he is a true philosopher. We flew out last Wednesday, to return yesterday, and we ate in the restaurant every evening except Tuesday when we had a planned excursion which precluded it. That meant that on Monday evening we had to tell George that we would not be needing our usual table ( yes, after just two weeks total spread over 12 months we had a usual table!) the next night and so Moday was our last night in his care.

He looked at us, very concerned, and said, "Only the one week? Still, it's better than nothing eh?"

Earlier in the week we saw him chatting to a three year old lad that had been left at the table by his mum for a moment while she went to get him another drink. George walked up to the table whistling much to the lad's delight. George looked at him and said "Can you whistle?" the lad shook his head. "Then you must learn!" he replied.

The tradition of Sophocles and Plato is in safe hands.

And yes we had a fantastic week, thanks for asking.