Out with the old...

Sandra and I would just like to thank all our family and friends for making this Christmas such a memorable and enjoyable one back in the UK.  It was great to see all those people who we dearly miss and a shame we couldn't get around all of them in the time we had available.  Having said all that I think it probably confirms that we are in fact doing the right thing by being out here especially in the winter months.  Although by last years standards the weather in England by and large was mild for the time of year it really does get you down with being almost permanently dark and dismal.  In fact our two overriding and negative memories of the trip are the dark damp days and the water tasting of chlorine which is a bit sad really.

Morning coffee out in the sunshine.

Our journey back consisted of leaving Sandra's dad's house at 8:30 pm on new years eve for the train from York to Manchester where we had a wait of forty five minutes for the connecting train to the airport.  Five minutes into this latter journey saw the clock hit midnight and we celebrated with a small bottle of champers and a tray of sushi which we had taken with us for the occasion.  Along with a very cosmopolitan group of people, mainly Asian, on the train we toasted in the new year, and watched all the fireworks going off around Manchester.

Last of the daylight at 6:10pm a bit of a change.

Being new years day the airport procedure was somewhat different.  Generally with Easyjet when you do on-line check in, you can just deposit your hold luggage at the special check-in desk and proceed through to the departure lounge but not on this occasion.  The departure lounge was closed and no one was allowed through until 2 am, and our baggage deposit area didn't open until 4am.  This meant we were lumbered with either sitting on the floor as there are no chairs in the check-in area or going to the arrivals hall where there are some but not many.  This stopped us getting any sleep in the airport as we had planned but hey-ho what does sleep matter.

We had a good flight to Athens which was twenty minutes shorter than normal due to a back wind and we managed to get a couple of hours "shut eye" on the plane.  Picked up the car from the long term car park at Athens airport and on for the five hour drive back to Lefkas in the glorious sunshine, beautiful!  Got home at 7:15pm and unpacked and to bed in no time flat.

For the next couple of days we had our daytime meals and coffees etc. outside to try and get back some of the vitamin D which we seem to have lost in our time up north :-) 

Sandra and I would just like to wish everybody, everywhere a very happy and healthy 2012.