There are some liquids you shouldnt mix!

Tuesday 24th August: RATS!!! I knew I should have done some writing over the weekend. No WIFI at the campsite means I have been a little lazy at keeping up with my writing. I am wandering around in my thoughts at the moment. Now, we are at a WIFI spot and I have nothing already written. RATS AGAIN

Anyway in response to Linda's request, living in the Snail is great. We are sleeping in 'The Loft'. Its the pull down bed that is already made, its not 100% comfortable and Im squished at the winscreen side, which not much room at the top. I have about 30cm from the top, so its a bit squashy. We cant sleep on the other bed because the paragliders are on it. :(

With regards to the washing, we have an inverter and a solar panel that changes the solar energy into volts we can use. Every now and then we put it on. Its a cool thing with a washing machine one end and a spin dryer the other side. I have been washing mostly by hand. Smalls and such like. Must be love! No ironing Im afraid. Just shake it out and hang it up.

Anyway, here is today's entree:

Tuesday 24th August 2010: Lesson #3. Don't mix white wine, red wine and vodka. No matter how it seems a good idea at a time. My head was banging today. I wished I hadn’t made arrangements to go out shopping today. I spent the morning sleeping and reading hoping that I would sail away into my hangover with relative ease. At 10.30, I heard a knock and I knew I had to surface. One of the wives of a Polish pilot here had offered to take me to a shopping centre. I told her the night before I needed a cool dress in which to absorb the heat in. In her kindness she offered to take me with her. When I got in the car, I realised that we would be going on a detour before shopping. One guy last night, after the drinks we had, decided to play basketball and fell over. This morning he though he may have broken his arm and so we were going to the hospital to check him out. Once I got into the back of her car I knew it was going to be a long journey and was already feeling nauseous. I put on my travel sick-bands around my wrists and waited for them to kick in. They didn’t. I looked at her sat nav. 36km. I wondered what that was in time. I was feeling more sick as time went on. I prayed for my tummy to settle. Then we were pulled over! A policeman had caught us speeding with his raider and now we were pulled over. My friends looked horrified, and the guy with his arm in a sling got out. The Policeman understood that we were on our way to the hospital and was generous enough to let us off. How lucky!

We arrived in Gorica soon after and went to a shopping centre to wait for him to get checked out. Not having a lot of money to waste, I looked fervently with no avail for a dress. Maybe I would find one in France or Spain I hoped. We wandered around looking at the wonderful things on offer and had a coffee. By this time I had lost the feelings of nausea. By this time we found out that the guy needed an operation and would be in hospital for most of the week. Caution: don’t drink and play basketball! All in all it was a lovely day out with a lovely lady and her son. She took me out and helped me pass the day in a different way. We both chatted and laughed in the car on the and I felt happy to be in female company again. I think this is what I am missing the most. I miss being about to pick up the phone and chat to my friends. I miss listening to their days and finding up what they are doing. I miss seeing my friends and laughing and sharing memories. My friends know me at my best and at my worst. I don't have to pretend with them. Sigh. Yes, it’s hard without them.

When we arrived back, I decided to read my ‘Long way round’ book and really got into it in a big way. I found myself thinking about their journey and relating it to my journey. I couldn’t put it down.

We went for a while to a WIFI spot, but because I hadn’t written anything, I had nothing to publish. I only had enough time to check a few emails and then the time had passed.

On the way back, we went to an ‘Aldi’ type shop. . Lesson #4: Buy stuff at this shop, it’s cheaper. We have been eating mostly pate and bread. I say ‘pate’, more like whatever was left over goes in here I suppose, but it tastes good and with lettuce and tomato it’s a good meal. I need to start thinking of more food options. As one of my leaving presents, I was given a camping recipe book. I think it’s for weekend campers, not for ones on long trips. You need things like basil and vanilla pods, all of which we don't have obviously! We tried to make our own - tomato and stale bread soup, but after a few hours we were both rushing for somewhere in particular. Yes, that soup ‘cleared us out’ so to speak!!

When we arrived back at the campsite, it started to rain. Real rain! Thunder and lightning rain! Then we noticed the leak. First it dripped, then it dropped, then it almost poured. The Pilot decided to gaffa-tape the window from the outside. We placed bowl by the leak and watched it plop as we read our books. All was well for a while, but then, something moved, the bike rack probably, and the dripping started again. Again he went out into the storm to fix more bin bags to the outside. All was well again...for a while...then more leaking. By this time, the rain had started to fall harder than I could ever imagine. It rained so hard that I thought the force of it would push us over. Then the Pilot took his tent cover, some cans of coke and a 2 litre washing up bottle outside with him, torch attached to his head. I knew better than to ask what he was going to do, or to stop him.

The leaking had stopped for now, and so to bed I went.