Old Friends

 So it was a bit of a nightmare start to the morning.  I was going to print off Isabel's boarding card as she was leaving for the airport this evening and John was going to check her luggage for weight and get it downstairs for her.  I managed to check her in but the TUI website resolutely refused to let me download or email the boarding card so I couldn't produce it.  Worse when John got to Isabel's her hand luggage was overweight and her suitcase was over 30 kilos and TUI wont accept a bag over 25kgs even if you pay the difference it has to go in another bag.  We couldn't log her on to add more bags and she was getting completely stressed out.  We could do nothing more this morning because we had Mum, Jackie and Costas (Tea for Two) coming for lunch.

We have not seen them for ages.  Jackie has had poor health for the last two or three years and then recently a balcony collapsed above one of their restaurants causing injury and damage.  Thankfully all these things seemed to have been resolved and so it was nice to have them here to relax although it is always a bit daunting cooking for someone whose livelihood is an eating establishment.

We were having fish - John and Costas had the whole sea bream with head and tail, Jackie's was filleted and I had got cod loin for Mum and I joined her with that so she would feel singled out.  We baked the sea bream in lemon, oregano and butter and the cod was poached and served with a traditional veronique sauce which I know you normally have with sole but I had grapes that needed using up.  I did a Greek Salad and a beetroot and orange salad and we had new potatoes although Costas let me down as he is on a health kick and isn't eating carbs so we have lots of bread and potatoes left over.

We had a lovely afternoon and it is good to see Jackie looking really well again.  Hopefully there will be no more disasters befalling them and we can get together again soon.  They kindly picked up Mum and dropped her back.

Isabel was being taken to the airport by her neighbours Iris and Andros.  By the time Mum, Jackie and Costas had left just about everybody that Isabel could contact had tried to get her boarding card with the same result as we had.  I contacted Iris to warn them that there was an issue and that they would need to go into the airport with Isabel to explain about the boarding card and to deal with the excess baggage which when we weighed it was about 15 kilos and could have cost another 300 euros if they had charged her the going rate.  We packed up everything Isabel was taking and John put it in Andros's car because he is recovering from an eye operation and isn't supposed to lift - certainly not a heavy suitcase or two.

We then left Isabel to collect her thoughts and do a final sweep round whilst we accepted Iris's invitation to go across and have a drink in their amazing garden with its unbelievable view.

We had not expected to stay long but in the end were chatting and by the time we had finished the sun had set and it was only going to be a short while before they were off to the airport.  They had to wait for the company shipping Isabel's dog to come and cage him for the flight.  We had fingers crossed that it would be ok at check-in and were pleased with Iris text to say Isabel had gone through to departures and they had felt sorry for her at check-in and had not charged for the additional weight which was a result.  Bon Voyage Isabel - may you be surrounded by friends and family after you two years of being so isolated.