Yes, I know. What happened to Day 5? It kind of merged into all the other days. It was wet, it was cold, and I did very little after eating and drinking too much the day before. So here’s the next and final instalment.
As I write this I am back home. Outside the fields are green and everyone tells me there has been a heatwave and the temperaure in Herefordshire has been 6 degrees (Celsius) warmer than southern Italy! And people say climate change is a myth?
Anyway – after a two and a half hour flight, three hour drive and one take away meal later I can tell you about our penultimate day.
After being unable to travel to the Bay of Naples islands on Saturday we finally made it Tuesday and got to Ischia. After the noise and chaos of Naples it was a pleasant change of scene. We had five hours on the island, just enough time to indulge in a slow coffee and pastry, a long lesiurely walk to the castle in the main port, and then a long afternoon meal on a terrace overlooking the Mediteranean. And yes, I know it sounds really tough, but if I’m only doing it to save you all the journey.
We returned in the evening with the plan of returning my daughter to the train station to catch a 10 o’clock train to the town she is staying this year in. But it being Italy, or Naples, or more likely both when we arrived at the station at 9:30 they had sold out of tickets! A train station that sells out of tickets…? So she ran down the road to a tabacharia where you can also buy tickets to discover they had sold out as well. So, nothing for it, she gets on the train anyway even though you cannot buy tickets on the train. If they questioned her she was going to pretend ignorance “I am a poor English girl, no I don’t undertand, sorry” even though she no speaks fluent Italian. Anyway, as it turned out she didn’t have to worry.
After arriving back at the apartment we get a text from her: Train is still in station, they are not sure if it’s going.
Fifteen minutes later: Train is not going. Getting taxi back now.
Her taxi driver gave her a scare by driving her through all the back alleys of Naples and overcharging, but this was now almost midnight so she was just glad to get back to the apartment. This morning at five she got up to catch the morning train so she could return to work. Apparently they had found some new tickets overnight so all is well, and the trains are now running.
Naples and all the other adventures we have had are now a memory. Tomorrow I return to work, but of course this is another long weekend, with the Royal Wedding on friday. Sorry if I am going to disappoint you, but I won’t be watching, not even to see what the dress is going to be like. Instead, I am hoping to get back to writing the next scenes in Cherri Red. Keep reading, and I’ll post again soon with some more updates on the next book.