That was then…

Can this be true? I am lying in a tent in the arms of my new English boyfriend. I am on a Greek island, the air smells of thyme and all around I hear the woody jingling of goat’s bells as they munch the grass. My relationship with Jed has progressed quickly. He is so not Australian. He has been to Morocco, he knows everything about music. To hear him say ‘Ginger Baaaker’ in his lovely accent gives me such a thrill. He knows every band Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce have ever been in, he loves Hendrix, he knows all about politics, he reads, he walks in the fells, he has long curly hair, he wears walking boots and jeans and a denim jacket with a saffron scarf around his neck, he wears Grandpa T shirts,  he is built like a soccer player. I am in heaven.

Judy is taking it more slowly with Andrew, but they really like each other. I get the feeling she is not too keen on Jed, but she hasn’t said anything.

While Judy and the other travellers spend time in Athens, Jed and I take the ferry to Mykonos. We find a small house to rent from a man at the ferry terminal. It is bare but clean, white like all the houses there, with blue shutters opening on to the sea. I feel as if I am the woman on the cover of Leonard Cohen’s Songs  from a Room. We spend our time there walking and talking, eating little plates of delicious food washed down with Raki.

When we meet up with the others again our high spirits seem to be excessive. An air of gloom hangs over most of the party. When I get Judy on her own, she tells me the Australians, Don and Bill particularly, have run out of money, and are heavily in debt to Bob, who is charging them interest. Then someone had the idea of selling their blood and a doctor with a fag hanging out of his mouth stuck a needle in their veins and took their blood. When Judy was feeling faint, he came and squeezed her in the kidneys to bring her round. I was stunned that my sensible friend had behaved so rashly (It made me feel not quite so bad). But then she told me they had taken the money and put it on a horse at the races and lost the lot.

We travelled back jammed together in the van, all the travellers except Jed and I and Judy and Andrew in a very bad mood. They all agreed it was the worst holiday they had ever had. The crowning blow was when we stopped at a market and they clubbed together to buy a block of spam, which turned out to be halva.

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