Jesus in a tree

One of the Rules of our apartment was ‘Do not allow anything out of the compartment.’ Oh, how we laughed every time we tried to stop Bev leaving.

Last night, before retiring, we stopped off for an espresso at one of the numerous cafes on Via Carbonara. While sitting, sipping and generally recovering from our Bellini feast, Anthea noticed something hanging from the rubber tree behind us. Imagine my joy when it turned out to be a little crucified Jesus! Here’s John’s photo of it:

Nailed to a rubber tree

It ended the day perfectly.

This morning, our last in Naples, started bright and sunny. John and I met at the usual early hour and went for a morning coffee to be joined half an hour later by Anthea.

It was all very jolly, especially when Anthea tipped them €2.50. Well, the owner came rushing out and took her hand in his and did all but bless her. It felt like a bit of an overreaction and was hilarious because of it.

Back at the apartments some of the Weasels were moving around and threatening to go shopping…which some did. If nothing else, Jon needed a lacy mask for reasons everyone was too polite to go into.

John, Sarah and Anthea went for breakfast leaving me to write the blog post for yesterday.

Last night Lex had asked me if I could take back to the UK a tin of tomatoes for him. The reason he asked me was because I was the only person with checked baggage and it would be impossible to secret in hand luggage because the security camera would highlight the fact that a dangerous weapon was present. Of course I said yes…after some teasing and general Weasel nonsense. This morning, Lorna came into our apartment while I was packing and I asked her to get the tin so I could pack it, which she did. All well and good but when we reached Gatwick, I mentioned the tin and both Bex and Lex bemoaned the fact that they had had to leave it behind. When I said the tin was actually in my bag they were speechless with delight. For a bit. They were then chatty with delight.

But there was a way to go before we reached Gatwick…

Leaving the apartment at the allotted check out time (11am) following a thorough inspection by Angela, rather than take the old ‘establish a base camp and send out a scout to procure bus tickets’ option it was decided to go the more post-modern route of ‘find the worst part of Naples with the most traffic and the largest population of homeless people selling scary toys’ option. The search found us almost back to where we started and we settled in for beer in a cloister. As you do.

The guy at the back is trying to convince us to come and see a violinist performing tonight

From the cloister it was but a short rolling stroll to Mimi’s for a final delicious Italian meal before heading for the airport bus. Sadly it was here that disaster struck.

Naples, after feeling so nice and welcoming and, dare I say it, cuddly, decided to live up to its third world reputation by stealing John’s phone. Of course John blamed himself because it was in the wrong pocket but I feel certain it was the fault of the scum sucking shithead who ‘accidentally’ bumped into him. The bastard also managed to get his bus ticket which was also annoying.

It almost put a rather awful full stop on our weekend in Naples but, being Weasels, we eventually forgot about it and decided our lives are a lot better than some loser who has to steal mobile phones for a living.

Anyway, the trip home was marked only by my not having to wait longer than six minutes for any of my 34 train changes and I was home in plenty of time to pick up the puppies.

A bit of important travel advice
When wanting to check-in at the airport, it’s a very good idea to make sure the traveller has a ticket booked for the day of travel and not the next.