Holiday

When I book a holiday I'm never too sure what I am going to get. I was expecting a bit of sophistication  on the Costa Smeralda and had packed a number of good dresses. For the past few years the hotels that we've stayed in have been staffed by young people from many countries and English has been the common language. But this hotel was small and unpretentious and we were the only English visitors. The staff were local Sardinians with a very scanty grasp of our language. The other guests were mostly  families from mainland Italy. GREAT! It was just like being back in the fifties! Mealtimes could be a bit of a guessing game, even when they provided us with an English menu. What do you expect to eat when offered 'smooth hound'? A short-coated dog?
It was fish.
I had bought a new suitcase for the hold after the airport fiascos of the spring holiday. Regular followers will know that I usually travel only with an in-flight bag, but on the last trip, because I also had a small handbag, my case had to go in the hold. Add to that annoyance, my carefully tissue-packed clothing was searched in a very heavy-handed manner until they found my chunky necklaces.  So this trip I packed the new, larger case. Far too much stuff, I hardly wore any of it and the good dresses just hung on their hangers. It was all about the beach and the sea.
In the morning the sea was calm

and a pleasant onshore breeze came each afternoon to stop us overheating. 

There was fruit and plonk in our room.

That's a good way to cut pineapple!

And our shady little terrace a good place to eat it.

Simple clothes

and simple pleasures were the order of the day.

And the food was good.

I bought this Sardinian speciality to try at home.

We knew that at the end of the week we would be returning to autumn weather so we soaked up as much sand, sea and sun as we could - last ones on the beach!