Mostly lounging by the pool for the most part of the day; the most novel thing was I actually made it up before breakfast to go and have a quick swim in the heated pool with Rachel while Johanna did her morning yoga. Chatted to an English guy in the pool who's an engineer with the UN and has been living in Egypt for 18 years, all very pleasant up until he started going on about how the UK had gone to the dogs due to all the benefits that foreigners were getting, at which point I moved away as quickly as possible...

 

That afternoon Rachel and I went quad-biking in the desert, which I'd done before and found a lot easier going the second time around, and after a shaky start Rachel got into as well. Dusty and noisy, but lots of fun, especially in our small group which lacked any of the wannabe race-car drivers I remembered from last time.

 

In the evening, playing cards and drinking at the pool bar, ended up getting rather pissed with Rachel and staggering back to our apartments.

 

 

Another very lazy day of pool-side action. Rachel and Elaine decided to go on the night-time walk up Mt Sinai to see the sunrise from the top; Johanna and I chickened out and stayed at the hotel when they left at 8pm, had drinks, played a few games of cards and got an early night.

 

 

Woke up very refreshed - woo zopiclone! Nasty taste in mouth for most of the morning - boo zopiclone! More doing very little by a pool, Rachel and Elaine turned up at about 2pm back from their trek, we got them drinks from the bar and they told us all about spending 5 hours in the night climbing to the top of a 7,500 foot mountain in the cold and rain, waiting for the sunrise and them climbing down again.

 

They said it was worth doing, Johanna and I preferred our good night's sleep, morning by the pool, and looking at the photos on Facebook :)

 

 

We were going to go to a water park, but various combinations of laziness and brokeness meant we didn't. Another day by the pool.

 

 

Leaving day, boo! But the flight wasn't till early evening, so apart from packing and checking out at midday, we got to spend another day by the pool (all inclusive) until our lift to the airport just after 4pm. Win :)

 

No excitements on the way home. It was nice to be able to smoke in Sharm airport though, so we had a final drink while I chain-smoked in the K Lounge, which we all found amusing. The flight was ok, took slightly less time than expected and getting out through Gatwick was quick, so after saying goodbye to Johanna and Elaine at the airport Rachel and I got the train back to London Bridge, caught the train towards our respectives houses and separated at Lewisham, from where I got a cab back to mine.

 

--

 

Much sleeping Thursday, along with unpacking, washing etc. Friday, mostly vegging as well, with a few lines of ketamine one of my housemates bought back home from his night out. Saturday I vaguely had a look for somewhere to live for myself and Danny, then almost went out but didn't. Sunday, nothing.

 

I went back to work on Monday and was pleasantly suprised to only find 7 new Mantis tickets started while I was away; far less than the two-dozen I'd predicted in my last diary. So far it's been a quiet week which is good; tonight I'm going to a venue in town for a combination of birthday drinks and gig for my friend and the folk/funk/rock band her and her boyfriend are in, which should be fun and nice to catch up with friends I've not seen in a while.