5am in the morning. I felt full of life, exhuberant really.  The thought of being on a beach, out of the city, filled me with glee.

‘I’ve never seen so many green lights on Edgeware road – unbelievable!’.  ‘It’s your lucky day!’ my taxi driver shouted joyously in response.  He was full of chat – where was I from, him – Nairobi, Kenya – ‘a beautiful city’. 

‘Thanks so much’ I said as he delivered me to Victoria in one piece. ‘I hope you come back roaring like a lion!’ he replied.  That really tickled me.

A charter flight, full of male stag parties with really savoury things written on their t-shirts – not.  Already down 3/4’s of a bottle of Jack Daniels, by the time we arrived at Corfu airport, all their shirts were off. How sweet, I thought, benevolently as I watched them passing cigarettes to each other on the luggage carousel.  I was on holiday.  Nothing could dampen my spirits.

A man came up to me:  ‘Excuse me, are you Tina?’ For a minute I wondered if I’d inadvertently arranged a blind date at the airport – stranger things have happened.  ‘It’s just you really remind me and my wife of a friend we haven’t seen for 20 years’.  ‘No’ I said laughing.  How entertaining!

I arrived at my destination.  Carol said ‘Welcome to a hot and sticky Corfu’.  Suddenly I remembered, I needed some A/C in my room and I didn’t have any cash.  I also remembered that M had told me the only cashpoint in this resort never worked.  Carol reiterated that: ‘You’ll have to go into Corfu town in the morning to get some money – the bus timetable’s on the wall’.  Damn and drat, I thought as I envisaged the first day of serious sunbathing slipping away.  ‘Several people have tried that cashpoint today – but no joy’ she continued. 

But, wait a minute, hold on a second – wasn’t today my lucky day?!  I headed up the street to the infamous hole in the wall – thinking positive thoughts.  We eyed each other up.  I punched in my number. It thought for a minute or two. Then, hey presto the delightful whirring noise of holiday play money being dispensed.

I returned to my hotel and told Carol about the green lights.  She laughed. ‘Now I just need to go get one of those anti mossi things’.  She turned around and produced one from the cupboard: ‘Here take this, someone left it behind – and don’t worry about the deposit for the A/C’. I thanked her, very much.

Could things get any better, I wondered as I turned to go, and there in front of me was a sign saying ‘Karaoke on Wednesday nights’.