Day 161 – Dinner at the Palms
We awaited the UK’s announcement of the green list so we can figure out how to return to the UK at the end of our trip. We were disappointed, but certainly not surprised, to see the meagre list of countries that were included on the green list, which means you don’t have to quarantine on return. Four of them are remote British territories which you can’t even get to and three of them are completely locked down. Our only remotely feasible options are Portugal, Iceland, Israel and Gibraltar. But even they come with their issues.
We returned to the pool and found our new friends. They introduced us to a nice family from Slovakia. The guy is a professional hockey player currently playing in the Austrian league. J asked why his face wasn’t more busted up and was told that he is a goalie, so his face is better protected when he’s playing. S also talked to three of the ladies we met at the barbecue night. It turns out they are semi-professional hunters. Two of them had just returned from Africa on major hunts, so they compared notes with S about Africa. They had killed a number of things S wanted to buy. Later on, little Catherine informed everyone that she doesn’t like S because he spends too much time talking to her dad, which means her dad doesn’t pay enough attention to her. S was wounded to the core. After that incident, Scott paid much more attention to Catherine and less attention to S.
The group went to dinner tonight at the Palms while Catherine was having fun with her friends at kids’ movie night. The Palms is a neighbouring hotel. It is very beautifully decorated, but a bit stuffier than the Somerset. A lady was singing for the guests at dinner. We were almost kicked out of the restaurant because our new friend Scott decided to wear a tank top. He was indignant about being singled out as there were many lovely ladies in sleeveless shirts and dresses and he thought he was being discriminated against because of his gender. The vibe was very coupley and romantic, so our slightly boisterous group did not quite fit in. However, we still had a nice time and the food was good albeit the ‘Korean bbq short rib’ was not especially authentic.
We finished the night by the pool, drinking whisky and prosecco. We met a nice group of ladies from Connecticut, one of whom is also one of the original owners of a Somerset apartment. She is somehow related to one of the hunting ladies. We all had a laugh when one of the ladies accidentally fell backwards in her chair. Thankfully a bush caught her fall and no one was injured.
