Day two: We are woken at 8.30 by an enthusiastic 2 year old. The girlfriend is instantly awake, reminding me in no way at all of her behaviour back home. What a show off! Halfway through the day I switch to paper hankies to deal with my cold. It’s just simpler and there’s no way I’m going to have enough even though we brought the whole lot from home. We splash about in a cold tropical swimming pool, though “cold” could be because by now I’m running a fever. There are people eating chips and hamburgers by the pool, in their bathing suits. Though I can’t smell anything since my nose is blocked shut, the mere thought of eating chips in the smell of chlorine is enough to make me more nauseous. My cough gets worse and it feels like I’m tearing up my throat. I don’t join the rest for an evening walk, but stay home to take some drugs and wash the chlorine from my body. The drugs work and our Terrible Two is –unlike her age- very sweet and caring. We find out the cats don’t miss us at all, in fact they’ve not even noticed we’re gone and have accepted the Strange Man without questioning why he’s suddenly in the house. Nice.

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