Lanzarote - Day 5

It's Tuesday... I think. Honestly at this point I've forgotten. One of the wonders of a holiday, the only way to really know what day it is is to find the activities board. "It was Guacamole Monday yesterday so today is Tequila Sunrise Tuesday."

After getting unexpectedly (it was totally expected had I engaged my brain) sunburnt yesterday I decided to sit myself in the shade and enjoy my next discovered book. Someone had left a copy of Adam Hills' Best Foot Forward and so far it's very entertaining. (Note: it's now Wednesday morning and I'm nearly finished. I might have to go on a hunt for more books or I'm actually going to have to read one I brought with me!

Absolutely nothing exciting happened today... nothing... nada... it was wonderful! I'm hoping for more of the same tomorrow.

The one thing I did today was notice things about people... people in general.

I always say to mum that if she's picking a hotel it has to have free WiFi. But these days if you're in Europe the 4G is generally pretty good anyway so everyone can stay connected.

I've still been doing all the things I would be doing on a normal day, just slightly less as there are pools to be swum in, books to be read and cocktails to be drunk. But it's interesting to see how other people are, especially as most of the people here are older.

Yes I know I'm making a horrendous generalisation there. But the oldies are actually worse for using technology than the youngsters are here.

I get down to the bar in the evening and I've either got my book out or I'm scrolling through Twitter while I wait. When others arrive those things go away and I have a conversation. But looking around this evening I was surprised at home many couples were just sitting there on opposite sides of the table with their phones out. The two next to me we're both playing cards games. Why wouldn't you bring a pack of cards and play a game together?

Technology really is a blessing and a curse to socialising.

The other main thing was the state of manners. It takes no effort to be polite to people. A smile. A thank you. Those things are free.

I will always say hello when I pass people in the corridor or round the pool. If I know what nationality they are from previous encounters I'll say it in their native language. Although that has led to issues. More than one has then tried to engage me in conversation later in their native tongue and I have to explain that I basically only know how to say hello.

The amount of people who leave the sound on on their mobile devices is amazing. Think of the complex as a giant cinema, as soon as you enter the lobby turn your phones to silent, some of us are trying to enjoy the movie.

More frustratingly though it's the bubble that's created when you enter your room. I always explore everything, go out into the balcony, hands on hips and take a deep breath of foreign air to smell the sea and the person on the next balcony smoking.

Everyone seems to forget that those rooms aren't sound proof bubbles. And last night nearly sent me over the edge.

I laid in bed listening to the woman upstairs who had just arrived. For an hour she walked around her room unpacking... wearing high heels. This is Lanzarote, everything is tile. I can only imagine that she had eight suitcases because I honestly can't explain how she managed to walk around so much. Perhaps she's practicing for a marathon. She also liked to open and close the wardrobe between each article of clothing. For a good twenty minutes the noise was: click clack click clack click clack ssshhhhhh *silence* ssshhhhhh click clack click clack click clack *silence* click clack click clack click clack... you get the idea.

I lay there the whole time thinking about going up there and asking her politely to take her heels off. (I had other suggestion on what she could do with them but that would be rude to write down.) I thought about phoning reception and getting them to call her just in case the room above me wasn't the same as mine but with a three at the beginning. But I'm British, and I was already in bed so I just tutted in the hopes she'd hear me through the flimsy floor and went to sleep.