Trek

Hands up anyone who, on hearing the words 'Beam me up Scotty'* didn't think, 'Hmm, good idea'?

As I thought - looks like a vote in favour.

I do travel hopefully and I am looking forward immensely to a week on a Greek island - but faced with the contents of the wardrobe, a suitcase straining at the seams and a flight leaving in the early hours, find myself wholeheartedly in favour of more R and D in the field of teleportation. Oh, the joy of finding myself in an instant on the picturesque quayside in Loggos, watching the sun go down over the Ionian, cool G and T to hand and lip. Dream on. The long and winding queue at Liverpool airport is a more realistic proposition.

Hens have been moved to fresh grass - in the hope they will concentrate on pecking the green sward and not each other. Plants watered, tomatoes picked, neighbours briefed. I've wiped, dusted and swept - even behind the dogs' beds - though gawd knows why, there's no one to appreciate my labours. Knickers and t shirts counted and cases packed. Dogs have gone to kennels - the brown one with a backward glance to break a husband's heart apparently. (Remember, he's a dog. Kennels is what dogs do. Don't even contemplate a dog on a Greek island - too many cats for a start...)

All being well, at this time tomorrow night we shall be tucked up in our Ionian apartment. I won't say 'comfortably' as Greek beds seem too closely related to planks of wood for that description, but we'll sleep well enough. Outside the sky will be clear, its blackness pierced by millions of twinkling stars. We will hear the suck and flow of the flat but restless sea through the open window. Tomorrow there will be olive groves to trail through, kalimari to nibble at Spiros' kantina on Levrechio beach and the prospect of a week's idleness ahead.

I'll be back before you know it. In the words of some Trekkie or other:
'things must come to an end!
May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet..."
Can't say fairer than that.

*For the sake of accuracy, Captain Kirk never actually said those immortal words - but that's another story.