Play no more

Tear up your poker deck and play no more

Tear up your poker deck 

The first morning of Family Week and everyone was up by 6am. Karen and Mother blamed jetlag & normal routines. Karen is always up that early for work, Mother is a pensioner which makes her legally obliged to be up early so that she can be queuing outside the supermarket or post office waiting for it to open. We had coffee out on the terrace overlooking the crystal clear waters of the bay stretching out across to Cancun. Our first task was to get breakfast, either by finding a local eatery that was open on a Sunday morning or by finding the local supermarket.

We eventually made it to the nearest supermarket, but not after a couple of run-ins with the local wildlife. I spotted a small scorpion while I was in the bathroom. At least I spotted it while I was in the best place to crap myself upon seeing it. In a display of true manliness I placed the rubbish bin over the scorpion. It was a clear plastic bin so I was able to ensure it was still there, trapped and unable to get me while I showered. On the walk to the supermarket Karen nearly stepped on a rather large iguana that was sunbathing in the edge of the road. It noisily disappeared down the grate at the side of the road, making Karen jump and scream. We picked up some supplies and walked back. I helpfully pointed out all the iguanas to Karen so she didn’t step on any.

Once back home we had bacon butties with HP sauce. It was the first time that I had had HP since leaving and it set my taste buds tingling. It went on to my list of things that would need to be shipped over to me should I ever live abroad. Everyone was in the mood for a lazy first day so we decided we would go for a dip in the pool. Mother managed a great bit of comedy timing without realising it. Just as Karen came out of the villa in her bikini Mother announced across the terrace “I’ve just seen a massive bird!”. I turned and looked at Karen and burst out laughing. After we established the fact that Mother had meant a bird of the winged variety we spent the rest of the morning and into early afternoon lazing round the pool, sunbathing, reading and snoozing (with a little bit of snoring from Mother). I had told them that the week would be a fairly relaxed affair and they both seemed to be getting in to the spirit of it.

Punta Sur and the sculpture park

As the afternoon progressed we decided to go for a walk to Punta Sur, the southernmost tip of Isla. It happened to be about a 60 second walk from the villa so it wasn’t too strenuous. At the end of the island is a sculpture park, a couple of shops, a restaurant and the remains of an old Mayan temple, built in honour of Ixchel the Moon Goddess. Punta Sur is the first place in Mexico to see the sunrise, a small plaque on the Cliff of the Dawn marks where the suns rays first fall on Mexico. It was really nice to just be going for a walk with the two of them. I brought them up to date on my travels, explaining what I had been up to since the latest blog post they had read before they left. Having the blog meant that I didn’t have to repeat everything from my entire trip which was good. That said sometimes with Mother you end up repeating things several times anyway. Karen and I always tell her that she is becoming more and more like Granddad every day. I sometimes tell Karen that she will end up like Mother one day. She gets her own back by saying that I will too. I suspect she is right.

Play no more

After out walk round the sculpture park and down along the cliffs we made our way back to the villa. It was cocktail time so we cracked open the booze and some nibbles and settled in around the table out on the terrace to play cards. We started off with a few hands of rummy. After several rounds Mother said she wanted to play something different.

Me: What do you want to play next?

Mother: I don’t know, I only know rummy.

Me: Really? You must know loads of other card games.

Mother: Why?

Me: Well, because your generation played cards a lot, you know, before TV was invented…

Mother: You cheeky sod. We had a TV when I was young.

Me: Was it one of those ones that was the size of a small shed but with a teeny-tiny screen?

Mother: It was just a normal black & white TV. We did have a magnifying screen on a stand that you could put in front of it to make it bigger though.

I knew better than to make any more jokes. After being glared at for a while we settled on playing a game I have always called Newmarket. We would normally bet using matches or pennies but in the absence of sufficient of either we played using packets of Sweet’N Low. Whoever has the Ace of Spades starts the game. It was a game I taught to the girls I went on holiday to Turkey with the previous two years and we had got into the habit of doing head-banging (in the style of Motorhead) whenever the Ace of Spades was played (accompanied by the person playing it singing “The Ace of Spades, the Ace of Spades”). I explained this little addition to Mother and Karen. We had one practice round where we showed our cards, then once everyone was happy with the rules we had a proper round. About four games in Mother proudly started by putting a card down on the table and singing “The Ace of Clubs, the Ace of Clubs”. I went and got more gin, Karen rested her head in her hands in quiet exasperation.

Sunrise over Isla

We enjoyed a nice homemade dinner on the terrace and then watched a film to try and stay awake until a respectable hour at which to go to bed. Playing games, drinking & eating with the family made me think it was Christmas. I think we lasted until nearly 10pm before we all made our way to our bedrooms for sleep. The next morning everyone was up early once again. We were up so early that we could sit on the roof terrace and watch the sunrise over Mexico. It was so peaceful and a great start to the day. Having watched the sunrise we had coffee and breakfast the set out for a walk. We walked the entire length of Isla, which was about 5 miles. It kept us busy for most of the day. We got a taxi back.

Karen and I decided we would go for a bike ride while Mother stayed at the villa. We got the bikes out of the shed and had a little practice ride down to Punta Sur and back. I told Karen to ride in front so I could make sure I didn’t lose her. As we headed back towards the villa my chain came off and I had to stop. I called to Karen but she didn’t hear me and just carried on pedalling. She eventually noticed I was gone & stopped. Having got the chain back on & stopping to wash the grease off my hands we set off again. The brakes on my bike left a little to be desired but I managed. We cycled a couple of miles down the road we had walked down the day before. It was much more hilly than I thought and it was a good workout.

As we made our way back my bike slowly ground to a halt. The back wheel was out of line and hitting the frame whenever I pedalled. My practical skills as a mechanic didn’t stretch as far as being able to realign the bike wheel but I found that if I didn’t pedal and just freewheeled then the bike would go a little bit. The result was me sitting on the bike using my feet on the floor to push myself along. Passing motorists must have thought I was a complete idiot who didn’t know how to use a bike. It looked like I was going for the Fred Flintstone approach to cycling. Karen could hardly see where she was going because of the tears streaming down her face she was laughing so hard. It was nice seeing her laugh so much, even if at my expense.

“Tear up your poker deck and play no more” 
Lyrics from Follow the fold from the musical Guys and Dolls