This weeks Word Of The Week just has to be Manic, as that is the only word that I can think of that comes close to describing how crazy the past week has been.
Why The Word Manic?…
July and August are the busiest summer months on Zakynthos, the island gets really busy as people flock here from all over Europe to enjoy the long hot summer days, beaches, local hospitality and just to get away from it all. I can’t blame them as the island is stunning and if I didn’t live here I would probably choose to spend my summer holidays in a place like this too….Maybe that’s why I moved here in the first place.
Things like shopping or going anywhere by car can take three times as long as it does out of summer season, just because the roads are so busy and there are so many people. Added to that is the fact that many of the British tourists hire quad bikes and mopeds to get around, and travel at dangerously slow speeds because they aren’t used to driving such vehicles, which just makes getting anywhere really frustrating.
The Past Week…
We are roughly six weeks into the ridiculously long school summer holidays – the children usually go back to school in the second week of September – but that does not mean that our life has slowed down in the least. Oh no, in fact it has gotten a little busier and this past week has been the craziest week of them all.
Due to his disorders, my son, Gregs has several therapies each week, which means me driving him there, waiting for him then diving home, which can take anywhere between an hour and half to two hours in total. As he is on school holidays and we would like a total break from any therapies for at least three weeks in August, – to be honest I don’t know if I could muster up the strength to leave the house and face the hoards in August! – we have increased the amount of times he has therapies in July, to make up for what he will miss in August. Which means sometimes having to brave the traffic into town twice a day.
The past week has been manic as not only have I been running around with Greg’s, but Catherine, my daughter, has been working towards taking her final ECDL exam; which was yesterday. Which has meant having to take her to her computer school in town several times over the past week, so she could take her mock exam and do practice tests.
In six days I played taxi into town at least ten times. I hate driving at the best of times and cannot park to save my life. I had a constant sick feeling and headache just from having to face town and it’s craziness….But it’s all done now.
Catherine passed her final exam of the course easily, which made the extra effort worth while and Greg’s only has one more week of therapies until we stop for August….Big Cheer!
After this next week, the next time I will have to face town will be September, when the island will have started to calm down again…Big sigh of relief.
Don’t Get Me Wrong…
I have been lucky enough to have lived my whole live in holiday hotspots. In places of extreme beauty, where people flock to spend their holidays. I grew up in Devon, England, spent a few years in St. Francis Bay, South Africa and have lived on a Greek island for almost half of my life.
Many people living in these areas rely on tourism for there livelihood, us included.
I know that once the tourists have gone we get the island back, to enjoy at our leisure, so I don’t begrudge tourists coming to the island. I just hate having to go out and face them. In August, I don’t want to have to leave the house unless absolutely necessary; for grocery shopping and late evening swims.
I Survived The Manic Week…
And only have a norml-ish busy week ahead, then I can hide the car keys in the bread bin and don’t have to go into town for at least three weeks!
How has your past week been? Do you live in an area that has a tourist season? Do you like to hide under the bed or go out and join them? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
Thank you for reading.
Copyright © 2014 Debbie Roberts.
© 2014 – 2015, Debbie. All rights reserved.
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