Day 9 -- Again?

The buggers got me again in the night!
My forearm has its own bicep (it got a lot bigger than this) and the palm of my hand has also been bitten.
Yes - the palm!
One thing I will not miss is Sicilian, Mafia trained mosquitos

'Mario' was up to his usual workshy tricks at breakfast - until the Maitre d turned up to find out why the queue was out to reception.
The rudeness of the older Italian women is amazing - pushing past everyone in the queue and demanding a table …… and even better - sitting down at a table complete with plates of food, freshly poured coffee and a handbag on a seat. She then started arguing with the couple who had simply gone to the pastries table less than ten feet away.
Unbelievable!

After breakfast it was quiet time and packing before checking out.

We got about a mile from the hotel and a moron van driver drove down the middle of the road and took the wing mirror off the car. He didn't even brake, let alone stop. 
NOT HAPPY!
However, I managed to fit it back together with no sign of damage.

We stopped off at Sicily's "Best Shopping Centre" on the way to the airport.

The worst shopping centre in the world!
It is in two parts separated by the main road. We parked at the smaller part and found that you have to walk round the outside of building to enter each shop individually (weird) The other part is a more 'traditional' layout. SWMBO had been given a discount flyer somewhere ……… nobody in the shops or Information knew anything about it. Obviously just trying to get people to go there … which they certainly weren't when we were there. The look on the face and the body language of a girl in a mobile phone company shop (which didn't actually seem to sell phones) summed it up perfectly ………… bored rigid!


We tried to find a nature reserve which is near to the airport and got lost in a ghetto/favela with the narrowest streets in the world with groups of locals keeping a close eye on the (obviously lost) tourists and an annoying 12 year old and her younger brother on a quad bike who kept appearing and making life very difficult.
How we got out without damage I have no idea, but I now know the exact dimensions of a Ford Kuga and the  quirks of its automatic pickup in 1st and reverse gears intimately.

Managed to get out eventually and back to the car hire pick up/drop off okay and the microscopic examination by the guy behind the counter showed up 'No Damage'.
I'll take that!
I think the thick coating of volcanic dust and grime managed to hide the scuffs to the wheel rim. Just as well they didn't hose the car down first.

Don't fly from Catania airport if you can avoid it. Apart from some of the car hire places being hidden there is almost no seating, no restaurants or sit down food areas, only junk food and sweets …… and not allowed through to the international departures until the flight is called for boarding (and on the passport control computer)  -- that is where there is seating.
Of course, we had arrived early with the intention of having a meal and were met with a delay of an hour. Oh Joy!

One of the departure boards was not working which left just one that everyone was hanging around, which was nowhere near the one announcement speaker - which was really quiet and breaking up. Our flight was never coming up on the passport control board but two later flights were which was a bit worrying. Eventually SWMBO managed to pick up "Manchester" and "boarding" - but people were still being refused entry to the departure lounge by passport control.
Somebody managed to find a staff member who told the passport people that our flight was boarding. An argument ensued because they did not have it on their computer so the passengers couldn't get through. Thankfully common sense/ complaints prevailed and we were let through and straight onto the plane (no time for Duty Free).
Judging by the number of empty seats on the flight I would say there were quite a few people missed it through no fault of their own.
It turns out the flight had been delayed in arriving because it had to divert back to Birmingham to offload an unruly drunk.

Needless to say, when we arrived back in Manchester SWMBO's bag was the last one to be brought off.
By the time we got to the shuttle bus stop for the hotel it had stopped running for the night. A call to the hotel and we were put through to a taxi firm who gave us very confusing directions to the pick-up point. But we found it. It then cost us £9 for the mile trip to the hotel …. plus £3 for the airport pickup charge (which I have since found out were not yet in force).
Thieving Bastards!
The hotel's air conditioning was not working and it felt like the heating was on full blast. Luckily there was a floor standing fan in the room for us.

Last of the Italian shots start here