The rovers return

We were up and about ridiculously early yet again, sorting out the final bits and pieces which need to be done on a holiday's final morning. Packing for the return home was inevitably much quicker than it had been at home two weeks earlier, we made ourselves a final cup of coffee using our apartment's cooking facilities, we left a token of our appreciation for the cleaning lady who'd been so frequently frustrated by not being able to get into the room on the morning's we hadn't felt too perky, we dropped off our key at reception for the last time, we lugged our cases round the corner and up the street to the corner of the adjoining hotel to wait for the coach to the airport, we gave holiday rep Zana an emotional farewell hug, and then we were on our way to Split airport, along the same road we'd travelled under our own steam a few days before in our hire-car.

The weather had every intention of rubbing in how glorious it was going to be now that the midweek storm and wind and rain had passed, and I developed my usual case of end-of-holiday blues as we got further and further away from Makarska which had been such an ideal base for the past two weeks. Split airport is quite a long way outside the city, so our first feeling that we'd arrive far too early for our scheduled check-in proved completely unfounded. We got a pleasant surprise as we pulled up outside the departure terminal when we spotted the lonely figure of a friend of ours sitting outside right beside where our coach pulled in. We knew Michael was in Croatia too, but didn't realise that he was returning today also. His holiday was very different, being spent crewing on a sailing boat travelling among the many off-shore islands north of Split. He looked and sounded exhausted. They'd finished their sail some sixty miles from Split and had got a taxi at 6.00 am to get this far. He had a grueling day ahead of him, not due to take off until several hours after us and flying via Budapest into the bargain rather than directly home as we did. We spent a pleasant while together in the airport after Carl and I checked in (wonderfully quick thanks to all flights being handled at all desks and the airport itself being quite small), comparing notes about our different experiences before parting around 11.45.

Our flight was scheduled for departure at 11.50 but we were delayed by an hour and a half, which gave us plenty of time to grab some duty-free and have one or two liquid refreshments before boarding. The flight was only about two-thirds full, so we were able to change seats away from the ones we were originally assigned to, which had been right beside an engine and didn't enjoy any view at all. The disadvantage of being a bit awkwardly placed for cabin service in the seats we moved to was far outweighed by the magnificent aerial views of Croatia which we were treated to during the first ten minutes of the flight, which turned out to be remarkably enjoyable despite taking us from the wonderful weather we left and back home to grey, dull and chilly Dublin.

One of the guys in my Music Group marked a significant birthday on Thursday. He was today's host for the weekly session, and he'd invited the Group and other friends and neighbours to join him for food and drink when the music was over. I'd said all along that we'd go straight to his place from the airport provided our flight was on or close to time, so we did that. We got in at 4.00 pm, got a taxi straight to his place and spent the rest of the day (and early morning) having a grand old time. Tiring, but really the ideal way to bring our holiday break to an end. We got back to my place some time around 1.00 am.