And then there were three...

Clare. Window. ✓

That was definitely thunder.

Somewhere in the distance the heavens were making their presence felt and guaranteeing that Split won’t be packed out with happy sun seekers sitting drinking coffee and smoking they cigarettes. I lay there listening to the wind crossly building to a fury as a harbinger to the coming rain. I won’t complain, it was forecast and very much the norm for this time of year.

I drifted back to sleep. Rather than me booking in to a hotel in search of much needed rest we’d swapped sleeping arrangements, which was incredibly kind though it had lead to us cackling late in to the night and flirting with naughty winez.

A cacophony of bells woke me next. I presumed - wrongly as it turned out - that not was about 8am, but clearly not as I drifted away again only to be woken by Clare’s alarm going off. Why? Well today really was her first day at University! So the bells starts earlier than in Castiglione del Lago. But they add to the ambience and have been here an awful lot longer. Plus she’s not opposite the bell tower so a far gentler sound.

It turned out she hadn’t heard the bells but had woken suddenly just before 8am, heard the wind, panicked about the non-tumble-dry washing that was outside, ran for the door and then her 8am alarm started , so she ran back to silence it before scooting back out to stop my silk gussets flying all over Split. As it turned out they hadn’t as they AREN’T THAT BIG.

Nor can they be used for semaphore as she suggested to solve the internet access issues.

As I sat slightly dazed making a cup of tea Missy ran around looking increasingly frantic as University started at 9:30 and she seemed to be marathon running to get ready. However she did discover that the bathroom heater was actually hotter than the surface of the sun, or at least warmer than the grill and can be used to toast bread. Handy. It did occur to me later in the day that the lettuce we had at lunch also produced more heat.

It was during these antics that I decided that what I would do for the day is dress, wander to a coffee shop with the iBastard and write. Oh and learn some new Croatian. Apparently though if I was to say, “gosh I’m hot” I shouldn’t as it would be badly lost in translation. And I’d get in to trouble.

Oh.

I’ll ignore her suggestion then as let’s face it she’s probably trying to get me in to trouble anyway and I imagine I shouldn’t help. It also turned out that for her first day she might have had a head that was operating at less than 100% efficiency. The following supporting evidence was noted 1) the first bottle of plonk was 1L and not 750cl, 2) the cleaning pixies had been and cleaned the kitchen and neither of us could remember them turning up to perform this magic 3) see (1).

I’m sure she’ll be fine.

Finally sorted in the bathroom she shot out demanding to know what she would wear before wailing that “It doesn’t matter I’ll sound like a dick”. Now this is unfair, it’s been a huge undertaking and the sort of risk most people wouldn’t be prepared to take. In other words she was as ever being too hard on herself so I pointed out “No, you’ll sound like somebody that’s following their convictions, chasing their dream and doing it”.

So there.

However, do you remember the missing iPhone issue yesterday - on the kitchen work top as it turned out - well a bit like that though without the benefit of making her learn about the finder thing, well anyway she suddenly swung round holding a plug adapter in her hand demanding to know if I’d noticed it. I had. What I didn’t realise was that attached to it was her iPhone charger. The one she thought she’d lost somewhere between the ferry and here. It was there all the time mocking us. Mock. Mock. Mock.

It really was turning in to a classic Contrary Towers day, the airhead was truly strong in us both and apparently her hair is better as even London water sucks. I do believe that she might not have a problem staying here for a while, if not for the better water then for the piss taking flatmate that makes not of every digression…

Just before Clare started on her commute from hell - maybe ten minutes via Diocletian’s Palace in an otherwise beautiful town, the hardship, someone start a campaign - there was one last thing that made us both stop…

Monty Python was mentioned on Croatian radio.

With that she scurried out in to the now torrential rain and I padded off to try and make myself look half presentable. Unfortunately it’s also a bit of an impossible task.

You might be shocked to learn that things never quite worked out, I was just out of showering when I saw I had a message to say she was finished already and was on the way back, so much for a scamper around town and an excuse to write in a beautiful square.

But worry thee not, she turned up with bread and a sweet bun filled with jam.

I learned a new phrase today. You know those sweet buns with icing down the top? Well apparently they are called cum buns. In Herefordshire. At least the part of it where missy grew up, to be honest this might not come as a surprise to anyone. This little fact came about when describing the taste and texture of the sweet bun with plum jam - pekmez od šlyiva - filling. There may have been cackling. I also learned she can’t be trusted to buy bread as what she brought back had what can only be described as having an interesting shape once one begins to slice bits of.

The girl is obsessed.

To this was added dirty cheese, sliced tomatoes and pepper. Followed by great lumps of the perfect sweet bun. No pictures from me though as my phone was sitting in the corner thinking about what it had done that displeased me so.

Breakfast done we piddled around for a bit before realising that the rain had finally stopped and we made to go for another walk around the park. The park where there is a huge altitude difference and most of that is done over a very short distance. There wasn’t a lot of conversation going up the squillion or so steps. But I can tell you it was very tiring. Still it was good exercise and meant that when we eventually rolled down the hill we’d be able to have lunch.

Now we’re talking.

During the walk we unexpectedly came across something neither of us had seen before. Caterpillars in a long line, nose to tail, not that I know if caterpillars have either noses or tails, but you know what I mean and if you don’t maybe you should go and read something simpler or at least easier to understand. I’m not sure if it was a caterpillar congo or they were all trying to mess with the head of the lead caterpillar, but it was fascinating. Especially when Clare accidentally breathed on them and three rolled in to balls in unison. I didn’t think her breath was that bad. It wasn’t like this was a one off either, once we knew what to look for we came across several caterpillar trains. So if you know what these are do please comment below or sent details on Twitter. 

It was a good walk, if you ignore the bit where I could barely breath and it means we now know that the circuit is circa 3.5miles, perfect for running exercise by the fit one.

Lunch. You may recall that yesterday we bought a chicken from Lidl, a regular Contrary Towers staple. This was bunged in a pan last night and roasted ready for eating today. Some of this was added to the - now named - cock bread along with dirty cheese, ajvar and lettuce, the latter mostly to show willing at being healthy. This was all washed down with lashings of elderflower cordial diluted in fizzy water.

Quite perfect.

Lunch done it was time to sort myself out, jump in the Contrary Clio and head off to Split airport to meet Clarissa who is mad enough to want to join me on the return trip home. Don’t ask what the route is as we’ve not even roughly worked it our other than that we *must* be in Le Havre on the 11th and hopefully be in Versailles on the 10th so I can meet up with an old friend for a long overdue catchup.

Unlike yesterday the traffic behaved itself and I ended up reaching the airport early. So early that it appeared to be closed. As I had time I wandered to the restaurant in search of a coffee. I was literally the only customer there. A while later I finished the coffee, dealt with nature’s call and finally hovered by the gate. According to the arrivals board OU654 was on time with another Zagreb sometime this evening. Seemed fair. Something struck me though, there were lots of arrivals and then I realised, after the 10pm flight *all* were for tomorrow.

Can you imagine?

It was a very quiet airport. Finally Clarissa turned up, I paid the car parking ticket and we ended off to the Contrary Clio which was in the area for people that don’t know the airport layout and are hence too far away. *sighs*

Once back we all chatted for a while before finally going out for a walk around town that would finally end in dinner. It was a lovely evening for it and as we stood by the sea wall Clare realised that the water actually had a sulphur thingie in it. I’d ask her what this is now but she will only laugh. Lots more wandering happened before, finally, we headed back to near her home and popped in to Konobo Marjan for dinner. So glad we did.

The staff are clearly passionate about what they do, the fish options were clearly explained and with the options made we asked for recommendations of a local wine. As you do. I can’t remember much of what was said to describe the individual dishes but suffice to say we ate them quickly. Well worth a visit if you happen to be in Split.

Of course this was the ultimate Contrary House Warming party as a) it was only three people and b) it wasn’t actually in the house. This has never stopped us before. And as the meal drew to a close and the bill was paid we skipped to the supermarket for more wine before padding back to Clares’s to ignore each other as we all blogged what we’ve been up to. Such a social experience. It will be interesting to get a different perspective in the blogs on the return trip!

So here we are, three people firmly attached to their respective pooters and feverishly typing away. Who knows some of it may make sense.

Probably not my writing though.