Summer time is mostly associated with relaxing at a holiday destination, enjoying the sun, drinking cold beverages and having to care about nothing. That was the original plan anyway. None of my plans ever works but hey, if you fail to plan you plan to fail with no style at all. At least this plan appeared to work for the first 24 hours. See I figured I would avoid the August “rush hour” and take my holidays early – mid June to July. A great start as there were no screaming children on the aeroplane and most of the passengers were the usual non talkative unfriendly business types I really like flying with (they are much better than friendly middle-aged people showing you pictures of their children anyway). I even got a rather good price for the ticket – half the money I would have paid if I had made the fatal mistake of going on holiday during the August mad season. After a rather pleasant flight (they did not strip search me in the airport) I arrived in a nice Mediterranean country looking forward to relax. That country was Greece and my destination of choice Athens – one of the oldest cities in Europe.

This is where things started falling apart. I arrived just in time to witness civil unrest of colossal proportions. Moving around the place involved checking who is on strike, which streets are full of rioters, where the police would deploy and which shops were not there anymore because they got burned or looted. I did manage to avoid trouble by spending most of the days there going absolutely nowhere. My average daily travel distance was about 300 meters – the closest cafeteria with air-conditioning. There was not much chance of going anywhere anyway. Quite often streets were inaccessible due to the demonstrations and general unrest. Either that or the means for mass transportation and taxis would be on strike. As an afterthought perhaps I am complaining too much. I guess in a way staying in one place was more relaxing than exploring the city, visiting shops, museums and pubs. Especially true for those special times when there was no electricity (Electricity Company on strike) so there was nothing to do.

Eventually my holidays abroad were over. Still had a few days left but I planed to spend those here in the UK. So there I was, on my way back to a civilised country where riots, Molotov bombs and looting are things that never ever happen, just in time to prove me wrong. Two things have become apparent. Firstly next year I should pack some crowd control gear in my suitcase. Secondly, from now on I should tell/warn friends of my future holiday destinations so that they can take evasive action. Happy summer is almost over everyone. I hope most of you guys selected less interesting places to visit.