I hate to be back from holiday. First - you are not there anymore, second you have to start working straight away. 

We arrived back on Thursday morning last week and started to work on Friday morning. Even tho weekend followed but I began my oncall process ( I need to cover my colleague as he is going on a week holiday - moving) so it wasn't entirely free for me.

But anyway, the holiday was awesome. We visited a "third-world country" first time in our life, visited inhabited tropical island, swam and snorkeled with dolphins, sharks, stingrays. Fed fish under water, saw typical countryside, visited cigar factory.

We stayed in a 5 star all inclusive resort, which was wonderful, the variety of drinks and food was incredible, the beach was great, so it was a really pleasant experience.

However the country itself did not get our love. Because it is all about the MONEY. Dominicans were taught to BEG for money in every way its possible. Tips everywhere, additional charges one excursions everywhere, so at the end we became fed up with this approach.

Imagine, when you pay $380 for dolphin encounter and at the end they ask you to pay another $60 for the DVD of the event. To pay tip to the transfer bus driver which was already included in the price and so on. So even tho it was a fantastic journey for us and a wonderful time, but I was happy to come back to the UK. Even on the way to the plane on the airport, a band was playing music and expecting to get money for it. (How can a band get on the runway and play music next to the airplanes I do not understand)

I don't regret at all we spend so much on this holiday, because these experiences made up for it. Imagine when you are in the crystal clear Caribbean sea and wherever you look under water, there are 3-4 meter long sharks around. Fantastic. Imagine when you are holding a stringray (size of a table) in your hand and minutes later you realize it wasn't the biggest one in the water. (saw a giant Stingray with a 2m diameter)

So all of these memories made me forget about the down side of this trip, but enough of the talk, check out the pictures ....

The last couple weeks were nightmare for me at work, but now it is over for a short period. We had lots of things to do, lots of things to organize, police duties, badminton games, great parties with friends, so days/weeks passed rapidly. 

And now we got to the point where by this time tomorrow we'll be sitting on a plane flying towards Dominican Republic. We really needed this exotic break, needed to get out of this work and spend a week with only relaxing and not running around.

Unfortunately our ordered coral/reef shoes did not arrive by this date, so will need to ask for a full refund also need to investigate with the post office what the hell happened. 

But apart from this, we are happy and cannot wait to leave to Gatwick tonight. My brother will move in to our flat and look after the flat/cat so at least this is one thing we don't need to worry about. 

So, summer clothing packed, scuba diving accessories packed, sunglasses, digital cameras and everything you would need for a great holiday packed. 

"See you" when we get back

The weekend was great, however as usual too short. On Saturday we went to the bank, as I had an appointment with a financial advisor, and I signed myself up for an income protection. The deal is quite good, if on any health reason, I become to be unable to carry out my job, I will get £900 tax-free income each month, until I am 55 years old. I needed to have this security, because doing policing is not a life insurance. There is a high risk I can be injured which would turn our life upside down. I know the police federation would pay an amount for me each month but that would not be enough. However this £900 extra would be just the money to survive with until I get better. So it is a good feeling to know there will be something to fall back on. The policy of this deal is quite flexible, I can increase and decrease the amount any time, it is entirely up to me. And it does not cost much for me each month. Probably when we will have children and mortgage I will increase the income protection, but at the moment this is fine.

Then we went to our travel agent to order Dominican pesos, where I needed to lecture the advisor, that there is an import/export limit (20K) in pesos. She had no idea. (and she is dealing with these every time) Incredible how incompetent people can work in important positions. 

Saturday afternoon went to play badminton. 10 of us were around to play for two hours, it was absolutely great. Also we got Mrs. Smith's bicycle "serviced", and got rid of our "old, Manchester free-cycle" microwave oven, because her parents sent a parcel from Hungary, with our "home" microwave in it :)

On Sunday, we spent the day cleaning, and had a "gettogether" from 16:00. 12 people were invited, from all ages. Our cat was chased around in the flat by two little girls who enjoyed it very much. Unfortunately the cat didn't. :) No harm done, tho. We had great fun, ate a lot, drank a lot, played card games, so enjoyed it very much. The last people left at 21:00. Half an hour later I needed to work, I had an out of hours job to carry out on our voice switches. Unfortunately as it did not go well it took longer than I expected, so could finish up at 22:50 :(. 

We finished watching a movie we abandoned before and went to bed at midnight. I always wonder, how the hell can a weekend pass by that quickly? Why aren't weekdays behaving the same?

I think we have a great team now, a great social life, I would really like this to stay. 

 Where was I ? :)

I had a great shift at the police last Sunday, great cases, blue-light runs which I enjoyed every bits. Incredible feeling, the adrenalin rushes through your body while you are driving through the city with high speed. Absolutely love it.

Then on Monday I went up north to our HQ at work. Stayed over for a night, worked a lot, then got home on Tuesday evening. Traffic was crazy, very busy which made me tired even more after driving 140miles. 

This week was full of work, and because of an unexpected outage I needed to work yesterday until midnight. And when it seems everything is done and finished, another outage is waiting around the corner for me which is gonna keep me busy today.

Also a conference call is scheduled with a customer we could not provide working solution so they are just about to leave us... This week is full of frustration ....

 Another busy weekend is ahead. I will need to go for a haircut, visit the bank, book our holiday (honeymoon), clean the flat, a very good friend of mine is in the UK and will visit us for a couple hours, also I will have the late Christmas drink with my kung-fu buddies. (And this is only Saturday :))

Sunday will be a bit calmer I believe, Mrs. Smith will go to work, I will go policing for a couple of hours.

Monday I will travel up North to my company headquarters and will stay over for the night. Not happy about it, but anyway at least I can bond with my colleagues and not only I will be sitting at my desk at home. 

Yesterday we played an hour badminton after work which was GREAT (probably we will miss this Saturday's training tho). I really love this sport and I can feel getting fitter every time. 

Only this day needs to be survived at work, and after WEEKEND!