Anyway here goes with my holiday report.
Check in at Manchester was smooth, allocated good seats in Premium.
Flight left almost on time and was smooth and uneventful untill approaching Dabolim when the pilot told us that he was unable to land owing to poor visibilty and had not enough fuel to circle untill visibility improved and was intending to divert to Mumbai for refuelling.
At the last minute visibility cleared and we landed in a hurry.
Immigration, customs etc were easy and fairly quick as was baggage reclaim.
Outside(with porters) to the taxi we had arranged, as there were 4 of us we had arranged a big car at a cost of £20. turned out to be Toyota Shogun, so although a bit dear we were well satisfied.
arrived at the phoenix park to be told that one room was ready but not the other. we were directed to go have breakfast while we waited. Took about an hour and were given a back room, 1st floor in the reception block, which was a bit dark with no view but we figured that it would be quieter than one at the front so were OK with it.
Unpacked, chaged and showered and off to the beach for about 10.30 to be welcomed by lots of old friends (who still wanted us to look at their rubbish)and arrived at Monicas shack in time for a cold Fosters and a warm sunbed.
First night we ate at Flambe after being welcomed by old friends Paul, Lala and Mitratej. The food was as good as ever but a new item was the dancing after the meals were finished. Diners were encouraged to join in with the Indian style dancing, after the style of greek and turkish bars.
Good fun for one night but I wouldn't want it every night.
Second morning started with a visit to Eyesite under the magnum to arrange for eyetests and new specs, then on to Monicas for a hard day of holding down a sunbed. Snacks and beer usual minimal cost but noticed lots of Russians who are not very popular with shack owners etc.
Lots of beach sellers who spotted the white skin and zoomed in on the fresh meat!
Dinner second night was at Ice and Spice which is now on the road to the Prazeres. Food was not bad but sevice was poor and slow. Not as good as last year.
Next morning was to Ashwem with old friend taxi driver Frances, up to Golden Goa nice and early (ish). The beach there has changed a lot and now has a lagoon on it which reduces the amount of sand available for sunbeds.
tea time saw us back at the opticians, eyes tested with computer and 4 pairs of specs ordered at a cost of £340.
these included, 2 pairs of varifocal, reactolite light weight plastic lenses with titanium frames and 2 pairs of single vision sunglasses, Evelyns had designer frames which accounted for £20 of the bill .the sunglass frames I had were simple but had spring arms so were still good quality.
Incidentally if you go there they are reluctant to accept visa, preferring cash.
Evening time was ordering the ring , Evelyn was pleased with her choice and design alterations. So was I because a pleased wife means a happy husband! (and also the price was good)
Across the road to Titus Italian Restaurant behind beach rd.
Nice quiet meal in pleasant surroundings and I swear that the resident dog, Beckie, remembered us.
Back to the pool for usual nightcaps........... and we missed breakfast again.
Quiet day on the beach and evening we went to Ffloyds, (not sure which is which, Ffloyds and Ffloyds hut but we went to the one on the same side of the road as Magnum hotel).
Service was APPALLING although food was OK. I have never been in a restaurant that was so slow.
Drinks around the pool and ......... missed breakfast again.
Today was Frances' job to take us to manderem beach, for a severe chill out day. Lovely and clean and very peaceful, looked like the Russians hadn't found it yet.
Ate tonight at the Curry House at the front of the Magnum. Only a snack really so can't comment on food but the singer there, Nellie, is very good indeed if you are into easy listening classics and light jazz.
She also sings at the Jazz corner and Riverside at Baga.
Can't remember the next day, so I assume it was another hard day on the beach but evening was back to see Beckie at the titus italian.
Must have been a good night because..............we missed breakfast again.
Next day was another trip to Ashwem , just for a change!
On arriving back at room the bathroom was flooded owing to toilet cistern being cracked, so we were moved to a room on top floor at front of reception block overlooking pool and though we were a bit concerned about late noise we had no problems.
Losing track of days now , but think that this is when we went to wash the elephants etc.
Did this with Frances instead of organised trip and got to Spice plantation/ Elephants before the crowds while it was cool and quiet
Frances then gave us a bit of a ride around to see some other sites which didn't really interest us but passed an hour or two. He was really surprised when we came back via the fish market near the ferry to panjim when I shouted out "stop!" and jumped out of the taxi to go talk to truck drivers and look at their trucks (I know its sad but I like trucks!!!) Got some good snaps of them and climbed in the cabs too. the drivers were really impresssed that tourists were interested in them but didn't understand when I tried to get them to joing the TGWU
That night we went to eat at Souyems Kitchen at Calangute.
Brilliant, fantastic, 5 star. can't recommend this restaurant enough.
For those of you who know After7, then Chef Souyem used to be the chef there. A bit dearer than other restaurants but well worth it. He also has a nice wine list, we had Blush Zinfandel from Sula wines at 900 rps a bottle and it was great, just puzzled by why it was in with the red wines.
Good menu with some unusual starters including crabmeat with apple, and a really brilliant caemembert souffle, good choice of mains but the steaks are very good indeed
HAD BREAKFAST,
. The bacon was rubbish, sausages were cold (not cool, but cold) and beans were only warm......... but the fresh made eggs were good. usual selection of Indian breakfast items as well as cereal, fruit etcNote to Phoenix Park, new toasters would be a good idea.
The rest of the holiday followed the same pattern........... beach during the day and a good meal on evenings.
Another really good restaurant was The Bistro near the whispering palms, a good idea to book there. A nice touch is the upstairs terrace for after meal drinks.
Returned to room after this evening to find that the bathroom was again flooded, same as the first one, a cracked cistern. managed this time by simply turning water off when not required as we couldn't be bothered moving again.
One more day at Monicas shack watching the River Princess, listening and smelling the jetskis which seem a bit more intrusive this year and in the evening we went to Jazz corner to listen to Nellie (Nelita) sing, we both had lamb (goat) curries which were good and not overfacing.The rotis were exceptional here.
It was entertaining for all when something black and hairy flew down the front of Evelyns top and everyone was treated to a view of her bra before dashing to the toilets to check for strangers in her clothes.
Nellie interrupted her singing to tell me to stop laughing at SWMBO.
While talking to Nelita I commented that the keyboard player that was accompanying her was a bit loud and was swamping her, to which she replied " then tell him to get his fat ,******,
fingers off the keys" Oh dear she says " have I shocked you?" 
Getting to the end of the holiday now and time to pick up glasses and diamonds. All were as good as expected and SWMBO was really pleased with ring, so was I as it was cheaper than we had agreed.
And to be fair it does look good (but still think that Zirconas would do the job as well)
Ate at Flambe so as to be able to say goodbye to friends there.
So, to the last morning and off to the airport at 4.00 and we were the first in the queue. Porter wanted tip for putting luggage through security etc and jokingly (?) told me that premium passengers paid more for porters than others............... Not this one!
Then came the delay.
Only an hour though, owing to a drunk boarding the plane in Manchester and assaulting crew and then police who came to remove him.
Toilet boy had the cheek to ask for a tip for washing my hands and suggested that £1 was a reasonable amount !!! cannot print my response.
I managed to break the toilet while there.
It wouldn't flush so I took the lid off and used the jug and tap to fill cistern, but knocked the top on to the floor, so it broke and when I bent down to pick it up my knee caught the seat and broke that off as well. so that comes out at 3 toilets broken this year. Good flight home and only 30 mins late as pilot made up some time. Also the meals on First choice were not bad.
Seems a long time ago already, looking forward to next year.
PS wore my wristband all the hols and never saw another, same with luggage tags. Visited Lazy days but no one in and were unable to get a table , so had a couple of drinks and left!
