On the wrong foot

An early start for our flight to Lanzarote this morning. We're going to a Spanish wedding and have been invited by Paula's sister Andrea. I hope you're paying attention!

Driving around Barcelona in the rush hour is scary and it all seems to work but you do have to have your wits about you.

We’re in Air Europa, coach, which isn’t actually that bad. The leg room is OK and as it’s a 3.00 hour flight I’ve got my iPod plugged in. Cool.

After upgrading the car to something with air con we make the fifteen minute drive to the hotel.

The Arrecife Gran Hotel is 5 star, the tallest building on the island. I’m writing this from the twelth floor, overlooked only by low flying aircraft. Whilst I have 5 star ambitions, I don't have a 5 star pocket, the reason we are here is because the bridegroom is ‘management’ and we gratefully got a ‘deal’. We check in, and something isn’t right but it’s difficult to put your finger on it. OK, we got stuck into the complimentary wine and forgot about the car parked at the front. We met up later with Joachim, who sat next to us on our flight, and he told us that he’d got a ’ticket’. I went outside to check and sure enough we’d got one as well. Not to worry I said, I’ll park the car and pay the 30 euros. BUT - when you looked closely at the ticket it wasn't for 30 euros but for 300 euros. Welcome to Lanzarote. Bastards. I was really incensed. There were no 'no parking' signs and I took lots of photos to prove it. I’m mad. Generally I’d just have paid the fine, but this is robbery. Day light robbery. 300 euros, the bastards. They pick on an obvious hire car and know that the hire company will pay the fine. I’m up for a fight. Big time. This is outrageous. So I take a long walk to the police station and Jan comes with me. Senor policeman was actually very nice (I always find that in my dealings with police) and told me what to do to get the ticket 'scrubbed'. Hmnnnn. Anyway, back at the hotel Andrea, Friday's bride gets involved and offers to have the ticket 'dealt with' by her hubby to be, Luis, who 'knows' people. Luis is also embarrassed and angry because it's not a good start to their celebrations and he doesn't need this problem outside his hotel. Watch this space, but something deep inside tells me that I'll be paying this.