The company we have come away with, Silverpoint Promotions have 4 properties in their portfolio in Los Christianos, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills Club, Beverley Hills Heights and Hollywood Mirage. Before I came away, I put in a request to stay at the Hollywood Mirage but as you know, we got allocated Beverley Hills Heights. I am pleased about this, having visited 3 out of the 4 complexes; Beverley Hills Heights is my favourite. It’s quiet and relaxing and not at all presumptuous, like my first preferred option, the Hollywood Mirage. In our apartment, the furniture and fixtures are of good quality but I wouldn’t say they are 5 stars. I am not sure, but I guess it has been around for about 20 years, so although spotlessly clean, it’s certainly not state of the arc or top vogue modern. I have no complaints though, just wanted to point out, that it is not 5 stars.
On Saturday morning after breakfast, we set out to explore Beverley Hills Club which is just below us on the descent down the hill towards the ocean. It is very similar to our complex but we prefer ours because it has a much bigger pool. The layout though is very similar; the only difference is that it has a mini gym and a bowling alley. We went down to suss out the gym, it was very basic and a bit dated but none the less, we signed up for the gym deal which was 15 euros for the week which included one free go on the bowling alley. This price included a free towel for the week. Phil wanted to work on his book so we went back to our apartment, I got changed into my gym kit and decided to go for a quick workout at the Hollywood Mirage. The 15 euro deal entitles you to use any of the other gym complex facilities.
I opted for the Mirage because it had a communal Jacuzzi. The gym was okay, it had techno-gym equipment but it was a little dated. I freely admit, I have been spoilt with DL & DW but the worst thing was that the gym room was tiny, no water, no air con and you were packed in like sardines. I did 10 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes on the cross trainer and 20 minutes on the treadmill. That was enough in the heat and I felt a little claustrophobic. I finished up in the Jacuzzi which was huge and very warm. Whilst I was running, I noticed that the Grand Prix qualifying was on and hoped that Phil had had the sense to turn the telly on early because I knew he thought it didn’t start until midday.
Anyway, I got back to our place, all hot and sweaty only to find Phil sprawled out in a darkened room with the Turkish qualifying blaring out on the flat screen with a beer in mind. It was only 11am but I didn’t mind; I was pleased with him because he had the forethought to prepare a green salad, a fresh fruit salad and all the breads and cheeses plus the cold meets were all prepared for our lunch and in the fridge. What a good boy! He said he missed a little of the coverage but not much. He was in a happy place which was good, because if he is happy, than so am I. Whilst he watched the big screen, I wrote my blog and then when the qualifying was finished we had our lunch.
As Phil had been supping since 11am there was no chance of doing anything much in the afternoon but I did want to post my blog so I persuaded Phil to walk halfway down the mountain with me to find a free Wi-Fi connection. I am amazed that, in these so called 5 star Silverpoint establishments, they have no internet connection anywhere. Its bizarre and just goes to show how dated these complexes are. You can’t even get a connection in reception. We found a good connection in a bar-cum-restaurant called ‘Manhattans. It was an English run place by a very friendly couple. My guess is that this bar is very popular with the local UK-pat community. Phil had beer and I had a glass of wine and managed to post my blog and catch up with emails. We stopped off at the supermarket to stock up but when we got home, we simply listened to music on our balcony and drank sangria. Not very exciting I’m afraid but it was most relaxing and very enjoyable.
Phil was in bed by half seven which left me on my lonesome; I had a bath then watched Britain’s Got Talent then took myself to bed at 9pm. Because Phil went to bed so early he awoke at 3.50am, so he stole the laptop out of the room in the dark and went in the lounge to work on his book. It felt like the middle of the night but thankfully I went back to sleep. Phil was making good progress on his book so rather than stop the creative flow; I decided to leave him to it and went to the gym at the Beverley Hills Club which opened at 9am. It was a fairly sparse gym, 2 treadmills, 3 bikes and some weights. I did a 40 minute run and a few weights and then I was done in. I know I said I was going to lay off the treadmill for a few weeks but it’s hard; god only knows, with the amount of sangria and beer, plus red wine that I have been drinking, what weight I have gained. You can take the gym away from the girl but you can’t take the gym out of the girl, I confess I am an addict.
On Sunday, we decided to go back to Manhattan’s to watch the Turkish Grand Prix live. We were there spot on the dot of midday and straight away ordered the beef Sunday roast. Yes, you’re right and I agree, very English Abroad. Unfortunately for Phil, there was also 2 live football matches but no Grand Prix so he wolfed down his lunch and beer and headed for home leaving me still eating my lunch surfing the internet. I didn’t mind too much, luckily for him I’m not a wall flower and have no reservations sitting in a bar all by myself. When you’re old and wrinkly with a certain worldly wisdom, you don’t mind these things, but I do know that some of my girlfriends wouldn’t have been happy with this.
But nothing comes between Phil and his formula 1, that’s always been the case. I would myself, have liked to see the start of the race, but I also needed to some do research on this timeshare company. Like the good Girl Guide that I was once, best to be prepared. When I got back Phil said that Stuart, our time share rep had telephoned to postpone our presentation until Wednesday. Guess that’s fine by me, knowing I have done my research, I more than ready for whatever pressure Stuart is going to throw at me. Bring it on my boy; I am more than ready for you!
The horrible bit of me, that’s the defensive me with a chip on the old block, would go as far as to say, that I am actually looking forward to Wednesday. But that would be a blatant lie; I am not. The weather has been cloudy, slightly windy and overcast but I bet your bottom dollar, come Wednesday afternoon at 2pm, which is our time slot, the skies will have cleared and the sun will be out in fall blast.
True to say, that this weekend has most definitely been dominated by the Grand Prix. That’s fine by me, as long as Phil is enjoying himself, that’s all that matters. Tomorrow though, I need to up the anti and get my boy in the gym and on that exercise bike. He needs to work off some of that beer! Yes, it’s good to relax because after all we are on holiday but you can have too much of a good thing and at the end of the day, Phil can’t afford to lose his momentum. And neither can I for that matter. Hopefully more from me on Wednesday....
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