16/1/2026 Sunshine, scones and Santander

Oooo they had fruit and chocolate chip scones on the breakfast cart this morning. Yes I was first in and yes the scones were warm. I'm not entirely sure about chocolate chips in them, I can't see it catching on to be honest …. But I took one for the team! 

After yesterday's schoolgirl error with the lounger, I popped my towel on it before breakfast, just to be sure. In all honesty, as I was sitting on the lounger by 0800, way before most of the guests had even rolled out of bed I would probably have been ok.

The weather app has lied all day, it made no mention of sunshine and indeed had rain forecast for the day. Not a sniff of rain, a few grey clouds lurking and that was about it. A very hot sunny day! Perfect. 

Thankfully it was nice and quiet most of the day, until 1600 and some really screechy girls arrived … deep joy, I hope they don't stay long. Tomorrow might just be the day to go and visit the other resort if they're sticking around here. 

I have tried to speak to the bank about my card situation. I can't get through to them on my New Zealand number because it won't ring international numbers from the Cook Islands. I failed to get through on the numbers they gave me via the chat on my own phone. I then located another number and was on hold for 38 minutes at £2.35 a minute and still didn't get to speak to a human being.  In disgust I finally had a “discussion” with a human on a chat. To accomplish that I had to ask my question 9 different ways and keep repeating ‘I want to speak with a human being’ . I still have no idea why my card has been removed from my online banking by the fraud department. I have not received a notification of any description from them advising me that it was even done, and they are refusing to do anything until I speak to someone from their fraud department via telephone. They told me to use a family member's phone to contact them, all very well but surely that defeats the purpose of security? The silly cow had made the assumption I was with family and friends out here and I could simply use one of their phones! To make the call At this point I may have lost my shit. Well, as well as anyone can on a chat messaging service.

 Apparently the fraud department doesn't have access to the chat boxes and the ‘helpful’ individual I was speaking to could only tell me there were security restrictions on my card but not what they were.  FFS. Strangely after I told her I was out here on my own to try and deal with the run up to the anniversary of Si’s death, there was a looong pause in the chat, the “agent is typing” notification popped up and stayed for quite a while and then miraculously she came back to me and told me i could now use the physical card in ATM and for purchases, just not for online purchases… WTAF? How does that work? Either the card is restricted or it's not?? When I queried that exact thing with her the chat abruptly ended and the cheeky bitch sent me a survey to complete on the service I'd received from her! Something weird is going on and I'm ready to punch something. The feedback sent wasn't exactly positive.

Tomorrow's task is to try and use my card at the reception desk, if it works then that's all good, if it doesn't the shit will hit the fan. I won't risk it in the ATM, because all I need is for the damn thing to get eaten! 

Why is nothing ever straight forward? I want to book the next part of my trip, but I will have to wait til I get back to New Zealand now which is really bloody annoying. Argh!!!!!!!!

My lovely little friend Suzy has a day off today and the little Balinese boy who helped her the first day made up the room for me. He's a real sweetheart, a very gentle soul, and was telling me he's been here for a year, but has worked in 5 star hotels in Bali for a long time. While I was chatting with him, his boss came by, and he looked absolutely terrified, bless him! His whole body language  and facial expression changed and he became very edgy. I decided to jump to his defence because she was looking a bit ferocious. She glared at him and grunted at me, when I said I was delaying him because I was talking to him. The first grumpy one I've met so far. I'm hoping there aren't any more!  I had already heard a few things about her from Suzy, and she wasn't complimentary at all, and now, having met her I can understand completely where she was coming from.  I couldn't quite understand his name,I will have to ask him again tomorrow, but he'd left me extra coffee and tea, and on the bed, in front of Simon's photo he had placed a flower head. Yeah it made me cry. Such a simple gesture, but again so kind and thoughtful. People really are amazing. 

I went to the restaurant to pick up some more water, and the girl knew what I wanted without even having to ask for it. I am obviously very predictable and she's seen my name so often that she calls me by it when she sees me now… I have only been here a week!  Once I’d signed for it, she told me to go back to my room and she'd bring it around for me. A benefit of being just around the corner from the restaurant methinks! I feel a bit like royalty the way I'm being treated here, I could definitely get used to it! 

The cat was waiting for me on the chair when I got back too. It looked up at me, stretched, winked and promptly went back to sleep, and the girl bringing the water said, “ah the cat likes you”. I didn't like to tell her it was the only cat on the planet that likes me and I am actually finding it a little bit weird! 

So that's today, and now there are a gaggle of screeching females in the resort... I'm going out tomorrow! 

Much Love

Mrs Leonard

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