I arrived at the guest house by airborne bike. I had followed the route along the cycle path from its source in the Meadows, all the way to the white cliffs, taking care not to knock over the hundreds of walkers in my path. The journey ended in a huge swoop over the Arabian Sea as I descended into my final destination of Arius.

My week in the guest house was not terribly comfortable. The landlady took an instant dislike to me, but did not say why. Indeed she refused to speak to me at all, but instead communicated to me in silent stage whispers. When I complained at the end of the week that someone had stolen my collection of antique needlebooks from the bedroom she did not care. All that interested her was whether or not I’d be checked out by 10:00am sharp that day.

When my boyfriend came up the stairs to collect me I waited for her reaction. I couldn’t imagine that any of her other guests were as intimate as I was with Hans Solo’s hairy Star Wars sidekick Chewbacca.