When Gaby Valentine started her new job at the Solana hotel she expected it to be quite uneventful. But with rowdy families, crazy coworkers and criminal activity every now and then: it's anything but.
(Starts from season 2 onwards because nothing...
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Today Janie had arranged a free coach trip for the families on holiday. It was meant to be a cultural excursion to see a bullfight. However I knew who the bullfighter was and they'd be lucky if he was actually conscious. At least it was nice day though. I had agreed to go with Janie along with Mateo, because there wasn't much to do around the hotel if everyone was on the trip.
After the breakfast shift I headed to the coach which was just outside the Solana main entrance. It was large yellow and blue vehicle with Benidorm written along its side. I stood to the side and waited for the families to get on before getting on myself and shutting the door after me. I was about to walk to the back when Janie put her arm out to stop me. "Can you sit up front? The bus drivers Spanish so I might need you to translate?" She asked. "Sure, but Mateo speaks better Spanish than me. Why not ask him?" I wondered. Mateo has lived here his whole life whereas I only moved here when I was 14. "You know he is my friend and everything but I don't think I could handle him for a long period of time" she admitted. I could definitely see where she was coming from. "Don't know how you do it" she told me. "Yeah well after 2 years of Mateo I've kind of learned to drown him out" I said as I took a seat behind the driver. Slowly the bus pulled away from the hotel.
Janie picked up a microphone, which the bus had attached. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our free Solana's bullfighting day coach trip. Our estimated journey is approximately 40 minutes" she informed the passengers in a semiformal voice. "There is no smoking on the coach, no food and no stops along the way. So sit back and enjoy". We drove across the Sandy hills and beside the sea. After 6 years of living in Spain and I hadn't ever seen this.
However as we reached a small patch of shrubbery, Madge stood up ran to the front and demanded we stopped the coach. Her usually tanned face was ashen so I knew it was probably an emergency. I leaned over and told the driver to stop the bus in Spanish. She was out there a few minutes before returning still looking pale but we drove on. But not for long. Five minutes later we had to stop again. I walked over to the window to check she was okay. She certainly didn't seem fine. She was squatted into a strange position so it was clear what she was doing. "Excuse me, what is your mother doing out there?" Janie asked. "Sending bloody smoke signals" Madges daughter replied sarcastically. "What do you think she's doing? She's got the runs". "Do you think Madge will be long? This is the second time we've stopped" Donald, a man from last year asked. She huffed annoyed. "We know it's the second time we've stopped we can count" she sassed. "She needs a couple of doughnuts to bind her. That usually work for me" Jaqueline piped up with. I groaned in disgust a little. "Oh brilliant. Well we'll tell the driver to pull in at the next funfair we pass" mick sassed. This was a very sassy family. "Or she could try these" I started whilst reaching for my medicine back I brought with me just in case. I withdrew a pack of pills. "I mean they're not for the squits but they do the job for me" I informed them whilst passing the pack to Madges daughter. She examined them confused. "Thanks but these are flu tablets" she said showing me the pack. "Perfect now she won't get the flu or diarrhoea" I said with a smile. Just then we saw Madge emerge from the bushes with her hand on her stomach, groaning. The poor woman clearly hadn't adjusted to Spanish food yet. As she climbed unsteadily onto the bus Janie turned to me. "Tell the bus driver to put his foot down. We're late" she ordered sounding very annoyed at the fact we had to keep stopping. I told the bus driver to drive faster in a slighted nicer manner than Janie. I then retook my seat. "You alright mam?" Her daughter asked kindly. "Yeah" she gasped breathlessly "I think that was the last of it". The whole coach including me groaned in disgust. When she had taken her seat again we drove away from the defecated shrubbery.
