Holiday

Arrival

I was half asleep when we came up to the station at around four o'clock, but the commotion around me fixed that. Everyone was making sure they had everything. Do you have everything? How about George? Are you sure? Okay...

Somehow, we made it onto the platform before the train started moving again and did one last check before taking a moment to look around.

What hit me first were the smells. Fish, vinegar, salt, chips, seaweed. Each as pungent as the last, invading my senses like the ghosts of an entire roman army. Distant beeps, noises, and general hubbub could be heard, Holly said from an arcade. Several different styles of music blared at various distances, and not far away was the lapping of water.
Children's laughter emerged from somewhere beyond the station. It's only early yet, but there is a glow about the sky and its quite dark.

Within the tiny station itself, there weren't many people, but there was a selection: a German sounding woman with a toddler; a grey haired bloke smoking holding a plastic cup containing a dubious beige liquid; a group of girls dressed in smart clothes, as if they had come from a wedding or a hen do, laughing slightly drunkenly. Altogether, not that different from any other train station I've been to. It's just much smaller and less occupied than any London one.

As we exit the station, I pause to grab a map, but am immediately swept away with the group and accidentally grab a leaflet for a Chinese takeaway. Thankfully, Holly knows where she's going and the takeaway do deliveries. I must remember that.

"It's only a ten minute walk from here; can you guys do that?" Holly's voice was startlingly near at hand after listening to the bustle of the streets.

With great fuss and pondering, we agreed to walk. Along the way, Holly pointed out attractions, facilities, and restaurants that we should visit, although I'm sure none of us were lucid enough to remember. After what felt like much more than a ten minute walk, we arrived on the doorstep of a light blue terraced house. There was nothing special about it to begin with, but then you noticed the way the windows were painted in galaxy colours, and the door was purple. There's an array of coloured flowers in the tiny space at the front - which really is more of a flowerbed than a garden - which I'm sure covered almost every shade and colour there is. Weakly, a young tree attempted to utilise the corner between the two steps to the door and the wall.

After a moment of stillness, Holly hopped up the steps and rapped neatly on the door. Before her hand had returned to her side, the door had jerked open in front of her. From within came a small woman with a loud and sparkly voice.
"Holly!"