We all met at 8.30am on the balcony for breakfast and to discuss the previous night's events. General opinion, we are not amused. All looking forward to the day's training expect the 3 amigos who all were a little worse for wear. Sadly to their detriment, Shane had already noticed and guess who the first 3 Uke's were - oops a daisy, who's the big boys now?

Training to begin at 11am, so the group training got themselves ready and headed off for the metro. When they arrived, they were all suited/booted and ready for training. Much to their surprise, the dojo was all locked up. Sensei Riley was ecstatic and was pacing around with a big smile on his face (NOT). Babis strolled up 30 minutes later, on his phone and kindly opened up for them.

Rose, Jackie and Lola went to the local supermarket for supplies, they bought that many provisions that the supermarket let them borrow a trolley to get it all back to the hotel. Remember we are catering for 18 people's needs, so that is the beer, nibbles and water sorted.

The girls then went on an expedition to find suitable locations for drinks, food and ice cream, where we could go on mass. Found the Plaka, which had numerous alleys leading off in all directions with tranquil tavernas, ok maybe they wouldn't be too tranquil with us all in them and plenty of ticky tacky s***e shops for cheap but cheerful gifts.

Whilst walking around the winding alleyways the girls came across a shiny object shop. Rose was that eager to go inside that she didn't see the piece of metal across the drain and stepped on it. The metal moved causing Rose's other foot to be dragged on to it looking like she was on a surfboard, teetering to keep her balance. No help was forthcoming from Jackie or Lola as they were bent in two in fits of laughter. Rose said thanks for nothing and I will wait until it happens to you - little did we know that wasn't gonna be far away.

As it was a humid and moist day, the girls decided to sample the said ice creams, after all we wouldn't want to recommend them if they were horrible. Jackie enjoyed hers so much that she wanted to savour the taste for later and dropped some of the Nutella flavour ice cream down her white top, she did try to mop it up but it made more of a mess, oh dear never mind.

They girls made their way to the Plaka square where they got a taxi to the Dojo, showing the address to the taxi driver off their phone, (forward planning) well they could hardly pronounce the place. The taxi ride was only a few minutes away and not a 20 minute journey on the underground and the infamous 500 metre walk away.

At the finish of training, Shihan Riley bowed on the mat, which is customary, but his Genial host Babis was nowhere to be seen, he was locked in his office on his phone. Not really sure about the etiquette in Greece but that's definitely not the custom for the White Rose Aikikai. Quick change out of the gyis and off for another pre-arranged meal. This was in the square close to the Victoria metro station.

Walking passed all the lovely smelling restaurants we jokingly said "ours won't be anything like this if Babis has arranged it" and low and behold we weren't wrong. The restaurant was run by his friend and was almost empty. Blank faces by all when we were asked what did we want to eat - holy chuff not again!!. The first order as usual was beer and then a mixture of Greek nibbles, think they must have had a great supply of cheese as they kept bringing us plates and plates of fried cheese to Andy Thornton's great displeasure as real cheese to him is a Dairylea triangle or if it's fine cuisine, then Dairylea strips and none of this smelly stuff!!. Shaun asked if we could have some more tzatziki, the answer from Babis was I didn't ask you that I asked if you wanted more fried cheese...... Babis bought all of us a desert, which consisted of 1 blancmange triangle and 1 sawdust concoction. Tony Heseltine tried both and pointing the blancmange said that's not right nice and then pointed to the sawdust one said and that's really not right nice. Shane tried to force-feed Jackie the sawdust one. In general no one liked the puddings, but as our host had bought them for us it would have been rude and uncustomary to turn them down.

After the meal was paid for we split into groups again, some for the underground and some for taxis. The taxi group split was very similar to the night before. To help people going on the underground they were asked if they wanted to put their bags into the taxis. Andy Thornton's bag was in the taxi with Shane, Jackie and Rose. To stop the address confusion from the previous night, Babis told the taxi driver where he needed to be in Greek, Rose was a little sceptical and showed the driver the hotel address card, which he dismissed without looking at it. The taxi set off and low and behold got lost again. Jackie recognised a distinctive church and suggested that we get out and walk down the road as the hotel was only 2 streets down and to the right. Shane being a gentleman carried Andy's bag - it is not customary for a Shihan to carry a student's training bag. Shane was going to make Andy pay for this on the mat. When Andy realised the error of his ways he said "But he loves me".

The party congregated on the breakfast balcony for a quick drink before relaxing and getting ready for the evening meal (or should we say midnight feast).

This was arranged again by Sensei Babis (or not) at a restaurant that one of his students worked in. The panoramic vista from the serene restaurant seating area was stunning of the Parthenon all lit up at night time, which was a good job as there was only one candle on every second table, so a bit dark was an understatement.

Drinks were ordered and murmurs from the tables could be heard as the question of were we going to eat was being asked. After all being from Yorkshire nibbles aren't really filling enough.

Simon Barrand was getting very animated by telling us how hungry he was and that he could eat half a cow. Jackie ordered a coffee and it came with a ginger biscuit, seeing how much Simon had withered away with hunger, she gave him the biscuit. The delight of food was obvious on his face as he described it as an explosion of gingerness in his mouth. He wasn't going to share the biscuit with anyone and we don't think anyone was brave enough to wrestle with him for it.

Food was eventually ordered, but as it was so dark we could hardly read the menu and when someone mentioned burger and chips we all agreed - so burger and chips all round then.

Another complimentary pudding was brought to our tables that again Babis had bought us all. In the meantime, Babis had a quiet word with Shane asking him if a tip had been left at the lunchtime session, as they had supplied us all with a free desert..... this contradicted that Babis had bought them all for us!!! As being our Shihan, Shane was not in charge of the kitty as it is his job to concentrate on the teaching and welfare of all his students. The kitty was in the hands of Jackie and Rose, which is the norm as they are not stupid and had looked after it on numerous other trips away. Shane questioned the girls about the tip, to be greeted by 2 sets of eyes popping out of their heads. Stating Yes a generous tip was left, which Shane fully understood there would have been - surprisingly it wasn't enough for Babis.

The bill for the midnight feast arrived and Babis informed the girls that he would pay for Shane, Frank, himself and his students and therefore the kitty only had to pay for the White Rose entourage. Once it was calculated how much per head, Babis then suggest that to leave a tip of 1 euro each. The ladies were a little perplexed by this stage and after handing the money to Babis walked swiftly away muttering a few profanities. Only to realise later that yet again we had been skanked as not everyone had ordered a meal but were charged 16 Euros each for the privilege of sitting in the dark not everyone consuming food.

After the meal Shane and Paul were supposed to be getting a lift back to the hotel with Babis, however, while the rest of the party had made their way to the taxi rank, Babis was stalling and decided that there was too many people for his car. Shane by this time was getting a little frustrated and grabbed Paul's arm storming down the hill to the rest of the group with the "F" word rolling uncontrollably out of his mouth. Hence a new nick name "Shane 3 F's".

All got taxis back to the hotel, little did we know that there was a short cut over the brow of the hill, oh well you life and learn as they say.