Following on from the excesses of the night before, a surprising number of the team managed to make it up for breakfast the next morning, perhaps following the Dawson credo that you've got to get something in your stomach before you have your first beer of the morning.

The exertions of packing up the bags and checking out bags obviously was too much for our exhausted heroes, as they made it no further than the trattoria's front court. Once seated there, the glorious sunshine encouraged the party to remain a while longer, and in the end we decided on maximum conservation of energy by staying in the same seats and having an early lunch there. In keeping with the spirit of fine hospitality which we'd received throughout the holiday, the charming proprietor brought out the best of his wares for the team's delectation: a veritable feast of meat, pasta and wine for his guests. Never can the phrase 'pearls before swine' have been so appropriate.

This was the time where around half of the party had to say their goodbyes, as Alex, Jon, Dan and Garry made their way back to Milan in the World's Smartest Taxi to catch the afternoon flight. Although the bulk of the squad did have the bonus of an extra day in Italy, they were deprived of the fabulous scene at Linate when Jon M re-dubbed half an hour of Dr Zhivago into English, with a revised storyline involving Tyler's struggle to bring the Dink to international recognition.

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[ Aside:meanwhile, around about this time, back in Dundee, Ken G is running out onto a sunny Tannadice park bearing a Utd shirt with his name on the back, and is about to play the game of his life and be voted Man of the Match by one of his all-time heroes, David Narey. We all missed him in Milan, but there's no way we would have wanted to take this away from him. He shall return to Milan for next year's trip - provided we can get him back down from the stratosphere.]

Those who were left in Arona decided that having spent the entire day in the trattoria, there was no point in leaving now, and so they settled in for the evening. This, of course, meant handing all the passports back to Signor della Trattoria for his amusement.