Hell hath no fury...

...like a Jason riled.

It's not often I blow my top at someone, but when I do they know about it. In fact blowing my top is an apt phrase as anyone nearby will be in about as much trouble as the residents of Pompeii were in AD79.

I did not blow my top today but very nearly could have done. Not so much because of what happened but because of the way another parent chose to deal with an ïncident".

I've been coming to Corralejo on and off for 19 years and don't think I've ever had a cross word with anyone until today. Nearly everyone I've met in this hotel, the Oasis Dunas, has been lovely. This is our second visit and we have made many friends.

Today however we had an incident. Now the boys have been very well behaved on this holiday and I have been so pleased with them. Lst night we went out to a very nice restaurant that seats only 24 people and is the #1 rated of several hundred in Fuerteventura on trip advisor. Round the pool they have also been good. At the start of the holiday I bought them both some cheap water guns that cost 2.50 euros each and they have been really careful with them. They haven't fired them in people's faces, or out of the pool at people's sunbeds and they have taken care of these things as they can break fairly easily. NB: Don't get the ones from Poundland in England. They last about 5 minutes.

So 10 days later these guns were still going strong and Ollie had looked after his and made a special effort not to break it. Then this happened. He went back to the room for a wee - we are right next to the pool which is great so he can go on his own as he is in sight at all times - plus Claire was in the apartment anyway. He left his gun by the side of the pool and returned less than 5 minutes later, looked for the gun, but it was nowhere in sight.

We then noticed a couple of teenage boys wrestling with an identical gun in the middle of the pool, fighting over it and pulling it from both ends. I called out reasonably politely "Is that yours?" One shouted back something along the lines of "that girl said we could play with it", pointing vaguely in the direction of some non-existent girl. They then threw it to Ollie, in mid-air it spitting in to two pieces because they had clearly broken it. Ollie instantly burst into tears. I reprimaded them saying "You've broken it!"

Ollie was heartbroken and came straight over to me in floods of tears while these boys (aged about 14) went over to their mum. Next thing I know she's steaming over to me like some fish wife accusing me of telling off her sons. She backed up their story that a little girl had given it to them and also came out with the classic "My boys would never lie to me".

I was all ready to let rip but held back. Why? Two reasons. One was I had Ollie sobbing in my arms and Jamie stood right next to me and I didn't particularly want to them to see me lose my rag. Secondly I could not be 100% sure at that point as I had not actually seen them pick up the gun and I would have looked bloody stupid if I'd had a go and then someone had said "Hang on is this yours" and produced an identical gun from underneath a nearby sunbed. So I bit my tongue to some extent and made some sarcastic remarks along the lines of "well obviously it's just a coincidence that my son's gun vanished and the only other one like it in this pool got broken exactly five minutes later". At which point she stomped off. She then called her boys out of the pool, they took their things and then left sheepishly. She knew she was in the wrong, I know but wouldn't admit it. Their skulking off elsewhere to get away from me was proof enough.

A subsequent search around revealed no sign of the missing gun so I am 100% sure it was ours.

I'm annoyed for 2 reasons. Nothing to do with the cost of the gun but a) Because Ollie was upset and b) A pet hate of mine is parents who can never see when their children are in the wrong. Yes of course we stick up for our children and defend them but to blindly believe they are little angels who never lie and never do wrong is just stupid and the parents who do it are the ones who are raising the problem children.

What would I have done in identical circumstances? Well firstly, Ollie would have owned up - he has been taught that way. And even if he hadn't I would not be so blind as to not see what had happened. I would have marched him round to the nearest shop, bought a replacement and gotten him to take it over to the other child and give it to them with an apology.

Sadly this is not the way everyone does things it seems, so my rosy coloured view of the world where everyone is honest and does the right thing is just a little tainted today.

No matter, what is done is done, he's over it now and we are off out for another lovely meal and then we are meeting some friends we have met at the hotel - big karaoke fans including another host with seven years experience for beers and drinks up at Flintstones with our old friend, the karaoke legend that is Big Al.

Ole!