Summer in Scotland – COVID calls for last minute panic holiday plans

In the strangest of years, the simplest of lovely holidays. When we’d originally planned to go to Portugal for the summer hols and meet up there for a spell with Sally and Simon & family, the idea of a COVID compromise of a trip to Scotland seemed a bit of a poor cousin. And in the run-up to that trip, it seemed like even that might be a stretch, too.

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A Lockdown story – Getting the band together for a party.

Strange times. We all agree. And like everybody, Coronavirus-compromises have been made, and good times put on hold.

Amongst the irritations for me this spring was the 50th birthday party I had planned for 100 or so friends on Easter Saturday.

Part of the evening’s fun was to get some music friends together to play some of my favourite songs. People who had never played in the same band or together, but all of whom had played music with me at some time in my 50 years.

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Ski holiday in Champagny en Vanoise Feb 2020

I always saw ‘winter sun’ holidays as being something involving the Canary Islands or such like. But with the winter we’ve had, I came to realise that even plonking your weary winter body 6000 feet up in the snowy mountains provided more than enough vitamin D to cheer up the winter blues. Our holiday certainly did the trick of topping up the cheer.

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Careful on your holiday – our Kefalonia holiday

Kefalonia (or Cephalonia) formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia  (don’t ask – we’re just going with the first one). Chosen as our destination following a little bit of grumbling about the three France caravan holidays 2015, 2016, 2017 – and their associated journeys (it’s about the journey, not the destination, right?). Continue reading “Careful on your holiday – our Kefalonia holiday”

Sauze D’Oulx family ski holiday 2018

Sauze D'Oulx

Another family holiday definitely of note. These things define and mark important times in childhood and I am happy to build up the year’s work around affording great memories for the children.   Skiing is not cheap – especially skiing overseas in half term, but each time we do it seems incredibly good value for money in terms of unforgettably good memories Continue reading “Sauze D’Oulx family ski holiday 2018”

Stick to La Plagne – our 2016 family holiday

We were due a good ‘with cousins’ holiday… and this was a corker. Phil, Anne & family had had their arms twisted that a ski holiday could be affordable and achievable if we drove, and I told them we could.  Katie and I had driven to the Alps before (in 2012-13 New Year) and we knew is was kind of no big deal. So we booked a chalet and off we went for February half term.

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France Holiday 2015

Since we got the caravan early last year we’ve been building up mentally to the big one. It’s very special for me to do a road trip like this with the children in the caravan because it bears an amazingly close resemblance to my own memories of the same in the mid 1970s. My dad would take us all down there over two days’ driving (on what was, presumably, less fast but less busy roads) and the days have lodged deeply in my memory. Continue reading “France Holiday 2015”