No post last week as I was off on my holiday for 2021. I don't like to post that I'm not at home - because that would be idiocy!
As ever we went to Appledore in North Devon, my favourite place in the world. I'm not going to go to great lengths about it as I go there every year and last year I wibbled on for ages about it - see here.
To illustrate my holiday this year I give you the Hockings ice cream van. If you haven't tasted this ice-cream you haven't lived. The only problem with it is that it ruins all other ice-cream for you.... forever. Which is obviously a bit of an issue as you can only get it in the local area. So famous is this ice-cream that you can actually purchase diecast models of the van (I refrained, quitely proud - already have so much tut in my house I have to stop!).
Weather was typically British. The sun blazed down for our 5 hour drive there, making the journey sweaty and uncomfortable. We arrived about about 9.30pm. When we woke the next day the rain was pouring down. We settled in and then husband went surfing whilst son and I put on our wellies, jumpers and raincoats and went tromping along an otherwise empty beach.
As with any British holiday - you pack for every eventuality, but whatever you have isn't actually appropriate. So I spent much of the first 2 days whizzing into local shops to buy ever increasingly bulky sweatshirts to keep warm (Great excuse!!!). On a positive note I'm now well prepared for my ongoing remote working. What I'm going to do with my old office clothes I have no idea.
Quickly diverting from Devon. Just before we went I sorted through my extensive wardrobe, which had got out of hand. One of the issues about getting older is that you seem to accumulate more and more clothes. I'm not in the habit of throwing things out until they are threadbare. As a result I have many years worth of clothing all piling up - it had got to the point that if I didn't have a clear out we were going to have to purchase the house next door so we could use current house as a wardrobe.
Three bin bags of clothes later (to go to charity) and I still have far too many clothes. I think I'm going to have to keep getting rid of them until I have a nice capsule wardrobe (in my dreams).
Aaaaanyway, back to Devon. Having been good all year I decided to really let lose, enjoy eating carbs and not do famine days whilst we were away. Last night I got on the scales in trepidation - I have put on a full stone in one week - A STONE!!!!! I suspect that a portion of that will come off in the first week of being good again, but am also aware that at least half a stone of that will cling to me like a limpet.
One of my tasks whilst away was to find something for husband and I to do for our 20th wedding anniversary. We've found somewhere that looks great - Ashdown Park Hotel. It's a spa. Also Ashdown forest is not massively far from us and as winnie-the-pooh fans we go a reasonable amount. It's a lovely place.
I remember taking son there when he was about 5 and we went to hunt for the heffalump pit. Son started crying because he was scared, so we promised him faithfully we wouldn't take him to the heffalump pit. Sadly for him his parents can't be trusted, as we were standing in the middle of the pit as we made the promise.
That said we haven't been there for a couple of years and there was a massive fire there, which was started by a bbq. I wonder if it will look the same. The hotel also looks over the llama park where we go to see Santa (used to go to see Santa). I discovered to my dismay that the llama park did not survive COVID and has now shut down. Very very sad times.
Another thing that's extremely said is the discovery that prices in North Devon have gone up by a third for 2022. That's absolutely ridiculous. It would now be cheaper to go to Menorca than it would be to go to North Devon. Husband and I are going to do some sums to see if we can afford it next year - but knowing it's people profiteering out of COVID makes me feel angry. It's a bit like the dog situation - whilst we could afford £3,000 for a dog (at a push) I absolutely refuse to spend that kind of money.
On the subject of dogs (gosh I'm all over the place today). The day we came back my brother-in-law dropped his lovely dog off with us to dog sit for a week. This is a great test to see if we've got it in us to be dog owners again. Son failed at first hurdle - having promised faithfully if we got a dog he'd get up really early to walk it - this morning when I took the dog for a walk first thing - I was alone (this is no surprise to me whatsoever). Let's see if by the end of the week having a dog still feels like a great idea.
Back to the holiday and after 3 days the weather really picked up. It was great actually, sunny, but with a cool breeze. Not husbands favourite weather as he is a sun worshiper, but great for son and I who turn into irritable monsters as soon as we get too hot.
So week was spent doing a mixture of surfing, walking and cycling. Didn't put my back out cycling this year, but stupidly kept going until I was tired. Then we had to turn back and do the rest of the journey with legs of lead. Not too bad because journey was flat, but it was 10 miles back which is a long time when your bum, bits and legs have had enough.
The rest of the time was spent eating and drinking. In fact I didn't achieve a lateral flow test the whole time I was there as you are meant to leave 30 minutes after eating or drinking before taking one - and that opportunity never actually arose. Which is obviously also why I put on so much weight. Though I have no regret. Fun and enjoyment is few and far between at the moment. The good thing about going to Ashdown is that there's a bit of a gap and it gives me a good target for being good. If I'm good now then I can be badly behaved when we go there and as we're only there for a few days the end result will not be so disastrous.
Today I start work again - it feels a bit surreal actually. Coming back from holiday was much easier last year when I was on furlough.
Today is also the day labelled 'Freedom Day', though the government has got cold feet and is trying to get us to lock ourselves down through choice. It's not going to happen - well not in my world anyway - I've had enough. Though I may still wear masks where there are lots of people. For at least 6 weeks, by then we'll know whether it was a huge mistake or not - all predictions to date have been massively over egged. Time will tell if the horror stories about this are a reality, 6 weeks should let us know.
This weekend the health minister got COVID and Boris informed the country that he wouldn't be isolating and he was going to be part of a trial. It came as a huge relief when everybody went bonkers so he had to back-track. It's important at the moment that we work through this as a team and that there's no 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others'.
The final thing to discuss on holiday was the growing up of son (tears in my eyes). In previous posts I've talked about 'Pooly'. Every year he builds a dam where the freshwater stream meets the beach in Instow. This year I asked if he wanted to and he thought about it and decided he would - but we only did it twice. On the second visit he spent his time teaching the next generation of kids what they needed to do to make their dam perfect. It was lovely to see him being grown up, but at the same time my heart broke in a million places. Where has my baby gone..........
Then of course we drove home - as we're very lucky the day we drove home was the hottest day of the year so far. Of course a journey back from a rainy UK holiday wouldn't be the same if it didn't mean you were stuck in a tin can in blazing sunshine for 5 hours - it's all part of the experience!
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