A very busy time

 I didn't post last week because I was off doing something else and just didn't have time. Then when that stopped I thought, if I update it I will have nothing else to write about. Oh my goodness I was wrong!

I had last week off because on the Monday we were off to try some interesting glamping. Now we are not a family of campers. We usually go for as much luxury as we can afford (which to be fair is often not that luxurious). 

However, I saw something on telly earlier this year that I wanted to give a go. I expected it to be hugely expensive but actually it was quite affordable. And as it was March and I'd been locked in the house through a long and miserable winter it felt like a good idea.

The camping was at RAF Wainfleet, which is where they did the practicing for the bouncing bombs in WWII. The base was in the middle of nowhere - literally - in the middle of a marsh and farmers fields. So when the decommissioned the base there really wasn't much they could do except for sell it to the farmer.

The farmer has now made the base into a glamping site. You can stay in a military truck, a helicopter a JetStream Aircraft or you can stay in the control tower. It was the aircraft that really appealed to me, so back when the days were short I got all excited and booked us in.

The closer we got to the stay the less excited I felt about it. I gave husband and son loads of opportunities to back out, but they refused me at every turn. So last Monday we were about to head off and I said to husband - do you know I haven't had a single email confirming this trip. Given we were about to drive for 4.5 hours this was a concern. I made a call and it turns out that they'd been emailing me left right and centre for information about how many were coming and also asking for us to pay the balance on our bill.

I swear I didn't receive any of these emails. Needless to say I quickly paid the balance and shared the information required and once sorted we headed off. 

I've never been to Lincolnshire before - I was astounded by it. You know when you get off a plane in a foreign country and you're travelling to your destination - it's always fascinating because the landscape is so different from what you were used to. Well I felt like this in Lincolnshire. We drove for a whole hour without seeing a single hill and there was practically no housing at all. Just flat field after flat field (I admit I did wonder why they were not building more housing, given that there isn't a square inch where I live and yet thousands of houses are being built on top of each other). 

I loved it and was fascinated. Even I loved it even more when I spent my time as a passenger in the car doing house hunting as we drove through a new town or village. If I lived in Lincolnshire it turns out I could live in huge style. I was very enamored and would have moved immediately. But husband was having none of it.

Once we arrived we checked out our new digs. They were really cool. 

At one end was a queen sized bed with the airplane controls as the headboard. The photo doesn't really do it justice because I took this on the first morning. The other bed was a tapered double, that was in the tail of the aircraft. In the middle were some bench seats. As it was about memories for son we allowed him the queen bed and accepted we'd be in for an uncomfortable sleep ourselves.

One of my concerns was that every time we left the aircraft we'd have to fight with the door, but they'd actually removed that and put a shed around it - so there was an entrance hall, with metal steps up to the body of the aircraft. 

So that was our digs. The day we arrived the weather was lovely so we sat outside and played some games - a very jolly evening was had by all. As expected I slept terribly, hardly a wink and then at 04:00 I needed the biggest wee ever. Unfortunately the rest of the family were still asleep and I am a coward. Our loo, shower and a small kitchen were across the other side of the compound in a small outbuilding (quite nice actually as these were just for our use). The problem is that it was dark - very very dark. I've seen dark before, but living in a semi urban environment it's not really ever that dark.

Suddenly I remembered the zombie films I've seen where people feel they are safe in an army compound and hundreds of marauding zombies are rattling at the fences that surround the base. I literally didn't have the guts to walk the 100 steps through the darkness to have a wee. So I went back into the JetStream and sat there staring out of the window waiting for dawn.

As soon as dawn broke I rushed from the JetStream and headed for the loo. Only to encounter another woman coming out of the helicopter. Turns out she'd been doing exactly the same thing as me. I would have laughed, but I'd probably have wet myself so I hurried on my way. Oh what blessed relief.

Once the others woke up we decided that as we were only about 4 miles from Skegness we should probably visit as we were unlikely to go any other time. Now I loved Skegness. It was a whole town that was like Palace Pier - I love Palace Pier. Unfortunately the rest of my family do not. 

We did have a slight challenge at lunchtime when we couldn't find anywhere that sold anything other than burgers or fish and chips so ended up having to walk out of the town centre to find something as exotic as a sandwich. 

After lunch we hired a motor boat that took us on a 1mph tour of the pleasure beach at Skegness. As I say I had the time of my life, literally loved it, but the rest of the family put on a brave face.

After the joys of Skegness we headed back to the JetStream, had some supper and watched a film. Then headed for bed again. Second night was pretty much a repeat of the first. Bad sleep, up at 04:00 - waited for dawn to break so I could wee. Then we headed home.

The patio is pretty much completed now, but Thursday and Friday were spent painting it. I'll not put a photo up until it's finished. I also spent a huge amount of time at garden centres and DIY shops (not my favorite thing). 

Yesterday was son's birthday. He didn't want huge hooplah - in the morning we did presents and cards and then in the afternoon as the sun had come out we decided to have a huge water fight. I duly spent about an hour filling water balloons. By the time we were ready for the water fight I was already soaked from head to toe, the kitchen was flooded and I'd reverted to the outside tap to minimise disaster.

The most sensible place for the water fight was the new patio - only problem was by the time we'd finished a lot of the undried paint had started to drip! Still son had fun and so it was worth it. Then in the evening we went to a Japanese restaurant in Hove as son wanted Sushi more than anything for his supper.

Today I've taken one additional day for hols. I booked it because I wasn't sure when son's sleepover with his friends was going to be. Turns out he's celebrating his birthday with his friends next weekend. But I decided to still take the day off - so today I spent this morning sorting out the front garden ready for winter. Just the grass to be done now, which will be  no small feat as we've not had access to the lawnmower for 4 weeks now.

Only other big thing was the roof in the sunroom. The scaffolders have still not come to fix the tiles. They broke about 7 of them. With all the rain we had last week we now have buckets collecting water in as it pours through the roof. I seem to be the only person that's getting itchy about repairing this. I can see we will be in for a long damp and expensive winter if we don't get it sorted soon.

I would normally just sort this out myself, but I've thrown my back out twice recently and I have this fear that I'll be out on the roof and suddenly have a spasm. At which point I'll have to accept that I will have to live on the roof in a fetal position for 4 days before I'm ready to actually make my way back indoors. So I've decided I'll let somebody else take responsibility for once!