On Holidays Visiting My Family

2018-07-17T13:17:30Z

I have returned from holiday. I have had a lovely time.

MLW, the Captain and I have done a road trip around our English relatives.

We started with my sister, brother-in-law and niece in CentreParcs in the Lake District. This was fun but not hugely restful. My niece is lovely but at 10 months old still needs constant adult to baby marking.

The Captain and I did some activities together. We had a go on AquaJets (a sort of underwater jet engine for snorkling or scuba diving. We also did some raft building. An excellent raft in fact. Our team are now the holders of the record for one of the time trials in the raft building. He and I also got comped a go on a pedalo. Those are hard work. MLW went on a Segway and visited the spa. We went to the pool everyday.

The Captain was lovely with his niece and she was captivated by him. He taught her how to propose ("enchante") and she's been going around ever since proposing to any animate object she encounters including a small piglet and an owl.

The Captain liked the raft building best. So did I.

We then visited my aunt and her partner in Cheltenham for a weekend. BB came over and we had a barbeque and watched the England - Belgium group game (the one where Belgium accidentally scored a goal, not the one where they deliberately scored two.) Cheltenham was hot (damn hot, you want to know how hot it is, I saw one of those little guys in orange robes burtst in to flames, that's how hot it is). Big cracks in the ground in the park by my aunt's house.

We then motored down to my mum's in Cornwall. Activities included a visit to the Eden Project, a trip to Geevor Tin Mine and the Captain and sailing a two-handed dinghy on Stithians Lake. He was excellent on the boat. It was his first time on a sailing boat or a small boat. I gave him three jobs. Don't get hit by the boom. Move from side to side to balance the boat. Manage the jib-sheet and the jib. I thought he'd struggle with the last one but within half an hour or so he was adjusting the sales as we tacked about without having to be reminded. The boat was one I hadn't sailed before, an RS Feva. It worked okay with the Capatain and I in it. I was unfamiliar with it and it took a while to find the best way for me to sit in the boat. It's pretty responsive. I didn't push the capabilities of the boat at all. I really, really wanted to avoid tipping the Captain and myself in to the water. I'd certainly sail one again but were I buying one I'd go for something a little bigger. We had a lovely time. He wants to go again.

The Tin Mine was fascinating as was the Eden Project.

We managed a couple of trips to the beach. We caught up with our old next door neighbours (who's son has become a squash prodigy).

Mum was a bit over excited because of the football. We watched the semi-final with her. It was sad but probably fair that England lost.

The Captain gave her a big hug which nearly reduced her to tears.

We then drove up to High Wycombe to spend a few nights with MLW's brother and sister-in-law. They have just retired and still in the immediate feels like a long holiday state of mind. We sat in the garden and drank beer whilst the Captain recharged from his exertions by watching television.

On Sunday it was the 21st and 18th birthday parties of the children of one of MLW's oldest university friends so we went to that. By then I was pretty tuckered out with people. I love spending time with my sister and my mum and my brother-in-law but they were all very excited to see us. So I was a bit quiet at the party, which was fine. The Captain and I played ping pong and I took advantage of the social permission to watch the Men's Single's Final and the World Cup Final.

Up early on Monday morning to fly - me to Edinburgh to return to work on Tuesday - MLW and the Captain to Porto to see familiy out there. I rounded off my holiday with an afternoon nap, a curry, a Quentin Tarintino film and doing a wardrobe cull.

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On Christmas Holiday 2017

2018-01-08T11:56:20Z

I have returned to my keyboard after a three week (mostly) holiday. I was out of the office from the 15th of December until the 8th of January. Over all the period was quiet and restful and that was a good thing.

I have found 2017 a difficult year. Part of this is probably context. As a very politically active left-wing, liberal Remainer, 2017 has been spent watching all the things I was worried would happen, actually happen or continue. This has not helped the general mood. 2017 also had it's own challenges. My Lovely Wife and I bought a house to run as a holiday let in December 2016. This has meant work and expense and thought. By chance month end has fallen on the weeks when I have been trying to be on holiday. Christmas was the first full week of unterupted holiday I'd had in 2017. Then I had two serious health scares with mhy parents. Serious in the sense that the initial news was of a serious health risk. I do not recommend listening to your mum die on the phone even if it later turns out that she's just having an alergic reaction to anti-histamines and not the full on stroke it sounded like at the time.

Any way 2017 has been wearing. A holiday was needed.

Said holiday conveniently divided in to three, one week long sections.

The first weeks was spent at home with MLW, Bluebird (on holiday from University) but with the Captain still at school. We pottered. Did some jobs around the house. Decorated the Christmas tree. Welcomed my dad home from his trip to Australia. BB and I went to see the new Star Wars film at the Cinema. I went up to Aberdeen to visit some friends for a night. MLW went to see her mum for a night. It was both okay and great. We enjoyed it. We prepared for the Lithmas feast.

The celebration week started with Lithmas, just MLW, BB, the Captain, dad, his wife* and me. This was jolly. Very good food. Nice herring. The traditional 13 dishes.

We had Beetroot and Porcini mushroom soup, Herring in Oil, Herring in Cream, Herring in Tomato, Rollmops, Dill- Marinded Herring, Smoked Salmon, Smoked Trout, Mackeral Pate, Prawns with Sweet Chilli, Prawn and Crab Pots, Crab Souffle, Cranberry and Limoncello Semi-fredo, with salads and breads and a nice Scottish potato vodka along with some cava (Viva Catalonia) and some nice viogner. Delicious dinner.

We had our usual Christmas Day. No lunch but a big breakfast / brunch and then cheese and left overs for supper. The Captain seemed to like his presents. These included two board games (Deep Sea Adventure and Colt Express) and some computer games.

My aunts were due to join use on the 27th for my dad's birthday dinner but the weather and traffic meant they called off their trip. Sad but wise. So we had a quiet few days and saw dad. BB went to see her mum and other siblings for New Year. Dad and his wife went up to Orkney for New Year. It was just the three of us for Hogmaney.

Hogmaney was surprisingly lovely. The three of us spent the evening playing Deep Sea Adenture, Colt Express and Carcassone. We were expecting the Captain to bail out at about 9 but he stayed awake and cheerful until half-past midnight and we went out to watch the Edinburgh fireworks on Bruntsfield Links.

In amongst this I fitted in month end, working from home, in my pyjamas. I am not loving work at the moment. More on that anon.

The final week was spent at the cottage on the coast. We were there on Tuesday and stayed until Sunday morning.

A nice long walk along the coast from St Abbs to Pettico Wick, past the lighthouse. We say two seal pups and two adult seals. One of the seal pups was only a few meters from the path so we were very, very close. I've never been so close to a seal. The Captain, who loves seals, had "emotional tears" when he saw it. A day trip to Berwick-upon-Tweed and a short walk around the Elizabethan walls. Berwick seems like a nice town but a little downcast in winter. We've planned to have a few more trips out but the weather was cold and wet on other days so we stayed in and watched TV or played board games or did jobs around the house.

Board Games

Deep Sea Adventure is a collective push-your-luck game. You are divers, diving for treasure. You play over three rounds making your way down a path made up of treasure tokens. Tokens are worth varying points. If you pick up a token you move more slowly and use up oxygen from a collective supply. If you don't make it back to the submarine your treasure falls to the bottom of the path. The next round has a shorter path (shortened by the removal of any treasure tokens that have been returned to the sub or fallen to the bottom). The third round shorter yet. Highest points total wins.

Nice mechanics. It's not a rich game. There are only a couple of strategems you can play. Three games a day is plenty but I like it.

Colt Express is quite an engaging game.

You are train robbers in the Wild West competing with each other to rob a train. The train is made up of carriages and a locomotive with an inside and a top. (The set is very 3d and physical.) You have a deck of cards which are movements on the train (move along the train, move up to the roof or down inside a carriage, punch an opponent, shoot an opponent, move the sherriff, steak some money). You take turns placing movements for your character in a story deck, and then play out the action card by card. The trick is to work out what other people are going to do and how that will move you (eg, if you get punched you move one carriage along in a direction of your opponets chosing. If you are planning on robbing some loot but have been moved to a carriage that doesn't have any then you have wasted a move.)

It's fun, it rewards thinking ahead but if you don't mind if you win or lose it is also funny if your plans don't come off. The Captain likes to tell the story of the game as he flips over the cards.

Carcassonne is the classic Euro tile placement game. You place tiles to create a landscape. The landscape is worth points. The Captain is surprisingly good at it. We've been playing a cut down version of the game with him for a few years but this was the first time we'd played with farms and the full scoring mechanics. We're currently playing with the rules for a few expansions, Builders and Traders and Abbey and Mayors but with all the tiles we have. That makes for big, sprawling games.

I spent quite a lot of time watching TV over the holidays .I spent a lot of the holiday watching all four seasons of Peaky Blinders, some of it on my own, some with BB. I wanted to catch up Seasons 1-3 on Netflix before Season left iPlayer so I had challenging targets. I watched the Christmas Day Doctor Who Special. It was okay but I agree with Andrew Rillstone - more anon. MLW and I watched the whole of War and Peace over two evenings down at the cottage. (I think seasons is probably enough, I suspect Season 5 will jump the shark). I caught up on Designated Survivor. We finished watching the Crown. That was enjoyable and seems to be taking a very political and to my mind republican view on the monarchy. I started watching Ozark which is about money laundering and looks like a long, slow burner. There's some good television around. MLW and I watched Arrival, the film of the Ted Chiang short story, The Story of Your Life. I thought the film was superb.** So lots of relaxing television.

I'm reading a short, light history of Ireland. So far I up to the Tudor invasions and Stuart plantations. I can already see that it is not going to end well.

Sunday we came back to Edinburgh for rugby and then I spent the afternoon doing drama. Committee meeting which was fine. An afternoon workshop on a play about gender inspired by the Legsit front page by the Daily Mail - more on that anon too.

Back to work. I am not enthusiastic about work but I am rested. Hey ho.

*I don't mean "his wife" to sound as distant as I fear it might, compared to say, "step-mum". My dad has been married three times, I have two step-mums. My family is a little non-standard. Hey ho.

** My only complaint is that Amy Adams looks distractingly like Nicole Kidman in the film. To the point that I kept thinking, "what's Nicole Kidman from 15 years ago doing in this film?"

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On Holidays Visiting My Family

On Christmas Holiday 2017