Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

neverdespairgirl

Nikkster wrote: »

I don't really have any family holiday stories. We did go away, but not very often. Last family holiday was in 1997. I've been away a couple of times in the UK with my mum in recent years.

Next family holiday is... 2014 :eek:
We'll be staying in my brother's one-bed flat (he is abroad for a couple of years). I expect there will be tales of arguments aplenty

I went on a family holiday every summer for a fortnight from birth to age 20 (which was Portugal). And a few non-summer ones, too - such as 10 days in Cyprus when I was about 12 over New Year. A couple at Easter, sometimes.

We did a mixture of drive-to-it-or-overnight-car-trains in Europe, including Provence, the Dordogne, and Tuscany, and seaside holidays in Devon. Later, when you could get hire cars that seated a family of 6 (in the 1990s) we also went to Spain / Portugal, and we had two summer sailing holidays in Greece.

I've also had a fair few trips with just my darling Mama - Poland, Czech Rep, Russia, Estonia, and India.

My parents got better off when I was a bit old to do the family holiday thang - so when Bruv was 18, 19 and 20 he was pushing off to St. Lucia with the 'rents!

PasturesNew wrote: »

I hate the smug crowd that wax lyrical about how great camping is .... I've always said I wouldn't be able to put a tent up in the wind/rain/dark entirely alone.... it'd be a miserable time. I'd rather sleep on the back seat of my car.

I don't think camping alone is any fun at all. I've never done it, anyway, and not in a hurry to try. If it were just me, I'd sleep in the car, too.

LydiaJ wrote: »

So, question for NP:

Do you have eyelet curtains?
Does your pole have a central bracket?
Which way round do your curtain edges point?

No.

Yes.

Eh? Don't gettit, sorry.

Doozergirl wrote: »

I used to drive quite a lot in London. To work and back and collect DS from nursery or my aunts, along with shopping and the occassional day trip. I did 4000 miles a year.

Now, LOL! I usually do 15k, but with one vehicle missing since late April, I/we have done 11k since March. It makes a difference!

Our car was bought aged about 2 years, 14 years ago. It's now done about 75,000 miles, in total, having done about 20,000 before we got it. Therefore ITRO 4,000 miles a year. Few of those miles are in and around London, though - we use the car to go long distances, and to get around one we're there, usually either Kent (my parents' house, about 120 miles return) or Devon / Cornwall (550 to 600 miles return).

lostinrates

Slept in cars, lorries and trailers. Slept in barns and stables.

Theoretically some aspects of camping shpuld appeal to me. The lugging your stuff around doesn't much, nor, frankly, does the attire.

Kipping outside listening to the rain in a hay barn snuggled with lovers or dogs or snuggled in furs of native people's ( or even fur coats) or something, super. Wearing a cagool ( how is that spelled?) and a bed that makes you feel like the bit between caterpillar and butterfly of some nylon gm experiment sounds less fun.

Its the sort of half way house nature I think.

True old fashion fifty guides and marquees, elephants to carry the furs and wool blankets, cotton sheets and mosquito nets and china or sleeping in caves and making shelters or preexisting basic dwellings and foraging and hunting opposite ends of spectrum both have more appeal.

Nikkster

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I don't think camping alone is any fun at all. I've never done it, anyway, and not in a hurry to try. If it were just me, I'd sleep in the car, too.

I've camped alone a few times. Always as a means to an end (going to a music festival) though. I've never driven - so I've also carried all my stuff. I've erected and dismantled my tent single-handedly (including in high winds and rain).

It's ok. As I said, it's been a means to an end. I doubt I'll ever decide to just go camping for the fun of it.

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

CO monitor is currently in the bathroom, Viva's orders. I think the detector is only a smoke one.

Why in the bathroom? What is there in there that might incompletely combust?

silvercar wrote: »

Plastic bottles leak gas, so their shelf life is only about 9 months. Cans and glass are less permeable hence have longer shelf lives and taste better.

This. I think the worse taste of drinks from plastic bottles is mainly a chemical rather than physical (heat etc) issue.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I went on a family holiday every summer for a fortnight from birth to age 20 (which was Portugal). And a few non-summer ones, too - such as 10 days in Cyprus when I was about 12 over New Year. A couple at Easter, sometimes.

Our family holidays involved driving to the homes of friends and family and staying with them. Paying for holidays didn't become possible until I was about 13, when a self-catering cottage (in England) became just about possible.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Eh? Don't gettit, sorry

Question only applies to eyelet curtains.

lostinrates

Nikkster wrote: »

I've camped alone a few times. Always as a means to an end (going to a music festival) though. I've never driven - so I've also carried all my stuff. I've erected and dismantled my tent single-handedly (including in high winds and rain).

It's ok. As I said, it's been a means to an end. I doubt I'll ever decide to just go camping for the fun of it.

See I have slept in the garden or a stable just for the fun of it.

If I had to put a tent up I'd feel differently.


I had a trampoline I used as a bed for ages ( before trampolines were huge, this was just the size of a queen bed). I which I still had one actually, it was a very comfy bed. Would be great in the hay barn.

Spirit_2

Only away since Tuesday, but it feels like a long time.
Lydia how are you doing?
micheals did the holiday turn out well and is the car fixed?

My holiday diary.
day 0
Travel and dinner. Hotel is a proper English Railway Hotel with huge picture windows that look out to sea. Faded glory of bygone days but with an indoor pool and a spa and i understand completely why FC is charmed by Margate. Next week I am staying in Greenwich and it will be a block with lifts..this place has a staircase with wrought iron and some peeling paint on high ceilings.

day 1 Weds
OH working. Sunny with showers, visited a bookshop. Got bitten on the hand by by a cocker spaniel I patted. The owner was mortified, it was aged two and "friendly". Hand gets patched up but won't clot and I find my way to a Minor Injuries Unit and get it treated & dressed. Dinner with OH at a great seafood restaurant.

day 2
OH working until midnight. Sunny at times. Back to MI unit to have hand redressed. Go to two beaches where I sit and read, but cannot get my hand wet so no swimming which is a bit annoying

. Dinner on my own at Rick Steins. Really good fish with beans dish but cold chips. Chatted to a lady from the NP homeland and listened to sea shanties being sung outside.

day 3
I visit Lizard and walk to Lizard point so for a brief moment I was the most southerly person on mainland English soil. Walk round Mousehole and lunch then to Porthcurno beach which was beautiful..turquoise sea golden sand, truly lovely. Then on to Lands end. A commercial dump and in contrast to the National Trust Lizard Point. Back to meet OH for dinner followed by bopping about to a free blues brothers band in the town square. OH was interviewed for two live TV things and I missed both.:(

day 4
I decide not to get my hand redressed as It will take a couple of hours out of the day. Potter about the town and visit the event it is hosting. Get invited to a Paella party hosted by a guy in 20's and cooked by a guy who is the living image of a pirate then off to a pub for local ale drunk from plastic glasses, watch fireworks and then jigging about to an Abba band.

day 5
home now. All well. DD hit a deer last night about 100 yds up the hill. She's OK and car paint scratched but her judgement from the hair and blood is that the deer ran off to die:(. She was also nursing an injured bird and that died overnight too. Hand still weeping but I have antibugs so will see what it is doing in the morning.

It will feellike you were there with me.

lostinrates

Oh spirit, poor you! Your poor , poor hand. It sounds like a busy break. I'm sorry you missed dh's tv things, did anybody record them for posterity, anyone at work?


Dd was lucky to not get lots of car damage. Must have been very upsetting though.

ukmaggie45

Thank you for all the Birthday Greetings! :T

I invite you all to join me in a slice of virtual birthday cake and a glass of virtual fizz. :beer: Apologies it isn't Champers, but Lidl was out of it, so it's Cava instead, which makes just as good a popping sound when you open the bottle!

Candles lit and Fizz by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

lostinrates

Hope the cake and cava are delicious maggie!

Nikkster

lostinrates wrote: »

See I have slept in the garden or a stable just for the fun of it.

I might be tempted if it was with someone else. I'm definitely not sleeping in the garden on my own - I saw what happened to that little birdie :eek: