SKI-er or Sk-ater. We know how to enjoy ourselves

pollypenny

Oh, Tanith! I do feel for you ( been there).

I grieved for DD's long-term boyfriend for years and i still wonder about what might have been.

Have a good holiday, anyway.

pol xx

margaretclare

Now our summer holiday in Ireland is becoming a memory, we're planning the next 'away'. DH has still got quite a lot of euros left - he got some from an ATM in Killarney although he didn't need to - and instead of changing them back to sterling, he thought about going away for Christmas and using them up that way. So, we've decided to go away for 5 days to a small hotel in the Belgian Ardennes, and we've booked the hotel and the ferry crossing.

The next 'away' will be the English Democrats' Conference in late September at Nottingham, and I've booked that. Then the Metcalfe Muster - a family get-together of all those with connections to the surname Metcalfe, at Hawes, Yorkshire, that's in mid-October.

A woman said to me at church yesterday (when I said we'd been to Ireland) 'You do get about, don't you?' I looked at her in surprise, and all I could respond was 'Why not - why ever not?'

One thing is for sure. We'll never again stay in a big hotel in the UK like we did last Christmas. We like to have dinner in a civilised way, in peace and quiet, and NOT have a bloke yelling at us all the way through to buy bingo tickets, and not be able to enjoy coffee because it all had to be cleared away to make room for bingo! A hotel with 4 floors largely filled with older/disabled people and the lifts breaking down!!! Never again. Small hotels from now on.

lilac_lady

You probably were in a hotel that booked in bus parties, MC.

Nothing wrong with holidaying on a coach tour but I personally don't want to be ushered around like the guide's elderly relative and be expected to play the dreaded Bingo.

seven-day-weekend

I went to bingo once, with my m-i-l, when I was newly married.

Never again. It was like watching paint dry. That is apart from the times when I was living in fear and dread that I would get all the numbers and have to shout 'house!' at the top of my voice in front of hundreds of strangers.

I never went again. This of course confirmed her opinion of what a dreadful daughter-in-law I was.

margaretclare

lilac_lady wrote: »

You probably were in a hotel that booked in bus parties, MC.

Nothing wrong with holidaying on a coach tour but I personally don't want to be ushered around like the guide's elderly relative and be expected to play the dreaded Bingo.

Yes, we realised - too late - that because of the size of the hotel they were able to accommodate large parties and had laid on a special 'Christmas programme' for them. I felt sorry for some of those people - they seemed to be 'captive' if you like. And it was very stereotyped. Midnight Mass at a nearby church was on the programme, but no means of getting there, so I don't think many people actually went. Mulled wine and mince pies were laid on for people coming back from Midnight Mass, but we went to the annual Carol Service in Coventry Cathedral - one of the main reasons why we went there at all - but I was told we could not have mulled wine when we got back because 'it was only for Midnight Mass'. I protested that we were very cold from a long time in the Cathedral, which is huge and cold, but tough, we couldn't get it. The people on the coaches were taken to Stratford and Warwick, where they had an hour to look round, but they didn't go into Coventry, which is very historic and interesting, although the hotel was only 4 miles outside the city!

I have no objection to people playing bingo if that is what 'floats your boat', as the saying is. But dinner in the evening ruined by a bloke yelling all the way through about getting your tickets - no, that I can do without.

Breakfast was also very stereotyped - the 'full English' type for which many people went back for second helpings! I've come to like the Continental buffet-type of breakfast where you can choose. I asked for yoghurt but 'we don't do that'. Nor fruit.

We had wonderful breakfasts in Ireland. Smoked salmon, a lot of fresh fruit, yoghurt, a variety of other things. We could have had the 'full Irish' but neither of us could ever manage it. I like the German idea of breakfast including cold meats, ham, sliced cheese, different kinds of rolls, being able to make a choice.

Errata

Perhaps the point about the coach party people in your hotel is that this is why they booked the holidiay because they had done their research and it was exactly what they wanted ?

margaretclare

Errata wrote: »

Perhaps the point about the coach party people in your hotel is that this is why they booked the holiday because they had done their research and it was exactly what they wanted ?

That is why we shall never, ever, stay in a large hotel over Christmas again.

A point that I tried to make, however, was that I didn't think many of the people that we met there got a good deal and that is why I felt sorry for them. They were certainly misled about Midnight Mass, which was on the programme but there was no means of getting them there. Some also told me that they had expected to visit Coventry as they were so close to it, but a long coach-trip to Stratford and Warwick with only an hour there because they had to get back for 1 pm lunch, was a bit of a disappointment. The idea of accommodating that number of mainly older people in a hotel with 4 floors and lifts constantly breaking down, I would have thought, was also flawed. People had been assured in their literature that there were lifts, but for most of the time, including Christmas Day itself, they were not working.

The hotel we plan to stay in over Christmas this year is small, only 22 rooms. We really enjoyed our stay in the Killarney guest-house, which for food, service, friendliness and quality of accommodation really deserves its 4 stars. http://www.crystalspringsbb.com/index.html

pollypenny

Just ski-ed in London for the weekend: Blackheath - an area we didn't know! It was lovely. We went to a wedding on Saturday evening, but we had a chance to explore Blackheath and Greenwich in the morning.

Had to queue with loads of Japanese schoolkids to have my photo taken straddling the meridian. I am childish!

Savvy_Sue

pollypenny wrote: »

Just ski-ed in London for the weekend: Blackheath - an area we didn't know! It was lovely. We went to a wedding on Saturday evening, but we had a chance to explore Blackheath and Greenwich in the morning.

Had to queue with loads of Japanese schoolkids to have my photo taken straddling the meridian. I am childish!

That's not childish at all, that's traditional!

Lovely area, DH and I grew up nearby (his school cross country route was through Greenwich Park!) and his parents are still there. We're back there in August for a lunch at the Naval College! I suppose I should think about what to wear ...

hethmar

I was down there 2 weeks back. My son lives there. We went to the Globe to see Henry IV - lovely (but get box tickets - you get a soft seat).