Daydreaming, of a Holiday before it Happens

Nothing like ramping up the ol' pre-holiday fever, whilst driving along in, close to, 50degC temperatures, staring out at sand, sand, dust & sun.

In this final run-up to our trip, I have been daydreaming about all the things I am looking forward to during our upcoming trip.

It feels like it adds days to our holiday, which is a jolly thing.

I have distilled them down thus:

NOT being in 50degC temperatures & being away from the sand, dust & sun. 

Just for a bit.
And what is going on with the kabillion% humidity these last few days??!

NOT having to steer with just the tips of my fingers. 

Tough call this, hands welded to a burny, roasting-tin-hot steering wheel OR everyone in here dying in a fiery ball of flames.

Trees

oh, the Trees.

To save me repeating myself, you can see last year's Hug a What Now? post.

"Gorgeous, lush green big OLD trees.  Juicy, rich trees. Rounded, friendly leaves, not spiky, resentful & tense with the effort of staying alive"

 Suffice to say, brace yourselves, Trees.

The chance of some Welly action

Again, things won't have changed since last year's Her Soul Yearns for a Welly

Seriously, Glorious Sunshine can get stuffed, I need me some rain.

Family

Being with Family. The family that have known me since I began. The family with whom the British half of me shares real history.

Family that have stories that I keep meaning to write down so they don't get lost.

Family that I have known since THEY were born.

Family that I sadly, only ever see on these trips, but who are no less important to me because of it.

Nothing lifts the spirits
like crossing the bridge and
finally spotting this sign
(& now, cue panic-scrabbling for the toll fare)

Wales

Yes, Wales.
Wales feels like home in the UK now.
Wales = Family too.
Wales is very special to our family.

Love Wales.



Food

The bread. The chips. The crisps. The bacon, cheese and mushroom pastries.  Basically, the carbs of Britain.

Supermarkets

Even if they flummox me with their ever-changing technology - Self-Service Counters this is the year you will not intimidate me.

Rows and rows of alcohol. Just sitting there. Waiting for me to purchase, no limits, no judgement.

The Colours

The Greens.  The Yellows. The Blues. And, yes, the Grey.

The Driving

So orderly. So well-mannered. Trust me, relatively speaking it IS Orderly & well-mannered.

See you on the M4, Purple-faced Man. 

The Radio

ahhhhhhhhhhhh, hello again BBC Radio 4 & 5Live. And all you others.
Live, and in context.

The Bookshops

I can and will spend a fortune in bookshops.

Books bring me the Happy. 

And, the anxiety of overweight suitcases.

 

The Coming Back To Your Own Home again
Love that. However, obviously, it is always tinged with some sadness.
But it is a marvellous thing nevertheless.
All your own stuff, your pets, your car, catching up with the Here Friends - that is all worth looking forward to too.

THINGS I AM LESS EXCITED ABOUT

Flying.

Don't love it. Never loved it. Best not dwell on it.
Packing

Packing sucks. There is nothing more to be said on this.

Petrol prices

Boring Dubai expat moan but ...... OUCH. Best not dwell on it.

The Indigestion

(see above, Food) No matter, a fistful of Rennies and I am good to go again.

Those Extra Kilos

Thanks for nothing, British Carbs and my greatest love/foe of all ..... Fish & Chips.
Running out of time 
And not getting to see all the people that I would like to.

Feeling bad that we cannot travel the length & breadth of the country

A common complaint for many of us, I know.
It boils down to this - Try to do it all, ruin what is supposed to be a holiday.

The Leaving Bit

Without a doubt, the very worst bit.

but also (see above, The Coming Back to Your Own Home again)

Holiday (Summer) 2013 - Road Kill Bingo?

M4, M25, M26, M29, A4070
261 miles
5 hours.

4:15 hrs, BBC Radio 4

1 x Break (1 tea (takeaway),1 pk crisps, Lightly Salted, 1 Buxton water. All Costa Coffee)

18 pigeons (inexplicably), 9 rabbits, 1 badger (unconfirmed), 2 foxes, 5 squirrels = Road Kill Bingo

Holiday (summer) 2013 - I fell in love, a bit

We went to London.

The smallest of Us has never been to London. 

We wanted to acquaint him with Things British.

Not just general stuff like red phone boxes, London buses & London tourist things but experiences that were once very commonplace to us.

Commonplace, Then, to Us but, Now, to Him might as well relate to daily life on Planet Zog.

We are talking about things like:
* Tube mice,

* Churchyards & gravestones (when people do WHAT?, they get WHAT?! .... WHERE??!!)

* A typical SW London 'burb street, with bushes of lavender or buddlia spewing out onto the pavement

* The Tube - whilst not UNlike HK's MTR or Singapore's MRT, is also VERY!

* Greggs pastries (UK expats, did YOU know they do a Greggs' cafe now? I didn't get the memo)

* Commuters reading on the Tube, newspapers left on the seats

* The stinkiness of some areas of the Underground, some stairwells & .............. ewwwwwwwwwww, those same phone boxes we were gushing bout earlier (in fact, he never noticed this bit.  I did.  I don't miss THAT bit)

When we lived in our ground floor flat, in a Victorian conversion terrace, there were sounds.  Unique sounds I now realise.

I'll give you a fr'instance ...... close your eyes.

You are watching tv, in the 'front room' (which, when you were a student, was actually likely to be a housemate's bedroom).  The window faces on to the street, right?

Early evening, the waves of returning fellow street dwellers start to wash down your road.  Their appearance & progress down your street runs approximately 6 minutes behind each arrival of SW Trains at the nearby station.

The talking and/or the clipping footsteps alert you.

Closer.
Closer.
Louder.
*laughter* "yeah, mate. I'll see you there."
Louder.
Clip, clip, clip .........
Louder
Closer.

HERE THEY ARE.
......................................................................................
There they go.

Further away.
Further.
"I know! This holiday is going to be suuuuuuuuuch a laugh, darling. And I sooooooooo need it. Honestly, she is such a bitch."
Further.
Quieter.
Quieter.

Gone.

Pub Chucking-Out time - same story.  More laughing. Replace *clipping* with *shuffling*. Possibly stronger language.

Back in The Day - hearing GuyUpStairs moving around, presumably sorting out a spot of supper & settling down for the night, made me feel safe.

In these houses, without ever actually exchanging more than a "hello", as you step over the evergrowing but invisible (?) drift of freebie papers & pizza/curry takeaway menus that get shoved through the communal postbox, you know when this Utter Stranger has a bath, flushes the loo or if he is watching News at Ten.

And then, in the morning, you can hear GUS's alarm go off.  You know when he is up out of his pit & moving to his bathroom & his kitchen.  GUS's place is the exact mirror copy of us down here.

I knew when this stranger, who slept about 12 feet above us, was late for work, had a late night, was away for the weekend, had friends round but never a girlfriend.

Our few days revisiting London has also reminded me how much I dislike London public transport in the warm weather, but that horribly hot stuffy conditions on a Bus or train also brings the most glorious smells & sounds of a London garden in the summer.

Just these few days I have remembered the smell of cut grass that so many love (or the Pollen-Challenged hate), the sound of everyone having their windows open whilst watching a huge sporting event like the LionsTour or Wimbledon, the smells of BBQs, laughing & the psssssshhhhht of cans being pssssssshhhhhhhht'd.

Love it.

I fell in love again with London again this July.  It felt rich & full of substance & history (one cannot say this about where we live now).  It made me nostalgic for the Old Days - Student & Post-student times.

But then, when the sun shines everything is lovable.

As an aside, I should say, I didn't come here for sunshine.  I don't frigging need more sunshine.  I wanted moody, morose, cosy gloom.  With gorgeous boots. And hats.

Heatwave. Shmeatwave.

Perhaps you'd like to meet Us?

Thought you might like to have an idea as to who we are - what better than to provide a visual? (please stop watching so much Star Trek, Pants)

TaaaaaaDaaaaaaa, here we are......

 

 

To clarify, Daddy (Trousers) is not YouKnowWho.

(calm down, Conspiracy Theorists. THAT guy def did come to a sticky end with Eva Braun in that bunker. Or DID he?).

 

Hair depiction of the 3 humans fairly accurate - ranging from 'Long' to 'Some' to, well, 'No Hair'.

Also featured are most, but not all, of our animal family members.  He was keen to include them.  Even the dead ones.

 

Yeah, the dead ones.  Last year was a tough year, we lost 4 of our family last year.

*  STANLEY, Greyhound, old old old age.  He came with us from the UK to Dubai & had a wonderful 8 years here.

 

*  GLORIA, Great Dane. Sadly, she was only about 3 yrs old, max. She was really sick when she came to live with us & we knew we'd only have a few months but we were determined for her to have a real home & know nice things like grass & love & cuddles before she left this earth.

*  IVY (not pictured), cat, 4 years old , handreared by Me since 1 hr old.  Presumed killed, shot.  Can't talk about it really.  Will do sometime. Not now.

 

*  TONY, Pekinese (Peke), 4 yrs old. Accident, hit by a car when he escaped from the house.  Despite weighing no more than about 3 kgs (when wet), he was a shocking car-chaser.  He also Esteem Issues (as in EXTREMELY high estimation of himself & DID believe he was indestructible.  Sadly, he was wrong.)

 

Survivors:
PAT is the African Grey Parrot.

OLLIE, the brindle Lurcher
BLANCHE, Harlequin Great Dane
Chopsticks, a TOY rat.

Not appearing due to lack of space:
MING, the black Devon Rex (cat)
LEAH (DIAMONDS MISS SNIPPET), my horse

 

BTW, this is also Us.
The resemblance is uncanny, I feel