… my musings on, er, "stuff"
Pic of the week 25/8/19
Yesterday was the annual gathering of the clan, in the main to celebrate Dad’s 82 and Rog’s 53rd birthday.
All the Grandchildren were there, at The Sheppey, Godney. The sun shone, it was hot, hot, hot – we ate indoors before being shuffled outside to a table alongside the river when our “dining” table was needed for the next seating.
Time to introduce a new category to my blog: Travelogue posts.
Have done quite a bit of booking today. Not a very exciting post (although it has been quite exciting arranging future travels) but I thought it’d be good to have somewhere to record all the details for future comparison.
Girona 19
Have booked three nights in Girona for Becky and I in October.
Flights: RyanAIr Bristol to Girona FR9336 dep 20:00 arr 22:50, ret: FR9335 dep 17:20 arr 18:20. Cost £142.65 (total) Take on luggage only – small bag + 10Kg bag 55 x 40 x 20 cm
Accommodation: Peninsular Hotel, Girona, 3 nights, booked through ebookers £165.78
Pollensa 20
Booked x3 flights today, same Thomas Cook flights as this year – Bristol to Palma, dep 1230, ret 16:55. Seats booked, + 20Kg hold luggage each, total cost £707.94 (base price £500.94 + extras – luggage & seat booking)
Accommodation in Pollensa, found through H&Away, but booking privately through owner. Total cost €1950, deposit of €950 sent today (cost of £900) via bank transfer, rest to be paid in cash on arrival.
Bon voyage!
Pic of the week
Sam has turned 17, and taken to life behind the wheel.
I haven’t been out with him (yet) but Becky’s taken him out a few times and he seems to be enjoying life on the road. They started in Strode car park, but have since graduated onto the levels back lane (that I run along) as well us driving up Downside Road, to Millfield car park (main & swimming pool) and back home, to reverse onto the drive.
Other than his birthday, the week has been a little non-descript: the inevitable come down after the highs of a week away. I’ve ref-ed a couple of games, done some more painting of hall and utility room, but not too much to write home about. The weather has not been brilliant – high winds on Friday and Saturday and today – after a bright-ish morning – we’ve had some torrential downpours, thunder and lightening:
Pic of the week 4/8/19
Just back from a great week in Soller, Mallorca. We stayed in a villa in the town of Soller – a great villa, with a fab pool, in a charming Mallorcan town.
We paid (about) £2.5K for the villa, flights were £1.5K – Thomas Cook: good times – 12.30 pm out 16.55 return (local times) but, unfortunately the outbound flight was three hours delayed. The skipper then opened up the gas, meaning we landed “only” 2 hour 40 mins late and were thus denied the 250 euro ahead compensation for a three hour delay.
I’d booked transfers via Hoppa.com – worked well, cost £118 in advance. Probably would have been cheaper to just book local taxis, but this saved a lot of hassle – would be happy to use again.
Becky has two much better blog posts that are worth reading:
but below are some photos and memories from me.
Home (casa) for the week
and its pool (piscina)
El nino and padre enjoying said piscina
Perhaps the most picturesque train station in Europe? Discovering the (small) Miro exhibition was cool. (“Jefe” means “Boss”. I think I might start mis-spelling my name with an e instead of f at the end.)
Becky, Sam & I took the bus to Deia, walked down the hill (30 mins) to swim in the beautiful, clear see, before yomping back up in the midday heat to get the bus back to Soller. (Fortunately, the bus was deliciously air conditioned and gave us a great view on the switch back roads through the mountains.)
The four of us had a day out in Plama (outbound via train – worth it, at 18 euros ahead, back by those wonderful air conditioned buses, 2.50 euro each). A lovely picturesque compact city, but hot, oh so hot! Becky & I will return for a city break – sin ninos – at some point.
Soller itself was beautiful. I think I particularly enjoyed being immersed in a Spanish/Mallorcan town and not some “All day breakfast” tourist resort. I’m trying to learn a little espanol, I must keep this up.
I enjoyed the whole holiday, but if I must pick a best bit, i think it must have been having a leisurely breakfast in the square with Becky.
Till next time …