Ever since I was a baby I've travelled, from wherever we were living with my Father's job in the UK, Newport, Leicester, York, Ross-on Wye to see my grandparents in Brighton and South Wales, during the holidays as well as caravan holidays in the North East, South West or West Wales.
Our one and only foreign holiday was aged 15 for 2 weeks in the South of France and I had a day trip to Calais when I was around 13, with school.
All travel for us was by car, bags were filled, picnics were made, a few toys and books were selected for the journey and all lose items were thrown in the boot. Blankets and pillows were taken for comfort on the journey and we'd often end up with only 1 cassette tape for the trip and little radio coverage.
Fast forward to the 90's and I became a parent myself, holidays were camping at holiday sites near the beach, we travelled by car and the same method of packing took place. There was a special trip to EuroDisney about 5 years after it opened, after saving hard, collecting the tokens in a newspaper and redeeming them for cheap flights.
Up until 2000 the only other trips I'd made were aged 17 to Amsterdam and with a friend to Dublin for a weekend. I'd also won a competition with a national newspaper and spent a week in Barcelona for the Olympic games.
As with all the trips, tickets, souvenirs were kept and scrap books were made, photo's were taken carefully and sent for developing arriving back 2 -3 weeks later.
My only other experience of travel was that of my Father, who travelled the world with his job between the mid 70's and early 90's. Everything he brought back was treasured and I had a collection of plane tickets, napkins, postcards, gifts mainly from South Africa, India and Egypt. I still have quite a few things from his travels.
All our holidays were out of term time, I never noticed a price difference, I didn't have the means to check out deals, it was either booked by calling a number in the newspaper, visiting a travel agent or obtaining a number for a camp site from a friend's recommendation.
Fast forward to the last 17 years and my travel has widened. Now living in Dubai and previously in South Africa, my approach to travel has changed. As the children got older we travelled to France and round Europe by car, and then further afield to Turkey, Tunisia and America. We thought nothing of getting in the car and driving to Manchester or London from the Midlands for a football match.
Peter's travels now take him further afield, although working in Europe is now a long haul flight away and while most of our holidays are now to the UK, in the past year, between us and together we've travelled to Europe, Canada, Jordan and Egypt.
The kids now come home for a fortnight, bring a mate or a girlfriend, family come to visit for holidays in far flung, foreign places.
In the past 10 years I've noticed how many people now think that having a holiday is a basic human right, taking children out of school as it's the only time they can afford to go and feeling that unless you travel to a far flung, tropical location they're all missing out and getting into debt to do so.
What happened to the good old British Holiday, a week or two camping or in a caravan, by the sea?
Saying that, I'm flying to the UK for summer, we're off to Turkey in July, me flying in from the UK and Peter from Dubai. I'm also travelling to Belfast to visit one son and hopefully to Dublin, Munich and South Africa to visit friends.
The rest of my 'holiday' will be spent travelling around in a hire car, visiting family with everything chucked in the boot.
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Monday, 6 February 2017
Parenting highlights
Well that's it, this year marks my end of being a mum to kids, as the youngest turns 18 and enters the world of work.
I've been parenting for 25 years this May. In a way I'll never stop parenting, I'm still and hopefully always will be the first point of call when the 5 kidults need advice and support.
Over the years, we've managed to lose children, had battles with schools, illnesses and a few broken bones, hearts broken, disappointment, falling-out with friends and dealt with petty squabbles that have escalated beyond our control.
When we manage to get a few of us together we spend hours talking about holidays and days out and general events that have happened in our lives. At times it's been hard work and often felt like the end of the world, but we now reflect and laugh about certain events, that we've shared over the years.
Our best holiday escapades are summed up in one blog post, Peter and I are both crying with laughing reliving these times. Peter and I have tears rolling down our eyes reading this post from 2010 'when holidays go wrong?'
Losing various kids has never been funny, but these incidents are ingrained in our memories and we often talk about these situations also.
Child 4 wandered off in San Francisco, he was missing for an hour, found on Pier 39, none the worse for wear and oblivious to our panic.
Child 5 has always wandered off in various locations and the one we've had to call the police out to on several occasions. He walked out the toilets whilst under the supervision of child 2, aged 18, and was found an hour later wandering over the Golden Gate Bridge.
He ran away aged 2 in France and was found by the boys after a frantic 20 minutes, hiding under an ice cream sign. The police were called in Abergavenny and the park sealed off, whilst I left him in the care of child 2, aged 13, while I went to the loo. And once for 2 hours he was missing on Perranporth beach aged 8. BBC seaside rescue were politely told to go away after following me around with a camera no less than 2 inches from my face, he was finally found by one of his cousins wearing a black wet suit with a turquoise spider on it, that they'd given him earlier that day and I had no idea what he was actually wearing, he'd been safe the entire time, but I hand't known that of course, again I'd left him in the care of someone else while I went to the loo.
In no particular order here are some of our funnier times:
Child 5, aged 8, drinking fizzy pop as we drove from Oregon to San Francisco, a 9 hour journey plus stops. Eventually Peter got fed up with endless stops and the child being so desperate to pee, in moving traffic, opened the side door and proceeded to take a pee as we were driving, child 2 grabbed hold of the back of his trousers, for dear life.
Child 5, aged 3, wanted to buy a large fire truck while in France, we said there was no where to put it, he said we could leave child 2 behind and spent the rest of the holiday shouting 'you're a crap mummy'
Child 5, aged 5, in France, go this head stuck in a bench, was yelling 'mummy I'm a duck' it was 10 minutes before I fully investigated to discover his head was wedged into the A frame of the bench, he soon learnt to say the letter 'S'.
Child 2, aged 10, arguing that as the oldest child he should have his own room on holiday and a fight broke out, in the morning he willingly offered the room to child 3 who he'd beat up the previous night, because it was next to the cesspit and smelt like chicken shit.
Child 3, aged 10, who got left behind at home and locked in the house when we went on holiday and we got a mile down the road before child 2 asked where his brother was.
Child 4, aged 5, who refused a bath and was unceremoniously dumped in the bath fully clothed and turned into the tasmanian devil, spinning around in the bath and screaming his head off for half an hour, yet refusing to get out once he had been washed yelling 'you can't do this to me'
Child 2, aged 17, coming home at 2am drunk one night, denying he'd been drinking and he's fallen in the fountain and it was chlorine I could smell, was woken at 6am, made to clean up his mess and sent to collage. Following weekend same occurred and rather than face a telling off he opted to sleep in the shed.
Child 2, aged 10, asked at every meal time for ketchup, before the meal was brought out, despite refusing to help lay the table, so one day when all the plates were served, apart from his, I just squirted the ketchup directly onto his placemat, full melt down ensued.
Child 3, aged 13, the police turned up in the street, assuming they were there for the neighbours child (again) we were shocked to hear our bell ring. Son had witnessed a friend throw a tennis ball, almost 100m's hitting a teacher on the side of the head and knocking him out.
Child 3, aged 16, got into a fight with a mate and was punched in the face and was on route to the hospital, husband dispatched after ambulance crew informed me son was adamant I wasn't to attend so he didn't get a telling off.
Child 4, aged 13, phone call to say son had been in rugby scrum, which had collapsed and he needed hospitalising, the first of 3 occasions where new sports kit was cut off and had to be replaced.
Child 4, aged 13, phone call from school at a rugby match. 'Your son is Ok, we're just waiting for the air ambulance to arrive'
Child 4, aged 15, phone call from paramedics 'we need permission to give your son a tracheotomy' after he was hit in the neck by a cricket ball.
Child 5, aged 11, fell over his own feet and broke his wrist, I gave him 2 paracetamol and an ice pack and finished drying my hair before taking him to hospital.
Child 5, aged 12, got a black eye after crashing on his heelies (wheeled shoes) whilst being towed by a golf cart.
Oh and the poo accidents, where I'll not assign a child number, they know who they are.
I've been parenting for 25 years this May. In a way I'll never stop parenting, I'm still and hopefully always will be the first point of call when the 5 kidults need advice and support.
Over the years, we've managed to lose children, had battles with schools, illnesses and a few broken bones, hearts broken, disappointment, falling-out with friends and dealt with petty squabbles that have escalated beyond our control.
When we manage to get a few of us together we spend hours talking about holidays and days out and general events that have happened in our lives. At times it's been hard work and often felt like the end of the world, but we now reflect and laugh about certain events, that we've shared over the years.
Our best holiday escapades are summed up in one blog post, Peter and I are both crying with laughing reliving these times. Peter and I have tears rolling down our eyes reading this post from 2010 'when holidays go wrong?'
Losing various kids has never been funny, but these incidents are ingrained in our memories and we often talk about these situations also.
Child 4 wandered off in San Francisco, he was missing for an hour, found on Pier 39, none the worse for wear and oblivious to our panic.
Child 5 has always wandered off in various locations and the one we've had to call the police out to on several occasions. He walked out the toilets whilst under the supervision of child 2, aged 18, and was found an hour later wandering over the Golden Gate Bridge.
He ran away aged 2 in France and was found by the boys after a frantic 20 minutes, hiding under an ice cream sign. The police were called in Abergavenny and the park sealed off, whilst I left him in the care of child 2, aged 13, while I went to the loo. And once for 2 hours he was missing on Perranporth beach aged 8. BBC seaside rescue were politely told to go away after following me around with a camera no less than 2 inches from my face, he was finally found by one of his cousins wearing a black wet suit with a turquoise spider on it, that they'd given him earlier that day and I had no idea what he was actually wearing, he'd been safe the entire time, but I hand't known that of course, again I'd left him in the care of someone else while I went to the loo.
In no particular order here are some of our funnier times:
Child 5, aged 8, drinking fizzy pop as we drove from Oregon to San Francisco, a 9 hour journey plus stops. Eventually Peter got fed up with endless stops and the child being so desperate to pee, in moving traffic, opened the side door and proceeded to take a pee as we were driving, child 2 grabbed hold of the back of his trousers, for dear life.
Child 5, aged 3, wanted to buy a large fire truck while in France, we said there was no where to put it, he said we could leave child 2 behind and spent the rest of the holiday shouting 'you're a crap mummy'
Child 5, aged 5, in France, go this head stuck in a bench, was yelling 'mummy I'm a duck' it was 10 minutes before I fully investigated to discover his head was wedged into the A frame of the bench, he soon learnt to say the letter 'S'.
Child 2, aged 10, arguing that as the oldest child he should have his own room on holiday and a fight broke out, in the morning he willingly offered the room to child 3 who he'd beat up the previous night, because it was next to the cesspit and smelt like chicken shit.
Child 3, aged 10, who got left behind at home and locked in the house when we went on holiday and we got a mile down the road before child 2 asked where his brother was.
Child 4, aged 5, who refused a bath and was unceremoniously dumped in the bath fully clothed and turned into the tasmanian devil, spinning around in the bath and screaming his head off for half an hour, yet refusing to get out once he had been washed yelling 'you can't do this to me'
Child 2, aged 17, coming home at 2am drunk one night, denying he'd been drinking and he's fallen in the fountain and it was chlorine I could smell, was woken at 6am, made to clean up his mess and sent to collage. Following weekend same occurred and rather than face a telling off he opted to sleep in the shed.
Child 2, aged 10, asked at every meal time for ketchup, before the meal was brought out, despite refusing to help lay the table, so one day when all the plates were served, apart from his, I just squirted the ketchup directly onto his placemat, full melt down ensued.
Child 3, aged 13, the police turned up in the street, assuming they were there for the neighbours child (again) we were shocked to hear our bell ring. Son had witnessed a friend throw a tennis ball, almost 100m's hitting a teacher on the side of the head and knocking him out.
Child 3, aged 16, got into a fight with a mate and was punched in the face and was on route to the hospital, husband dispatched after ambulance crew informed me son was adamant I wasn't to attend so he didn't get a telling off.
Child 4, aged 13, phone call to say son had been in rugby scrum, which had collapsed and he needed hospitalising, the first of 3 occasions where new sports kit was cut off and had to be replaced.
Child 4, aged 13, phone call from school at a rugby match. 'Your son is Ok, we're just waiting for the air ambulance to arrive'
Child 4, aged 15, phone call from paramedics 'we need permission to give your son a tracheotomy' after he was hit in the neck by a cricket ball.
Child 5, aged 11, fell over his own feet and broke his wrist, I gave him 2 paracetamol and an ice pack and finished drying my hair before taking him to hospital.
Child 5, aged 12, got a black eye after crashing on his heelies (wheeled shoes) whilst being towed by a golf cart.
Oh and the poo accidents, where I'll not assign a child number, they know who they are.
Sunday, 5 February 2017
110 My Sunday Photo 2017 T is for Tour Dubai
Stood at the roundabout at the end of our street on Saturday to watch the 5th and final stage of the Tour Dubai 2017.
The 4th stage on Friday was cut short after high winds, heavy rain and snow along the route.
Saturday, 4 February 2017
One Daily Positive 2017 Week 5 Egypt
We returned home from Egypt on Monday evening, our flight from Luxor was delayed but we had to clear security while we transferred through Doha, we had 25 minutes before our gate closed, there were only 2 X-ray machines open, yet loads of staff with iPads, testing a new and quick security system. We asked if we could queue jump, but were firmly told no. All other airports I've been to in the world, allow this when you're running late for a flight. It was only when we got through, that we could see a board with our flight, which thankfully had been delayed by 45 minutes, but we were still cutting it fine.
Sunday we walked the 5km from our hotel to Karnak Temple, we walked because we wanted to, and were pestered the entire way to get in a taxi or a horse and carriage.
The cat was pleased to be home on Monday evening. We started planning our next trip together to Turkey in July.
On Tuesday I had unpacked, washed and put everything away, by 10am I was drinking coffee at the mall, before doing the food shop. The dog was collected from our friends in the evening.
Wednesday's dental appointment was postponed till Sunday so I caught up with some paperwork, popped to HSBC, coffee at Costa, shopping in Waitrose, for a while I forgot I was in Dubai. I'm half way through my first book in over a year.
Thursday I cleaned the house, it didn't take long as there's only the 2 of us and we'd been away half the week, then I set the table up for dinner and BBQ tomorrow. I had my first article to write for the first time in ages, then I cycled off to the beach, had a coffee and popped into Hallmarks to buy a card, I ended up coming home with 2 huge bags from Mothercare balanced on my handle bars, having done the Christmas shopping for my 3 great nephews and my niece. I have a list of things I've been wanting to do for over a year, yet despite all this free time, I never seem to get round to doing them and after putting everything away in the garden, due to stormy weather, I had a lie down.
On Tuesday I had unpacked, washed and put everything away, by 10am I was drinking coffee at the mall, before doing the food shop. The dog was collected from our friends in the evening.
Wednesday's dental appointment was postponed till Sunday so I caught up with some paperwork, popped to HSBC, coffee at Costa, shopping in Waitrose, for a while I forgot I was in Dubai. I'm half way through my first book in over a year.
Thursday I cleaned the house, it didn't take long as there's only the 2 of us and we'd been away half the week, then I set the table up for dinner and BBQ tomorrow. I had my first article to write for the first time in ages, then I cycled off to the beach, had a coffee and popped into Hallmarks to buy a card, I ended up coming home with 2 huge bags from Mothercare balanced on my handle bars, having done the Christmas shopping for my 3 great nephews and my niece. I have a list of things I've been wanting to do for over a year, yet despite all this free time, I never seem to get round to doing them and after putting everything away in the garden, due to stormy weather, I had a lie down.
Friday we went out into the desert with Bob, it had rained heavily during the night and was very cold in the desert and extremely windy. We had friends round for a BBQ which was cooked inside due to the weather and we just chilled at home. The weather was very cold today by Dubai standards, 17c high, 14c low, warm clothes were required for the desert.
Saturday we had a lie in, cooked breakfast, then off to Ras Al Khor nature reserve to see the flamingos, coffee and cake at the Souk Madinat then watched the Tour Dubai as they cycled past our house at 3pm all while the slow cooker worked it's magic for an early dinner.
29/365 Transport
30/365 News
31/365 Sky
32/365 First
33/365 Cold/Hot
34/365 What I'm wearing
35/365 Sunday Roast
Saturday we had a lie in, cooked breakfast, then off to Ras Al Khor nature reserve to see the flamingos, coffee and cake at the Souk Madinat then watched the Tour Dubai as they cycled past our house at 3pm all while the slow cooker worked it's magic for an early dinner.
29/365 Transport
30/365 News
31/365 Sky
32/365 First
33/365 Cold/Hot
34/365 What I'm wearing
35/365 Sunday Roast
On the blog this week:
My Sunday Photo - L is for Luxor and lack of tourists
Animal Tales - How much does it cost to foster a dog in Dubai?
HDYGG? - A walk round the neighbourhood
Thursday, 2 February 2017
A walk round the neighbourhood and gardening in the sand.
I took a walk to the beach yesterday afternoon and realised just how green Dubai is at the moment. Despite it being winter, it hasn't rained since March 2016, the temperatures are much lower, below 30c, and it's very pleasant to be outdoors at the moment.
An empty plot behind our villa.
Every few villas there are shrubs and trees planted on the pavement with irrigation systems. I have no idea if these are owned by the villa's or maintained by the municipality.
I'd love to see the other side of this wall, the outside is beautifully planted, I imagine the gardens inside to be spectacular.
I love how people can leave pots outside their house and not have them vandalised, however it does annoy me that they are blocking the pavements.
There are random patches of colour along the side of the road, planted by the municipality.
My theory when it comes to gardening in Dubai is 'try' If they sell rose bushes, then rose bushes must be able to grow here. I dug a huge hole in the sand and filled it with compost before planting this bush. The roses have bloomed in the last 4 days, I wish I'd kept the box now so I knew what this was called.
Despite being small in size the tomatoes are doing well.
Chilli's
My first strawberry. I bought the plants as I've tried and failed several times, growing from seed.
Broad beans.
Im sure people will wonder what I've buried here, but the green fences are to mark the area where I've planted bulbs to stop the gardening digging them up like he did last year.
Plenty of sunflowers.
Treated myself to some flowers, now the air con is switched off for a few months, cut flowers last more than a few days.
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