dom.blog

I went on holiday

I started out not far from home at all – in the Corrib, in fact.

Dad, Josh and Lucy

Then headed down south, just a little…

Abbi and Lucy

…before winding up in Gloucester, where the pace of life was a little slower…

Gloucester

…and my two lovely hosts made me feel very welcome indeed.

Andy and Flo

Then on to Wales!

Josie

Which was half luscious spring

Bewts-y-coed

and half snowy winter, just slightly higher up the mountains.

Slightly higher up Bewts-y-coed

And finally, after some years, returned to good old Cofton Hackett

Me and Lou

and had plenty of drinks in the Oak Tree, catching up.

The Oak Tree!

(Also this month! Abbi hosted a wonderful dinner party, Sophie popped up briefly in London, Caroline and Louise threw the most well-catered flat warming party I’ve ever seen and Mother Majesty aced another gig.)

Sophie’s house

Helpfully sharing my audio guide

Only wimps duck out of an open-top bus tour! Even in Scotland.

Misssssttttt.

So, these were some little bits from our great time in Edinburgh. We also: tried to keep a straight face while a woman thought she felt a ghost in the underground city (“there’s cold on my face…”), wandered breezily into the Scottish Parliament viewing gallery, discovered the totally awesome Museum of Childhood, poked around in the medicine cabinet of a Georgian house and – and I really wouldn’t joke about such obvious mental instability – ended up having conversations like this:

“Pronoun verb pronoun!”
“Pronoun verb pronoun, qualifier!”

Worrying.

Now, one thing you should know about going on holiday with Lucy is that she’s an absolute Adam Smith fiend. It’s forever Theory of Moral Sentiments this, Wealth of Nations that… obviously I did eventually drag her off to an art gallery occasionally, but it was a tough fight. To keep her pacificed I will therefore also include the following photo, although for reasons of political impartiality it will naturally be appropriately balanced:

Dead white men FIGHT!

Bet Hume had a coat with buttons on

(And now I’m struck with an irrational fear that someone will take the above seriously… look, to prove I was joking, here’s me with the Batman to Adam Smith’s Robin to show that it was all me really. Ah, Hume. Now there’s a man who wouldn’t have felt cold on his face.)

I’m back!

For once, I am Monopoly King

Now, I’m pretty unapologetic about enjoying holidays, so I won’t bother to go through that tiresome ‘moan unconvincingly about your holiday’ ritual designed to make other people feel good about their non-holiday. Also, it was only Dartmoor, so you’re unlikely to feel uber jealous that you haven’t marvelled over such sights as England’s tallest waterfall. (I have. Fact.) Nevertheless, it was lots of fun There was even an outdoor pool which – in Britain! – somehow managed to stay warm…

Fun in the pool

With non-existent mobile reception where we were staying I was able to devote ample chunks of time to reading Brideshead Revisited and Book Club’s The Bird Room. As a family we also watched plenty of films: Fight Club (excellent), Cars (sorely needs a public transport sequel), Black Hawk Down (like watching someone else play a computer game), The Black Dahlia (eh?) and Downfall (also excellent). (I have to admit to walking out of the first volume of Kill Bill after about half an hour, bored and feeling like I’d been watching a PowerPoint made for a film studies class.)

You travel to the other side of the country and arrive at… South Brent?!

There isn’t really much else to say, other than the full album will be on Facebook… soon

Look – countryside! (Scary cows not pictured)

Policing moral rectitude

Watch out for my new wildlife show, starting soon

Auditioning for the role of Steen

Fishin’ and chipin’ it on the last night

The rains cometh! Yes, as a most-welcome shower finally relieves us of a prolonged bout of horrid humidity, I feel a happy boost which prompts me to get on with blogging about our trip to Liverpool. Some photos:

See, I told you the train works out as more expensive than the flying carpet

Don’t shout about it, but is photo-autism on the retreat?

A room with a view

If I only wait a little longer I’ll soon be back in fashion!

Put your hands up for De… erm… Liverpool

Going through the album and choosing which photos to display actually brought up the curious thing about Liverpool: try as I might, I couldn’t find anything which really screamed where it was taken. I actually asked someone there what they would put on a postcard to identify the city – akin to Parliament or the London Eye, or the Bullring for Birmingham – and he couldn’t really think of anything aside from the docks. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of impressive buildings, so maybe it’s just my fault for not recognising them as quintessentially Liverpudlian. The giant outdoorsy and slightly creepy shopping centre Liverpool One certainly didn’t qualify. Anyway, we did have a great time and packed in art galleries, museums, a bus tour and the cinema alongside (of course) plenty of eating and drinking – thanks to mum for organising it all!

Last night I ended up staring at the beautiful night sky above Queen’s Park (no lighting – hooray!) with Joshua, Niamh and Matthew. Matthew seems to bring out the theatrics in me – we’d already ended up encircling each other in the pub shouting things like “but what is a fact?” far louder than the management of The Corrib would have ideally wished for. A lovely evening!

I hope no-one is now disappointed that there was no further mention of the promised dhododendrons…

Hmm… how to add value when Abbi has already faithfully blogged the holiday and my photos are adorning Facebook? Why, turn to technology of course

Newquay!

Yes, I had a totally fantastic time and can only hope to blog a few memorable moments. Like the train which failed to get up the hill, the cold-induced delirium of night-time swimming, drinking games with the gorgeously feminine voices which followed, giant scary sea creatures at the aquarium, the wonders of Wordplay, the views of the sea and everyone’s amazing company. Onward to next year!