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Croatian Holiday Diary Continued…

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Family holiday in Lone Hotel, Rovinj, continues at a relaxed pace. Each morning Husband greets the girl at the desk with a new phrase he has learnt in Croatian. She has real fear in her eyes when she sees us approach, but he feels he is making progress and learning the local language – despite no one understanding him. Ever. The best word to learn is thank you – which sounds like “Farla”. Today the girl at the desk replied, and said something which sounds like “Ooga dan dan” We think it means: “Have a nice day.” Husband plans to practise on various shop assistants.

 Last few nights we have eaten at Tipico Old Town, a cosy restaurant with an open kitchen, so we can watch them cook while we eat. They offer a couple of vegetarian options (and I recommend the stuffed courgettes!)

 

 

 

 

We hired bikes and cycled along the coast. There’s a gravel path, so it was hard going in places, but the views are fabulous. Lots of coves with local people swimming, and the cliff tops are a huge park, with trees and paths. There are climbers on the cliffs, boats on the sea, tiny islands, sunshine, pine trees…..lovely.

Drove to Restaurant Maslima for lunch. Sat under olive trees. Lots of mosquitoes in Croatia, so bring repellent. The pizzas were huge – I had a ‘mini’ one, which was normal sized, the others had ‘normal’ ones which were very large, and J chose a ‘jumbo’ one, which was the size of a table.

Menu also offered some nice looking drinks. Some were lavender flavoured – there are lots of lavender products here.  I chose a lemon and ginger one.

The picture in the menu looked lovely, and it was described as being Dalmatian lemon juice with fresh ginger……

 

What actually arrived was a glass of tap water and a sachet of flavoured syrup. Disappointing…

Decided to walk to a bay to swim. We walked a long way (all the bays were quite crowded). Found a nice empty spot and settled onto the rocks, then noticed the sea was FULL of jellyfish. Tiny transparent globs of jelly. Didn’t swim, went back to hotel pool.

I later learned these jellyfish are also called “walnut sea jellies”. They are native to America, and often transported via ship ballast. They reproduce rapidly, and cause huge problems to ecosystems as they eat plankton, which upsets the food chain for bigger fish. Big problem for fishing based industries. However, they do not sting, so later we swam quite happily in water infested with them. It’s a little odd swimming with jelly, but not harmful.

Had a day in Pula. Huge Roman amphitheatre, which is very hot in the midday sun (just thought I’d mention that). There are some interesting chambers underground, where you can imagine the prisoners and animals being kept. There were also lots of pots. Not sure why lots of pots are interesting, but they seem to be a feature of Roman monuments.

Husband wears a hat we are all very rude about. Pula had a whole family, all dressed the same, all wearing same hats. Perhaps they get lost a lot and it makes it easy to identify them. We sent husband over to join them.

Pula also has Hercules Arch, which I was keen to see. Family led me to a variety of arches. The one I think actually IS Hercules Arch appears to be incorporated into a modern apartment complex.


Tried to have coffee and cocktails in a pretty square. Managed to have beers and nasty wine in a mosquito infested alley. Husband wished them “Ooga dan dan,” when we left. They looked confused.

Ate in Sareni Papar restaurant. This was great, if slow. Lovely stuffed peppers, served straight from the oven in a boiling hot baking dish. (Stuffed veg are, apparently, a feature of Croatian food.) Husband said “Ooga dan dan” to friendly waitress. She looked worried. Blokes drank 1L glasses of beer, sang all the way home (surprisingly tuneful) and then happily walked to the wrong hotel. A nice day.

Thanks for reading.
Take care,
Love, Anne x

PS. We later learned ‘Ooga dan dan’ does NOT mean ‘have a nice day’, it means something like ‘on, and on, every day.’ Explains why no one understood Husband, though I guess he gets credit for trying.

If you want to read the next instalment from my holiday diary, why not sign up to follow my blog?
anneethompson.com

xxx

 

Croatia – Family Holiday Diary

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Met 9am for breakfast (if you missed my last blog, we’re staying in Lone Hotel, Rovinj). A young girl waited at the entrance to take room numbers, and Husband had used Google Translate so he could say “Good morning, room 463” in Croatian. Croatian with a strong English accent. She looked very confused. I apologised for him, and ushered him to a table.

Breakfast was another buffet – a huge selection in a gigantic room. But some food seemed a little ‘old’ – perhaps because we were fairly late getting there. Lots of food to keep our vegetarians fed though (which has been quite a challenge this holiday). There was also a very low table, at child height, full of cakes and pastries. A small boy was happily stroking everything. Clearly a nice idea, planned by someone who is not a parent.

Walked into Rovinj (15 minutes along the coast). Lovely town – old buildings scattered on a hill, stretching out to sea. It felt like an Italian town, and Son-who-knows-stuff told me that it was originally built by the same people who built Venice, hence the similarity. I loved it. It was full of tourist shops and cafes, but all around were signs of real life – washing strung high above the street, craftsmen working, fishermen. It has more of a soul than Ljubljana had.

   

Took bread and cheese back to the hotel and ate in the lobby bar. They have shiny black tables, and provide white marker pens, so you can doodle while you sit. Young children had drawn pictures, some people had written rhymes. My family wrote mathematical formulas (how sad is that?)

Everyone did their own thing for the afternoon. I ventured down to beach, and sunbathing daughter agreed to swim with me. Very stony beach, hurt feet. There was a lifeguard’s chair, but the only person near it was in a wheelchair, so I didn’t swim out too far. All the guests have been provided with room key cards and a towel card – so you can collect swimming towels when you need them. Both cards look very similar, which is causing some people problems. D, M, H, and J played Castles of Burgundy (a board game, so worth avoiding). R told me it’s French and they had to Google-translate the instructions. But that might have been a lie.

Walked to MaliRaj restaurant in Rovinj. It was down a narrow cobbled street, and someone had put tiny candles in the wall crevasses – very romantic. The streets are cobbled, and very slippery (I assume worn smooth by thousands of feet, but it is possible a grumpy old women sneaks out every night and polishes them, hoping to make tourists fall over.) The streets are also steep and uneven, so leave your heels at home.

Mali Raj is a fish restaurant – real, fresh, head-attached, caught this morning, fish. Some of my family have only ever eaten filleted fish before, so I could be a mummy again and show them how to remove fish bones – rather nice to be a mummy again, it doesn’t happen very often these days, usually it is them explaining things to me. Fifteen minutes into the meal, M announced he’d managed his first mouthful and it was very tasty! Dessert was pancakes with ice cream and sour cherries. Delicious. I popped to use the loo and peeked into the kitchen. Grandma was sitting on a huge chair, and they were passing her things to dry up. I like this place. At the end of the meal, they gave us grappa shots. Pretty foul.

Walked back through crowded streets full of music, dancing in the square, street artists.

Hotel Lone has lots of activities you can book. Tomorrow people plan to cycle, or kayak, or go to the gym. I might just sleep and read and eat ice creams.

Thanks for reading.
Take care,
Love, Anne x

If you want to read the next instalment of my holiday diary, why not sign up to follow my blog?
anneethompson.com

xxx

So, what do you think the world will look like in about 100 years from now? Will we have sorted the threat of religious terrorism? Will there still be poverty and famine in the world? And if technology has evolved, and we have driverless cars and bots doing all the manual labour, what will have happened to people’s jobs?

Counting Stars tells a story in one such world. I spoke to various people – scientists, economists, (even a toilet roll manufacturer!) and I asked : What will the world look like in a hundred years time? I then created that world. My rule was that everything had to be possible, even if it wasn’t probable. Then I wrote about a family, because whatever the future looks like, people will be the same. Adolescents will still be ignoring their mothers, and wives will still be moaning about their husbands.

Counting Stars has been described as “an intelligent thriller”. It will make you think. I hope you enjoy it.

Counting Stars by Anne E Thompson. Available from Amazon. The UK link is below. Thank you for reading. Ax

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_24?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=counting+stars+by+anne+e+thompson&sprefix=counting+stars+by+anne+e%2Caps%2C163&crid=1JGHX003E5O5L

xxx

The Drive to Croatia – Family Holiday Diary

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Checked out of hotel in Ljubljana and drove south.

Stopped at Predjama Castle in Slovenia – a fortress built into a rock. Parking was an adventure (car parks in Slovenia rather more casual than in Austria). We paid (I chose to not look at price because Husband had decided we were going in anyway – due to the whole male/castle/compulsory visit gene, which females don’t inherit.)

However, having moaned about the castle in Ljubljana, I have to admit, this one was really interesting. They gave us portable recorded guides, which were brilliant as you could skip ahead to the bits that were interesting (like the torture chamber, and the secret tunnels through the rocks which meant that when the castle was under siege, they could sneak out to top up their food). All the boring bits could be skipped. The castle was not a happy place, but they have turned it into an interesting museum, with several rooms furnished, and it is well worth visiting. If you happen to be in Slovenia.

We didn’t buy sandwiches at the castle (a mistake) and decided to stop for food during the journey. Big row (which only families can have) about whether to go to a MacDonald’s in Croatia, or stop for food sooner. Nearly stopped at a supermarket, but this was strongly vetoed by J who objected to eating food bought from a shop with broken windows. I just love my family sometimes. We ate at a McDonalds in Croatia.

The border crossing had queues, but we were waved through with our EU passports (not sure what will happen when Brexit has happened). As we drove away, we saw miles and miles of stationary cars waiting to cross the border OUT of Croatia. Decided we would leave very early next week.

Croatia reminds me of Turkey. Lots of dusty agriculture.

We’re staying at Lone Hotel in Rovinj. It’s a contemporary hotel, with lots of art that I don’t quite understand. Family seem happy, though somewhat perturbed by glass wall in bathrooms. Husband, who knew about these in advance, had brought rolls of brown paper and Blutac (we have a mix of family and friends in various rooms). Family strangely unimpressed by his forward planning (especially J, who had been persuaded to carry it through three countries).

   

Dinner was in hotel restaurant. Very trendy, and very lacking in actual food. My “steamed tuna and avocado” was seared (raw) tuna with shavings of avocado. Tasty lemon and ginger sauce, but not exactly filling. Boys have offered to find future eating places for rest of holiday.

Family went to explore hotel’s night club (am sure they were pleased Husband decided to go with them). I went to bed. There’s a thunder storm, so watched lightning across the sea for a while. Tomorrow we’ll explore Rovinj.

Thanks for reading.
Take care,
Love, Anne x

If you want to read further instalments from my holiday diary, why not sign up to follow my blog?
anneethompson.com

xxx

Ljubljana, Slovenia – Family Holiday Diary

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I didn’t go to the gym today. Breakfast was in a huge room – busy, but a good selection of food. It was very different to the Austrian buffet (for example, there they had slices of melon and a fruit salad; Slovenia offered whole peaches and apricots and plums, which you peeled and cut yourself.) Coffee was rough. The whole hotel has a different feel. It has a sort of faded prettiness, but it somehow feels less ‘classy’ less ‘safe’, than Austria. I like it, but feel more cautious.

Family made a plan for the morning. We wanted to see the Dragon Bridge, the Cobblers Bridge, a church, and a market. So Husband decided we would go to the castle. (Not complaining, just saying….) Actually, to be fair, the walk to the castle did include all the other stuff. The Dragon Bridge is from the legend of Jason and the Argonauts. The market doesn’t sell cushion covers, but has the biggest tomatoes ever. It also has a ghost, which only very good people can see, who watches over the market square.

   

The way up to the castle was by funicular. You can either queue for 15 minutes to buy the tickets, and then queue again for a further twenty minutes for the next funicular to arrive, OR one person can queue for tickets while everyone else queues for the next car. Hence avoiding time standing in hot sun. But stroppy Slovenian women who didn’t think of doing that hiss at you.

The castle is boring. Most castles are boring (but males have a strange need to visit them, in the same way as they HAVE to climb towers.) This particular castle was also very full of tourists. (It was probably nicer under communist rule – if somewhat less friendly.) The castle used to be a prison. Some cells had a window, and the best views of the city. Other cells did not. I don’t think I would’ve survived 10 years in a stuffy stone box. If you do visit, then the water costs less in the gift shop than from the ice cream lady in the courtyard. The walk down from the castle is along a slippery gravel path. It has good views, but you can’t look at them or you’ll trip over a root and plummet to your death. Probably.

 

We ate lunch in a BackWerk, which is a sort of ethnic Costa where you make your own coffee from a machine (but it has nice sandwiches). It’s too hot for food really.

We walked to Tivoli Park via a couple of churches and an ice cream cafe. The churches had a lot of gilt, the ice creams were nice. Saw the Parliament building, which is a boring square building, but has interesting sculpted figures around the door. They represent the Socialist ideal, of everyone striving together.

The park, when we had slogged there through the afternoon heat, was not worth visiting, I thought. But perhaps I was just too hot.

Ljubljana is pretty, it reminds me of Bruges. It is nice to visit for a day, but it felt weirdly insubstantial. If you took away the cafes and chocolate shops, I’m not sure what would be left. I never managed to see the ‘real’ part of Slovenia.

Dinner was at Julija (Stari trg 9). Jovial waiter and nice food, followed by blackberry liquor shots.

Tomorrow we drive further south, and to Croatia.

Thanks for reading.

Take care,
Love, Anne x

Why not follow my blog? anneethompson.com

xxx

The Drive to Slovenia

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I got up early and went to the gym before breakfast. Had red face for rest of the morning and felt slightly dizzy. Pretty sure exercise is unhealthy. Breakfast good again – we’ve had a nice time here (Sheraton Salzburg) it’s a shame to leave.

Drove south. Left main road and went through Alpine National Park. Worried that we hadn’t paid (you have to buy a vignette and stick it on your windscreen) and that we might be fined. But there was nowhere obvious to buy one. Then we arrived at the official entrance to the park, and actually it would be impossible to NOT pay, so that was an unnecessary panic.

Stunningly beautiful views in every direction. I want to live in Austria – they even like dogs, so Kia could come.

Followed mountain road to a glacier. Saw a marmot (looked like a groundhog). Lots of cows with bells, sheep, motorbikes and – surprisingly – cyclists. Not quite sure why anyone would cycle up a mountain by choice, but there are some weird people in the world. The road led to a huge car park, with toilets and cafes. It felt rather like a seedy service station on a motorway. However, it was functional, it allowed everyone to park and enjoy the views. Some people were walking to the glacier – not sure if they could actually walk on it; but they looked tiny from the car park, so I’m guessing it would be a whole day’s outing, and we were on the way to Ljubjana so didn’t have time. Perhaps when we live here ….(need to start persuading Husband).

 

R perturbed by lack of lunch. Found a supermarket at 3pm and bought bread and cheese.

Arrived at Grand Hotel Union (yes, that is the correct order of words) in Ljubljana. (This is pronounced libby-ana. But Husband insisted on calling it Lubbily-Jubbily, and now it is REALLY hard not to. Which will be embarrassing when I’m telling friends about the holiday.)

  Hotel is in the old town, which is lovely. Weather hot. People speak good English (which is lucky, as we are having trouble with even the name of the city!)

We wandered around looking for somewhere to eat. Husband tired after 8 hours of driving. Ate in an over-priced cafe in a square and watched the world go by. Lots of young people. Old part of the city is pretty, and full of bars and cafes and street artists. There are famous bridges, interesting statues and lots of people. For a city I had never even heard of, it is surprisingly well-known amongst tourists. Will explore tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Take care,
Love, Anne x

On Friday I will tell you what we see in Ljubljana – why not sign up to follow my blog?
anneethompson.com

xxx

Fuschlsee, near Salzburg – Family Holiday Diary

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Day Three – Fuschlsee near Salzburg

Breakfast 9 am. Managed to sit inside today. Sheraton provides a good selection for breakfast – and S selects most of it. Today he poured chocolate powder over his eggs by mistake (same wrapper as mustard). We, of course, never mentioned it again, because we’re a tactful, understanding, family. R had a boiled egg, which wasn’t. J spent 3 hours cooking a waffle (had to restrain Husband so he didn’t go to “help” him.) But we didn’t break the coffee machine today.

Choices for activities today were: walking, rowing, golf, cycling, swimming. We, of course, had a voting system (20 votes per person) and made an Excel spreadsheet. Sometimes I wonder how I came to be part of this family. Anyway, rowing won.

Hired two boats (€10 per hour) and set off across Fuschl Lake. Made it to a jetty with a fish restaurant and had drinks. Had to walk across a scary floating jetty and down a plank of wood. I don’t generally do well with activities that involve balance. Used washroom – all public conveniences in Austria seem to cost 50 cents. Rowed back. It is harder than you might think to row in a straight line.

Family played golf (not me). Then we met for hideously expensive drinks in pretty hotel bar.

Had trouble booking anywhere for dinner, as it’s Assumption Day and everywhere is closed (would’ve been nice if hotel had warned us). Ate in The Grill at hotel. Nice food, very friendly waiter.

Day Four

Nice breakfast again. M and H swam before breakfast. ( M has clearly been abducted by aliens who are now impersonating him, but I rather like having a son who gets up before midday, so I don’t mind.) Drove to St Wolfgang and caught tourist train up mountain. Tickets so expensive Husband wouldn’t tell me the price.

Mountain very cold at the top. R wearing summer dress and sandals – interesting decision. We covered her in Husband’s hideous cagoule. Brilliant views, though one side was covered by cloud. The peak looked like a film set for a Nazi film, with a wooden house with flags for secret planning meetings.

 

Drove to Bad Ischl to a coffee house recommended by Trip Advisor. (When in Austria, you HAVE to visit a beer garden, a coffee house, and run across an Alpine meadow singing words from The Sound of Music. It’s the law.) Really nice coffee, really grumpy waiter. We wanted lunch, and when we asked if the menu had any vegetarian options, he told us to go to the cafe up the road! Used the washroom, which had a strangely placed mirror – I could not see any purpose for it, do people check their make-up while sitting on the loo? Very nice coffee though….

 

Saw some red phone boxes. One was filled with bookshelves, and was a ‘book-swap’ place. Nice idea.

It’s our last day in Austria, so I bought a cushion cover for my collection. Tomorrow we drive to Slovenia. Now, I just need to find a meadow to run across……

Thank you for reading.
Take care,
Love, Anne x

Why not sign up to follow my blog? anneethompson.com

Salzburg

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Family Diary Continued

Day Three: Salzburg

Only table big enough for seven of us was outside, which was good due to sunshine, and bad due to wasps. It’s a good breakfast, with lots of choice (and S chooses nearly everything. This is good, because Austria is not great for vegetarians, and even menus marked as ‘vegetarian’ sometimes contain fish.)

Drove to Salzburg and parked in a car park dug into the rock. Car parks here are well signed, with each one telling you exactly how many spaces are left.

Walked around historical part of Salzburg. Saw where Mozart was born (building now a Spar supermarket, which seems wrong). All the shops sold lots of Mozart souvenirs. Especially small round chocolates. Did Mozart eat small round chocolates? J assured me this was not covered by music A level (which seems a shame).

Saw a lot of traditional Austrian dress – the boob enhancing white blouse under pinafore dress for women, and lederhosen for men. I understand why people in tourist shops/restaurants would wear this, but not really why so many other people do. Especially lederhosen. These are leather shorts, and I’m guessing there’s not much ‘give’ in them – I saw a lot of men attempting to walk without moving their legs, they had a sort of shuffle. Not a good look. Also not sure if you can wash them…

 

Went to Residenzplatz -saw horses and fountain and cathedral. All very pretty, though the cathedral feels more like an art gallery than a church – was interesting and grand, but did not inspire me to prayer. It also had some very spooky cherub faces in the ceiling.

 

Saw a bridge and steps that I recognised from The Sound of Music. Suggested family could reenact some of the scenes, but they were unkeen. Went to Mirabell Garden (“Do! Doe, a deer..”) and saw some excellent gnomes. I think they represent the children of the owner – I might copy this idea.

 

Walked across a bridge covered in padlocks put there by people in love. Sweet idea, but what happens if you fall out of love? Do you sneak back with a metal cutter and remove your padlock?

R and S went off to buy trainers. We received lots of texts from R saying she was hot/thirsty/tired/dying, so we knew she was okay (silence would’ve been a worry). We walked to a viewpoint near castle, and the convent Maria Von Trapp left. The chapel was open, so I went inside. That church DID feel like it had been prayed in, I preferred it to the cathedral.

Walked back past the cathedral. Saw a sculpture outside, which was an empty person ( I later learned it was a copy of The Cloak of Conscience by Anna Chromy and is called Pietà, or Coat of Peace). Next to it was a begger – another unseen person, which felt significant given her position – an invisible person next to a sculpture of an invisible person. Perhaps that’s why she chose that spot to sit in. I gave her some money, which I don’t usually do, and held her hand – I wanted her to know she was ‘seen’. We all need someone to see us.

Followed J a long way – a very long way in hot sun – to Lindhofstraße 7, to a beer garden the boys had discovered last summer when inter railing. It was brilliant. There were shelves of pottery beer tankards, which you could dip into a dodgy looking fountain, to increase the head on the beer. You paid a man, took your ticket and tankard to a man with a barrel, and he filled it with beer. You then sat in the garden, under the trees, next to the brewery. You could also buy olives, pretzels, sausages, but most people were just drinking. Great fun.

   

Thank you for reading.

If you enjoyed this, you will love my new book:

2cdba13e-f433-49fd-9f1e-95b3ee7f87d8

A laugh-out-loud book about travelling the world with a family. Taken from diaries written at the time, this book has been described as “The Durrells meet Bill Bryson”!

Available from Amazon (you can get a copy free if you have a Kindle!)

Why not sign up to follow my blog – then you won’t miss the next instalment of our holiday blog.

anneethompson.com

Take care,

Anne

xxx

Austria – Family Holiday Diary

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Day One : Munich to Austria

Car arrived 5am. Everyone ready -unexpected -maybe some of them didn’t sleep. Flew Heathrow to Munich, all went smoothly, and everyone managed the automatic barriers. Eventually.

Collected minivan, and drove Munich to Salzburg. J made redundant from map reading due to rather efficient satnav.

Arrived at Sheraton at Fuschlsee, a lake near Salzburg. Staff at reception predominantly female, wearing national dress, which does make them very buxom. Impossible to avoid mainly noticing bosoms. H told M not to wear his glasses while we’re here.

Dinner in expensive hotel restaurant. Lots of antlers on walls, candles, flowers. Nice meal, but tired (me, not meal.)

  Everywhere here is SO pretty.

Day Two : Hallstatt

Nice breakfast, though I had problems with coffee machine and covered surrounding area with milky froth -rescued by very nice waiter who collected me a mug of coffee.

Drove to Hallstatt. Traffic terrible and nowhere to park, so we abandoned Husband and car, and walked into town. It was full of Chinese people, really full. Coach loads of them. All the signs were written in German and Mandarin, so clearly a regular occurrence. Also full of extremely expensive souvenir shops. Followed signs with a skull on them up a mountain (J in flip-flops, but still faster than people in hiking gear). Signs took us to a cemetery.

Found Husband and ate lovely homemade pizza for lunch. Read guidebook to try and find out significance of skulls and cemetery. Read that apparently, cemetery is very small – due to being half way up a mountain, so when it was full, someone had the good idea that they could dig up the old corpses and replace them with the new ones. Honestly, this was the solution they decided on! Did anyone object? Was there a committee involved? Anyway, this is what they did. While the bodies were waiting to be buried, they decomposed, and the bones were bleached by the sun. The skulls were separated from the other bones, and they are displayed in a side chapel. We HAD to go back and look. There they were, bones stacked neatly, skulls decorated with the name and patterns. Brilliant!

The rest of Hallstatt is also interesting. Lots of cute cottages clinging to the mountainside. Too many tourists and over-priced shops, but well worth a visit.

 

Walked around a mountain lake, Vorderer-Gosausee. So beautiful. Lake, trees, glacier, mountains.

Dinner in Fuschl. Parked in large town car park, returned after dark, and didn’t know how to pay. Husband set off in the dark to investigate, we sat in car, then decided to send S (largest male) to protect him. S detoured via barrier and tried to lift it manually. Worried he might break it, Husband would return with paid ticket but we’d still be trapped due to broken barriers. R worried there might be zombies (so glad she’s 25 and works in a bank – easy to forget that sometimes). D returned, barrier worked, all good.

Arrived safely back at hotel, despite best efforts of suicidal deer on dark road. Nice day. Tomorrow we plan to visit Salzburg (which is very exciting, as it’s where they filmed The Sound of Music – because it’s where the real family actually lived.)

Thank you for reading.

Why not sign up to follow my blog? Tomorrow I’ll tell you what we saw in Salzburg.

anneethompson.com

xxx

If you like to laugh, why not read Invisible Jane by Anne E Thompson?
A love story with funny bits!

Available from an Amazon near you…..

Packing

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  Today will be stressful – packing for the family holiday. If you’re a mother, you will know what I mean. If you’re male (not being sexist or anything), read on…

There is oceans of washing to do. It seems a bad idea to leave dirty clothes to fester in the laundry basket, plus there is all the bedding. I don’t like the idea of returning after two weeks away to sheets that have been slept/sweated/dribbled in for a week and then locked into a room to ferment. Obviously I cannot wash it all the day we leave, but it feels better if it’s washed the day before – so just one night of body fluids sweated into them.

Then there is the animal stuff. Dog and grumpy-cat taken to kennels, their bedding and towels left here. I can leave them – and be welcomed home by the thick odour a la dog, or I can wash them before I go. Thank goodness for washing machines and please can mine not break today. Of course, not everyone has this problem. I have known people (not female) who quite cheerfully shove dirty clothes into a bag before a holiday; and then return with the same bag of dirty clothes at the end. I am not entirely sure if they were worn, or washed, in between, because I didn’t like to ask.

If you enjoyed this, you will love my new book: The Sarcastic Mother’s Holiday Diary.
I have always written a diary on holiday, so last Christmas, I decided to find all my old diaries and blogs, and make a book for my children. However, several other people also asked for a copy, so I have written a public version – it’s available on Amazon and has been described as “The Durrells meet Bill Bryson”!

Why not buy a copy today? I think it will make you laugh.

The US link is here:

https://www.amazon.com/Sarcastic-Mothers-Holiday-Diary-ebook/dp/B07N95281F/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549015525&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sarcastic+mothers+holiday+diary

The India link is here:

https://www.amazon.in/Sarcastic-Mothers-Holiday-Diary-ebook/dp/B07N95281F/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549015429&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sarcastic+mothers+holiday+diary

The UK link is here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sarcastic-Mothers-Holiday-Diary-ebook/dp/B07N95281F/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549014970&sr=8-2&keywords=the+sarcastic+mothers+holiday+diary

 

 

Handmade and Homegrown

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I have been busy preparing for the Handmade and Homegrown Festival at Hever Castle (1st, 2nd and 3rd of September). This is all very scary – but to be honest, everything about selling books is very scary.

I happened to see an advert for the festival, and remembered that when I had been giving a talk at a local bookclub, a man had suggested it would be a good place to sell my books. I wrote to the organiser, asking if writing and publishing my own books qualified as “handmade” and was told that yes, I was welcome to apply for a stand. I then had to send a photograph, which thankfully I had because nice Mr East Grinstead Bookshop had taken some when I did a book signing there. (The photo was of the stall – not me – you don’t have to pass some beauty level before they give you a stand!) I also had to send £40, which added to the scariness, as unless I sell lots of books, it will increase my Cobweb Press debt even more. But I have learned that you don’t get anywhere in starting a business unless you take a few risks.

I received my “you have been allocated a space” email, put the dates in the diary and forgot about it – after I had booked my Mother – she is by far the best salesperson in the family. I didn’t think about it again (because that’s how I cope with scary things which aren’t happening today) until Husband (who copes with scary things by planning well in advance) suggested we needed to do some preparation. So, off we went into the garden, to make a ‘mock’ stall.

I have been allocated a 3m square space. We measured this out and marked it with lumps of wood. It wasn’t terribly accurate because the dog kept running off with the lumps of wood. We then set up garden tables in a variety of positions. I was, to be honest, a bit shocked by how big 3m is – I had envisioned one small table with 10 books on it. Probably just as well that Husband insisted I had a trial run. I then tried balancing several books in different formation on said tables. Mandy (my ‘special needs’ cat) found this very entertaining, and joined it. Which wasn’t very helpful. I realised I needed some book stands like Mr East Grinstead Bookshop has – so checked out Amazon and found some that were cheap. (Though it all adds to my ever-growing debt.)

I have one poster, but I need more as it’s such a big space, so we ordered those (more debt). We also put out some chairs. As the space is big, there’ll be room for a few people (ie bored husbands and tired mothers) to have a little sit down. While they’re there, grateful for a chance to rest, my Mum can chat to them (she is very good at chatting to people – not a skill I inherited) and they will have the opportunity to buy a book. Or at least to look at them. I think I’m sorted now. If you are in the area at the beginning of September, please pop in and say hello. I will be the scared looking author with the chatty mother. Possibly the blind one – I am wondering if I can pretend to be blind, and then I will be allowed to take my dog, for moral support. And I might get some ‘sympathy sales’. Yep, am liking the idea, will practise ‘being blind’ for the next week and see how I get on.

Other news in brief:
We went to Cambridge to visit Son 1. His flat is disturbingly tidy (disturbing because I had not realised ‘tidy’ was within his skill set, and I feel rather cheated by the previous 23 years of organisation levels.) Cambridge is very nice. It has barges, and a lock, which we had to pry Husband away from. It also has incredibly pretty buildings, lots of Mandarin speakers (good opportunities to eavesdrop) and way too many homeless people. Why? Why are there so many people begging for money? Have they gravitated to Cambridge because it’s a tourist town, are they victims of the ever-increasing rents, or are they students who flunked their exams? Very strange and rather sad.

On the journey home, heard Son 2 chuckling in the back of the car. Asked why he was laughing, and discovered he had picked up a copy of Invisible Jane. Rather gratifying. (So, it’s a ‘girly book’ with funny bits – that also makes 21 year old blokes laugh!)

Yesterday, we went to Bluewater. Shopping (not my favourite thing). We needed new curtains for the bathrooms. They were all hideously expensive, so I felt drawn to the ‘bargain bucket’. Am now regretting this, as I instead have hideous curtains, which I will have to alter. Sewing is not something I enjoy (whole family leaves house when I sew due to bad temper.)

Hope you have a lovely week. Thanks for reading.

Take care,
Anne x

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Invisible Jane – A love story with funny bits!
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