Monday 27 September 2010

That Went By Quickly!

Well that's it over and done with and I'm feeling a little sad.  We got home about midday today but we've had to get the trailer emptied and ready for closing up for the winter.

It was a lovely weekend - even though the wind blew and it rained a fair amount.  It was great fun.  We watched as the only other visitors to the campsite at this time of year came and went.  There was a young couple in a tiny tent which they put up in 5 minutes!  They had a car and a small sail boat which I guess they took down to Ramsgate and left it there (they didn't have it when they came back to sleep the second night in their tent).  I felt sorry for them and hoped they were warm.  We were as snug as anything in the trailer and the gas furnace kept the temperature at a nice 22 degrees.

Then there were a couple of people who came and stayed with their caravans, and also a couple of weekender vans who only stopped one night.

My mum popped round for an hour or so on the Saturday morning for a coffee and chat and then came back again on Sunday when Kelly, Paul, Stefan & Katie arrived for the day.  It was manic and fun and when they left last night I felt sad that it was over.

We both slept well on Friday and Saturday but I have to admit to finding it difficult to get to sleep last night.  I could blame Mick's snoring (but it hadn't affected me previous nights) and have to admit that I didn't want our little excursion to end.

There were several reasons for this; one of which is my mum was so pleased to see us (and likewise Stanley).  When you only get to see your mum about once or twice a year it is always sad to leave.  She is 83 now - nearly 84 - and Stanley is 95 (almost 96) and you realise how short life is when you know that it will be quite a while before you see them again and they are not getting any younger.

Mind you my mum reminded me that I'm not getting any younger either when she commented on the fact that she could see my grey hair!  Now I know I need to put another colour on my hair :-)

So here we are again back home and back to work tomorrow.  But Stanley is a role model for us all.  I took my laptop with me and although I couldn't get internet access he wanted to take a look at it.  He was so impressed that he has gone home and ordered one for himself because his laptop is getting a bit old now!  My mum encouraged him because she is not known for her tact and reminded him that he better get it today because he might not be around tomorrow!

He is marvellous and it is only when he needed a bit of a helping hand to get down the steps out of the trailer that I had to remind myself that he is nearly 40 years older than me!!!

Great weekend.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Last Break

Well tomorrow I will be setting up the trailer ready for the last trip of the season.

Just a quick visit to Ramsgate on Friday where we will be spending a long weekend at a campsite to enable us to visit my mum.  Kelly, Katie & Stefan are popping down on Sunday so my mum gets to see her great-grandchildren and then it is back home again on Monday.

After that we will be settling the trailer down for the winter; emptying all tanks; giving it a clean and bringing indoors all bedding.  It is always a little sad when we shut it up for the winter especially when we haven't been able to spend much time in it during the summer.

I do hope the weather holds up and we manage to get a good weekend although the forecast is not very good and is threatening rain!  I hope not as the campsite owners get a little twitchy about letting a 26' trailer park on their grass - I think they have visions of it sinking deep into their turf and not being able to get out!  I think our four wheel drive truck should be able to handle that.  I don't know what is wrong with this country - the campsites are so picky and particular - not at all like France where you are welcomed with open arms.

The UK definitely has a lot to learn about camping.  I don't think they are aware of how popular it is becoming with all Europeans these days and they really should be more friendly.  I've seen many programs on TVE over the summer months this year where it shows you the Spanish in their motorhomes - they are definitely a popular way of holidaying these days especially with all the problems with airports and the high cost of flights and hotels.

Add to that all the caravans, motorhomes and RVs that travel over from France, Germany, Holland & Belgium and you could fill your campsites with no problem.  In fact you only have to look at the traffic during the summer months and the roads are full of potential clients.

Well fingers crossed for the weather but whatever happens we will have fun; peace and quiet (except when the granchildren are there :-) and a chance to get up when we want and go to bed when we want. 

Bliss....

Sunday 12 September 2010

New Laptop Arrives Tomorrow

Well today I'm busy sorting out my old laptop ready for the new arrival tomorrow.  My, how much you accumulate is amazing!

Now my old one isn't that old but the 120 GB HDD just isn't enough any more.  Coupled to that I do have an external 250 GB hard drive that I store all my backups and files that aren't needed all the time but even so I found I was running out of space.

So, impulsive as we are, when good old eBuyer sent an email with a special offer on a 250 GB new version of the laptop I have now it was too much to resist :-)  It also has Windows 7 OS instead of Vista - so as my grandson said recently "I'm surprised you haven't got Windows 7" - I will now have Windows 7!  That should surprise him next time we see him.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Oh no, another one

I'm only joking folks!  Today we were told that grandchild number 10 has been conceived!

While I love the kids, it does get rather expensive at Christmas time and barely a month goes by without a birthday or two :-)

Well, congratulations to Ian & Sue on child number 4 for you.  I look forward to meeting our tenth grandchild early in March.