Villa Traveller

Well, we’ve booked a villa holiday again this year – I’m really looking forward to it. I just love the peace and quiet this gives us, especially when we have such a busy life in our shop.

I’m putting together a bundle of stuff I want to do this holiday. The first of all is to make sure I take my dvd of the BBC’s production of Pride and Prejudice – you know, the one which stars Colin Firth! There was something so special about this dramatisation of the book that I don’t think anything else will ever match up.

Then I just have to buy myself a copy of the whole of Keeping Up Appearances which starred Patricia Routledge and Clive Swift (I think!) I know I have missed several of the episodes, but the ones which I saw were absolutely legendary.

What else will I be taking? Well, you better believe I’ll be taking my old and battered copy of the Florida travel map although everyone tells me I need something more up-to-date to cope with the changes in the highways, etc. Maybe that’s a good idea. Anyway, I’ve got some weeks yet, so I’ll probably add more into the list.

Looking back on some of the holidays we had as kids, I wonder at the fortitude of my aunts (we often went on holiday with them as our parents were exceptionally busy during the summer months. When we were small, we usually travelled to our holiday destinations by train. The luggage for two adults and three children must have taken quite some handling. I remember clearly getting my first grown-up suitcase – but I suspect that my aunts must have had quite a hard job hauling suitcases when we were smaller. I recently saw an auction for a trunki – a small suitcase designed with young kids in mind. It would have kept the three of us well amused if this had been around when we were young. I’m going to get one for my niece (she has a two-year old and I am sure he would absolutely love one!)