Memories of our last holiday
So the Government is getting worried that people are making plans for a summer holiday this year. I have long ago given up any hope of having one.
We had planned a rather special holiday in July this year which would have included a visit to the Passion Play at Oberammergau. As I mentioned in an earlier diary the play has been postponed for two years. The deep irony is that the play is performed every ten years as a thanksgiving for being spared the plague nearly 400 years ago.
We are also hoping to go to Canada later in the year to visit my brother who lives near another Kingston, in Ontario. Then we heard the delightful news that his eldest daughter is getting married in the Autumn so the idea is to share that occasion with all our Canadian relatives. My niece is still hoping to go ahead with the wedding, but at the moment we really don’t know whether we will be able to fly again or not.
We have also had to put on hold any trips to Northern Ireland to see my older son and his wife who live in Coleraine. They had booked to stay with us this week and we would probably have all met up again later in the summer. Instead, we have been Skyping with them on a daily basis, especially when my son developed coronavirus – fortunately he was over the main symptoms in a week, although it left him exhausted.
Then there are the grandchildren in Bristol. We normally get to see them at least once a month, either there or here, and sometimes we all meet at a halfway point for a day out together. When the schools closed our older grandson took control of the family Houseparty sessions, which have been chaotic but fun, and we chat on Facetime and by text. We will miss the younger one’s birthday next month but will try to make it special for him in some way.
But that’s how it is. Holidays and day trips are out for the foreseeable future. It’s simpler to assume we won’t be able to resume them for some months and instead work out alternative ways of meeting the family or enjoying a break.
I heard of one family who went on a camping holiday over the Easter weekend – in their back garden. What a great idea! The whole family would have been involved in planning their break, sorting out the things they needed and activities to do while ‘away’.
Many years ago my grandmother always used to say that she was on holiday during Wimbledon fortnight. She would settle in front of the television and watch every match she could for the two weeks. Wimbledon is not an option this year, but maybe we could find some activity to immerse ourselves in for a concentrated week or few days in lieu of a holiday away. A new hobby, perhaps, or a cookery course, or a yoga break – there is plenty of material on YouTube.
Any other suggestions?
Please note
We have been in full self-isolation since 16th March to protect my husband whose immune system is compromised.
If you are in self-isolation then join the Lib Dems in self-isolation Facebook group.
You can find my previous Isolation diaries here.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Debt-ridden graduates claim they are seen as cash cows
Why non-fiction books need their indexes
Changes in status: Local Elections wrap up
Mary Reid
Meg Thomas
Institute of Urban T
Tristan Ward
Mick Taylor
7 Comments
Travel bug
https://www.dw.com/en/around-the-world-in-10-movies/g-53159783
We have been in full self-isolation since 16th March to protect my husband whose immune system is compromised.
I find a little wry amusement in this because my mother, 90, says she is only isolating to protect my 90+ father, who due to pre-existing chest problems is obviously at high risk. she doesn’t see that she, given her age is also at risk, and so isn’t supposed to go out to the shops, etc. … Fortunately, she is currently allowing local family and neighbours to do their shopping…
Mary Reid | Sat 18th April 2020 – 5:00 pm
I am emailing my brother’s widow daily. she says she appreciates it. loneliness is a cause of mental illness.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=all+the+lonely+people+youtube&docid=608036050164449315&mid=FE2A6F97B03E6E06FAD5FE2A6F97B03E6E06FAD5&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
Skype helps a lot for keeping in touch with relations. We are teaching our grandchildren for an hour a day (which helps their parents as they work from home), and have just enjoyed a long Skype conversation with our son and daughter-in-law in Edinburgh. Over the past week my wife has reminded me every morning where we should have been on a cruise up the Douro and back, booked for the Easter break. Maybe we’ll get to do it next year…
@ William Wallace. Try the free appcalled Zoom, William.
Last night we had all my four adult daughters & son plus us two (Cumbria, the North East,
Oxford, the Lothians) all at the same time in a video conference. Everyone could see and hear and didn’t cost a penny.
Perhaps Bobby Darin should have substituted ‘communication’ for ‘multiplication’ in that 1960s hit song of his. It’s certainly ‘the name of the game’ in our household. Thanks to FaceTime we’ve never SEEN so much of our son and his family in Manchester. Every night around 7pm we get together. Sometimes he hands is phone to one of his children. I now know in ins and outs of every dress my four year old granddaughter has, while my seven year old grandson never ceases to try to explain to me his latest achievements on his computer games!
An old college friend of mine living in Northern Ireland has set up an email forum of ‘friends’ in the U.K. , France, the USA and South Africa, where we collectively put the world to rights – a slightly less ideologically biased version of LDV. He’s also now threatening us with Zoom, if his tech savvy daughter can get him started! Yes, David Raw, my son in Manchester, who works in the media, has already set it up for me and it is good. He’s even offered his services to my NI friend, if he gets stuck.
I was just thinking. Some of us old timers moan about ‘Facetube’, as Peter Kay perceptively puts it; but, boy, am I glad I’ve got it and can just about use it! As for missing holidays, I’m reminded of one of Frank Sinatra’s old hits, that went something like “It’s nice to go travelling, to London, Paris or Rome. It’s nice to go travelling; but it’s so much nicer to come home”.
@ John Marriott Zoom apart I still like steam locomotives and steam radio (I put £ 10 into the Tornado project at Darlo years ago )….. The World Service guaranteed to get me off to Noddyland after I’ve gone ‘Sailing By’ ….. but i’s a while since I heard Tommy Handley.
I can recommend a great interview to pass nearly two hours about his life between Bertrand Russell and John Chandos in 1961 on you tube. Some entertaining stuff about swimming (as nature intended) in the river near Oxford in 1916 only to discover the PM (Asquith) on the bank when he got out….. and Asquith’s attiutude to drink and the ladies. They had an amiable chat even though Russell was about to be imprisoned under DORA….. and no personal security with the PM going for a walk in wartime.
Another world – as we prepare to see the number of Covid deaths pass that of the first day of the Somme, also in 1916.