Billy told us on the way back from Cheddar that we were going on a compulsory excursion the next morning.....meaning of course that we were bound for home.
We were asked to let everyone else know that we needed to have our cases down in reception by 7.30 and we had to be washed, dressed and breakfasted and on the bus by 9am...with, of course keys to the room left at reception.
Billy said he didn't want to be halfway home and find someone with the keys to their room in their pocket.
It must happen or he would not have mentioned it, but I can never remember it happening on any of the trips we have been on.
The 9am start meant that we didn't have to be up particularly early.
I packed my things after dinner on the Thursday evening, there were only my night things and toiletries to go in my case in the morning.
We had had a lovely break...and both of us had enjoyed every minute of it.
Ma said she was not going home, she was going to hide in the wardrobe and live off the shortbread biscuits that were replenished every day by the housekeeping team.....I told her that her plan was flawed, what would she do when the new occupants decided to hang up thier clothes......she said she would hang from the hangers, and no-one would notice her......I told her to dream on, and we laughed at such a surreal scenario.
Friday dawned......raining and grey.
It is always easier to come home after a lovely break when it is raining.....it seems a wrench when you are leaving a place you have enjoyed and the sun is shining.
I took our cases down by 6.30(I like to be ahead of the game) we went down to breakfast at 7.40.
Everyone looked a bit glum....I don't think any of us really wanted to go on this compulsory jaunt...even though we would be stopping off at Upton on Severn again.
Ma said she was going to miss the good natured companionship of the meals...and she was going to miss the cooking even more.
Breakfast over, we went back up to the room to get our coats....and I do a sweep of the room for anything that may have hidden itself at the back of the wardrobe, or drawer......thankfully, Ma wasn't hanging form a coat hanger.
We were on the coach well before 9am.......I emptied a bag of mint lumps onto the sweetie tray that Billy had at the front of the bus.
Soon we were all aboard and on our way.
We were going back the same way we came, little villages and country roads.....which made it feel like an excursion.
Ma had a face like a melted welly, a busted custard, a well smacked bum.......she is always like this on the homeward journey.
Folk kept asking her if she was alright...to which she answered, that she was not alright......she was fed up.
I told her to try and have a nod, but she said that she can't sleep on the coach.....not true, not true.
On the journey North, the rain eased...from pelting down, to incessant drizzle...but by the time we arrived at Upton it was dry...just about.
They were preparing for some kind of music festival down there and the fields were full of tents.......and there were Marquees set up.....probably beer tents.
I hoped that the weather was going to be more favourable for the folk who were planning to attend.
Our journey continued, homeward.
ma said it was Ok for me......I was just going to be home for one night and then in the morning I was off to Llandudno....Yes, I said...I have to unpack and then pack all over again
It was 7pm when we both arrived home......Ma to her house, and me to mine.
I knew that within a couple of hours of being home, Ma would be again dusting off the brochures for another break away somewhwere.
I wasn't wrong.
We are off to Folkestone on the 24th of August.
We were asked to let everyone else know that we needed to have our cases down in reception by 7.30 and we had to be washed, dressed and breakfasted and on the bus by 9am...with, of course keys to the room left at reception.
Billy said he didn't want to be halfway home and find someone with the keys to their room in their pocket.
It must happen or he would not have mentioned it, but I can never remember it happening on any of the trips we have been on.
The 9am start meant that we didn't have to be up particularly early.
I packed my things after dinner on the Thursday evening, there were only my night things and toiletries to go in my case in the morning.
We had had a lovely break...and both of us had enjoyed every minute of it.
Ma said she was not going home, she was going to hide in the wardrobe and live off the shortbread biscuits that were replenished every day by the housekeeping team.....I told her that her plan was flawed, what would she do when the new occupants decided to hang up thier clothes......she said she would hang from the hangers, and no-one would notice her......I told her to dream on, and we laughed at such a surreal scenario.
Friday dawned......raining and grey.
It is always easier to come home after a lovely break when it is raining.....it seems a wrench when you are leaving a place you have enjoyed and the sun is shining.
I took our cases down by 6.30(I like to be ahead of the game) we went down to breakfast at 7.40.
Everyone looked a bit glum....I don't think any of us really wanted to go on this compulsory jaunt...even though we would be stopping off at Upton on Severn again.
Ma said she was going to miss the good natured companionship of the meals...and she was going to miss the cooking even more.
Breakfast over, we went back up to the room to get our coats....and I do a sweep of the room for anything that may have hidden itself at the back of the wardrobe, or drawer......thankfully, Ma wasn't hanging form a coat hanger.
We were on the coach well before 9am.......I emptied a bag of mint lumps onto the sweetie tray that Billy had at the front of the bus.
Soon we were all aboard and on our way.
We were going back the same way we came, little villages and country roads.....which made it feel like an excursion.
Ma had a face like a melted welly, a busted custard, a well smacked bum.......she is always like this on the homeward journey.
Folk kept asking her if she was alright...to which she answered, that she was not alright......she was fed up.
I told her to try and have a nod, but she said that she can't sleep on the coach.....not true, not true.
On the journey North, the rain eased...from pelting down, to incessant drizzle...but by the time we arrived at Upton it was dry...just about.
They were preparing for some kind of music festival down there and the fields were full of tents.......and there were Marquees set up.....probably beer tents.
I hoped that the weather was going to be more favourable for the folk who were planning to attend.
Our journey continued, homeward.
ma said it was Ok for me......I was just going to be home for one night and then in the morning I was off to Llandudno....Yes, I said...I have to unpack and then pack all over again
It was 7pm when we both arrived home......Ma to her house, and me to mine.
I knew that within a couple of hours of being home, Ma would be again dusting off the brochures for another break away somewhwere.
I wasn't wrong.
We are off to Folkestone on the 24th of August.