One of the things we did was debate – at length whether it was OK to call it Holland. Boy One, insisted it was The Netherlands despite maps showing him we were in South Holland. We learned the joys of Lycra-free cycling! And encountered the remarkable phenomena of patient motorists who give way to bikes. […]
How much of our landscape are we?
We had a fabulous holiday in Holland and were inching our way aboard the ferry for the waterborne part of our homeward journey when it happened. The car in front of us – a shiny NL registered expensive one – was lurching and grumbling just above us on the steep ramp. Alarmingly rolling back towards […]
A ferry good way to travel… Newcastle to Amsterdam
Theoretically being trapped in a tin box with hundreds of strangers for hours on end is exactly the kind of thing to fill me with horror. No escape, no alternative and no chance of doing my own thing. And I’ll admit as we boarded the gigantic Princess Seaways in Newcastle I was somewhat apprehensive. We […]
Who’s the daddy?
It’s Father’s Day. In our house there were hand-made cards and a breakfast picnic hastily reconvened at the kitchen range because of the downpour. On social media, dads were bragging, families posting about gatherings and long-gone fathers fondly remembered. What can I add about dads, today? I miss my dad, he inspired my first ever […]
Cardboard castles and the battlements of doom
Time is precious. We know that. At any moment – tick tock – the proverbial bus of metaphorical fate could come hurtling along the hypothetical highway of life squashing you into a puddle before you can get out of the way, damp and indignant. I’m not saying time shouldn’t be squandered, sometimes a moochy, meaningless, […]