Verona

This is the final report of this mission. We had to be on the coach by 9 to go to Verona. We needed a headset for when we got there to listen to a guided walk. But, because I didn’t go to Venice smenice I didn’t get a headset because they used the same ones. I would have done without but mum found a spare machine somewhere. However there was no earpiece so she made me ask the guide when he went past but he wasn’t interested. I would have called it quits then but she galloped after him when we got off the coach to ask again. He replied very sniffily that we should have asked before as he probably had none with him. But he did find some in his bag. I would have preferred to tell him where to shove them at that point but mum snatched them. So we set off for the walk but I deliberately didn’t listen. Bloody Venice mafia won’t beat me!
Anyway by walking at the front I could hear what she was saying without needing their precious headset. Turns out there never was a Romeo and Juliet. There’s a balcony with some tart pretending to be Juliet and all the bloody tourists are falling over themselves to have a photo holding the breast of a statue of a non-existent person. Idiots!
After the guided walk we had 3 hours to kill so strolled round Verona in the sun. There was a wine promotion this weekend. You pay 20 euros and get a wine glass and a little bag for round your neck to put the glass in and you get 9 tokens for “tastings”. Then there are wooden huts everywhere with people flogging their own company’s wine. The idea being, I guess that if you like the tasting you’ll buy a bottle. The result is that there are hundreds of people wandering the streets with wine glasses and the “tastings” seem to equate to a full glass. As the day wore on these people were getting progressively happier! I made do with my last Hugo over lunch.
Had our last meal tonight so also my last beer. Donato (alias Manuel) was on top form and we gave him a tip which produced handshakes and kisses for mum. If I sound a bit grumpy it’s because I sustained 9 mosquito bites last night and mother got none. It’s probably the bloody Venice smenice effect!

The Phoenix rises

Fear not loyal readers, your intrepid reporter has escaped from the confines of the toilet, overcome the novichoc laced mussel poisoning attempt and returned to rescue mother from marauding gondoliers. It was a little frustrating today as all anyone seemed to talk about was Venice and gondolas and mum kept saying hello to people I’ve never seen before. Well Venice smenice, it’s only a canal with boats on, very similar to Hirstwood really. I’ve done that. Jealous? No not me 🙁
We had a 3 legged boat trip today. First it took us from Garda at the end of the lake to Malcesine half way up one side. It’s main attraction was a Saturday market but to be honest it was pretty much like Skipton market so we sat in the sun and strolled through the shops. Stopped at a bar and had our now customery latte macchiato and Hugo. The thing is if you both order coffee that’s all you get but if one bravely has alcohol you also get free nibbles. This time it was a bowl of peanuts. Then the boat took us across to the other side of the lake to Limone which is named after the lemons it’s famous for. All the shops have limoncello but I have my own at home.
We saw the end of a mountain race. It’s only a 10k but it took the winner exactly 3 hours which seemed incredibly slow until you see the terrain they run over and the mud on their legs! Had lunch there. More coffee and Hugo to get my average back to one a day (as I was otherwise engaged yesterday) and this time a free bowl of crisps. I had an Arabo, a bit like a ciabatta but in some sort of local bread with salami, cheese and salad. Mum also had a local dish (if she’d been in America) of a hot dog. They were both very nice. Then the boat took us back to Garda so we popped in the Coop (yes, seriously) to top up our water and beer supplies.
Mum has discovered that there is free cake and coffee at the hotel in late afternoon every day. But today was the first time we’d been back in time but we were too tired to be bothered engaging in small talk so didn’t bother trying it.

Venice for singles

Due to the adventurous tasting habits of one of us, the trip to Venice was a step to far away from the toilet so it became a solo journey. We were both up at silly o’clock (5.45am) in order to keep up with a strict timetable for the day. So after the parting of the ways I boarded the coach for a 2 hour journey with a quick ‘comfort break’ before catching the boat to Venice. Having opted for the undiscovered guided tour of Venice, I plugged in my earphone and off we went with either Carlo or Marco, who were brothers doing the two arranged tours. We went through several backstreets, small snickers, where even I had to nearly bob down. If I could remember what was said I could probably shared some interesting facts with you. Aren’t you lucky ‘cos I can’t remember any of them but I did take a picture of this plaque of St. George. We arrived at the tour end which was the Rialto Bridge and then had to independently make our way to St. Marco’s Square.  Good job I got my orienteering badge at guides. We were given a discount card for a restaurant on the square which made the inflated prices affordable but €28 for two coffees and two toastier, even divided by two, felt expensive. Toilets are in short supply in Venice so not topping up meant I avoided that need. The final adventure of the day was the gondola ride. An experience not to be missed if only because you got to watch the gondola loading technique which involves the gondolier working out your dress size and sitting you in his chosen spot on the gondola. The gondola is built asymmetrically which the tour guide explained but I’ve forgotten. Anyway, the whole thing wobbles badly as each person gets on and we all held our breath as a rather large couple prepared for their voyage. Please note that no persons got wet in the making of this paragraph. The actual ride round though was amazing and showed a different and much quieter side to Venice. It was a very long and sometimes lonely day but with only €1 spent on sparkling water, it was cheap.

A quiet day

No organised activity today so we were free to do as we pleased. We were quite glad as these holidays are very hectic, so we actually had a day on holiday when we didn’t have to set the alarm! We were still down for breakfast by 8-30 mind you but we had a leisurely start and set off to walk along the coast to the next town. Our tour guide, who’s not overly energetic suggested walking there and getting a taxi or the boat back. It’s 5 miles there and back! We tried our best not to walk at our normal pace and largely succeeded. There wasn’t much to do there so we had a coffee and strolled back but stopped to watch the activity on the water. It’s right at the head of the 33 mile long lake so it seems like it’s the seaside until you see the ducks on the water.
We filmed a little video to entertain Felicity and Reuben but were caught in the act by some fellow holidaymakers but they were probably just jealous of our skills. We watched a beginners class for sailboarding and it looked so easy I had all on to stop mum signing up for a session.
When we got back to our town it was late lunchtime so we shared a bruschetta and I had my usual Ugo.
Dinner was interesting. I ordered what they called clam soup but it came with around 250 big black shells (which I’m sure are mussels) floating in some liquid. I’ve reached my early 50’s without ever eating mussels before but they were ok although “a bit messy” to quote a certain little lady but they gave me a wipe for my hands. Then I had salmon so it was a very fishy meal. Mum had salad for the fourth day in a row. I wish I could go back to those French campsites in the 90’s which always had moule frites on the menu as I now reckon mussels and chips will be quite nice!
Early night tonight; alarm set for 5-45 for the Venice trip. That’s the half way point in the holiday so I’ll put my other socks on in the morning

Dolomite mountains

At breakfast you get the dinner menu and tick your choices for that day. I tend to choose and then forget about it. So we boarded the coach for a day in the mountains and climbed steadily to 2500+ metres, round a great many hairpin bends. The coach driver certainly earned his money today! It was the perfect day to do it as it was a lovely sunny day and you could see for miles, whereas when it’s cloudy you can’t see very much at all as you’re up in the clouds.
Our tour guide is very much into food and drink and tells us all about what’s available locally. The area we were in today was part of Austria until the end of the war and although it’s now in Italy many people don’t speak Italian but German and it’s very much Tyrol skiing country.
The local speciality is apple strudel and he highly recommended a particular cafe at our first stop of the day to try it, so I did and it was very nice. Then on the coach toward our second stop he said the strudel there was totally different and the most apple-y apple he had ever tasted, so I decided to have more, to compare. Then back in the hotel for dinner what had I chosen but apple strudel! My conclusion after 3 in one day is that whichever you have it’s nicer with ice cream and apple strudel is not particularly exciting anyway!
At the aforementioned second stop it was the highest point we reached in the mountains and there was a cable car took you even higher. One of us was dead keen to go up but the other didn’t really fancy it so we went up but didn’t stay long. The air was noticeably thinner and made you feel a bit wierd (well ok wierder than usual). I didn’t have apple strudel at stop number 3 but I did have another Hugo to drink. It didn’t come with all the accoutrements like the one yesterday and wasn’t quite as nice but it was still very refreshing which our guide reckons is down to the elderflower in it.
Manuel the waiter was back tonight (think it must have been his day off yesterday) and he was very entertaining, especially when he nearly had a fight with Mr Fawlty over getting in each other’s way. Next time each of them passed they both blamed the other!

Lake Garda

We drove up the west side of the lake in the coach. Apparently they used that road to film the opening car chase sequence in the Bond film Quantum of Solace. It took them 3 weeks to film a 2 minute sequence! Went past Mussolini’s residence (he was Hitler’s Italian ally in World War 2).
Stopped at a nice little waterside town for a look round then got on a boat which took us across and then down the lake. Our instructions were to get off at the third stop but when we tried to, a crew member tried his best to stop us. He spoke no English and just kept saying what sounded like Simeone as a question. I thought he was a good player in his time but is long since retired but why does this guy think I should be a fan? After a while the tour guide appeared and said don’t get off, the arrangements have changed. When we did get off at the next place it turned out to be called Sirmeone so, mystery solved.
We had lunch there at a pizzeria and I had one with roast potatoes, sausages and bacon  as a topping; brilliant! On the coach journey our tour guide ( a Belgian who speaks English with a kind of a Yorkshire accent mixed in as he lives near Hull, translating and guiding us round Italy!) was telling us all about local food and drink. He described a drink which was supposed to be a local version of Aperol spritzer. It contains sambucho (not to be confused with sambuca!) Prosecco, mint and lime. He said it’s very addictive so I tried one (you’ve seen the photo) and it’s fabulous. I shall be having more if I can remember what it’s called!
An amazing shop in that place was a doggy ice cream parlour! That’s not dog flavoured ice cream, but ice cream, and other sweets for dogs. Not sure what a vet would think of that idea!
It was then back on the coach to drive down the other side of the lake back to base. For tea I had a baked trout which had been swimming alongside our boat earlier, it was so fresh. I know it was the same one as it was swimming along, wrapped in foil with a slice of lemon poking out. Mum had ordered a banana split for pudding but there was no banana in it! I said it must have split (look dad jokes are good for you; I was reading about it in the free paper on the plane).

Wilsden to Milan and infinity

Our flight was at a civilised hour, ten past eleven but that, unfortunately didn’t make for a civilised start. Due to having to check in at ten past nine we had to navigate the M62 in the rush hour. We queued most of the way and the journey took two and a half hours but because we set off at 6-30 we were there on time. So Wilsden to Manchester by road, 2 hours 30 minutes. Manchester to Milan 1 hour 50 minutes and we had a lovely birdseye view of the Alps! Then Milan to Lake Garda by coach, 2 weeks 4 days and stiff legs.
As if that wasn’t bad enough we bought sandwiches at Manchester airport but didn’t eat them on the plane as it seemed too early. But then the coach driver didn’t allow eating on his bus. So, having got up at 5-45 I only had a kitkat to eat in the first 12 hours, before devouring my sarny when we stopped at services for a “comfort” break, so I arrived 2 stone lighter than when I left home ( not a bad thing in itself though!).
I booked a 4 star superior hotel and, for that you get a dressing gown and slippers each, plus a massive outdoor terrace for our personal use. Although the room safe has no lock on it so I’ll be walking about all week with my iPad tucked in my waistband.
The dining room is posh with some geezer playing tunes on a white piano. We have our own 2 person table allocated for the week and a waiter who is the Italian twin of Manuel in Fawlty Towers in both size and actions and the way he carries on. He took our orders for all 3 courses, brought us 2 soups, took away the plates then brought us another 2 soups! Unfortunately for mum the main choice was between beef and fish. As she wanted neither he said she could go serve herself a salad from the salad bar. It was only after that I realised she could have ordered beef or fish which I could have eaten and then gone and got a salad. Drat and double drat but we’ll know in future. The servings are only Master Chef size so hardly splash the sides but 2 would be a reasonable (small) helping. Well I have to try regain some of that weight so you’ll still recognise me when I get back home!

Dresden

Breakfast in new hotel was nice but, disappointingly there was no butter shooting machine! We were allowed to get up at a civilised hour today as we had to set off at 10am for a walking tour of the centre of Dresden. It looks very old but every single building was only built in the last nearly 30 years since the wall came down and the communist regime was replaced. That’s because we bombed it out of existence in 1945 in an attempt to bring the War to an early conclusion. So what they’ve done is to rebuild everything to look like it did before 1945. So our hotel, for existence looks like it’s about 300 years old but it’s only 10 years old and everything inside is modern and swish!
But our guide had to be careful when he was telling us about the war, as sometimes one of the local residents stops to listen to see if he says anything they find controversial. A lady stopped today but gave him the thumbs up to say she accepted his version of events!
This afternoon we finally managed a river boat trip which was very nice.
For tea I had spotted a place that sounded Italian and wanted to try it to spare Mum from eating any more sausages or burgers. It turned out to be a good shout ( 😉G). When you go in they give you a credit type card. You then peruse the menu and order directly over the counter, to the chef who cooks it in front of you. Mum wanted ravioli and I wanted pizza so we had to join separate queues. I ordered my pizza and the chef gave me a pager, so I then went to the bar and got a beer and a big bottle of water for Mum. But it turned out that, for non alcoholic drinks you can get them at the food counter. So, once you collect your food etc you then choose a table and eat it, and then on the way out you give the cashier your card which has been loaded with what you’ve had, pay and go. The food was delicious and totally fresh; he cooked the ravioli from scratch, in front of her. And Mum was the hero (😗G) drinking 2 pints of fizzy water. I guess when I get up for my middle of the night wee tonight I may have to join the queue.

Colditz

Sunday morning so what time did we have to get up? 6-30 which is 5-30 UK time!  Nice breakfast but then had to pack, check out and be on the coach at 8am! Everyone else in Berlin was still in bed when we left. Drove for 2 hours then stopped at a service station near Leipzig. To get into the toilets you have to put 70 cents in a machine which opens a turnstile to let you in, but also gives you a token worth 50 cents that you can spend in the shop. The only way to get back out of the toilets is back through the same turnstile which just clicks back to let you out. The problem was that there was a coach load of people queuing to get in and they wouldn’t let those who were in back out, so it just got more crowded in there. I blame Brexit!
First proper stop was Colditz castle. Our guide was a Yorkshireman! He was funny though. The castle has been there for 900 years but all us Brits are bothered about is 1941 to 1945 when it was used as a prison for British officers. They actually built a glider out of bits of wood, fabric and porridge in the attic and intended to fly off the roof, over the river but the guards found it before they could use it!
There was only one cafe open in the little town on a Sunday so our whole coach load descended on it for lunch and we only had limited time. The Rumanian guy who owns it was literally running round taking orders and serving food but he served everyone in time. What a hero.
We then drove to Meissen where they make porcelain. It’s a difficult and complicated process done entirely by hand which makes it horrendously expensive. They make a very intricate (and large) jewellery box which costs over half a million pounds and they only make one every now and then. They made one last year for Victoria Beckham! They had a cafe and had some cake with a very long German name which translates to rhubarb cake so i had to try some! It was nice.
Arrived at our hotel in Dresden at 6-30 after a very long day on the road. The handwriting on our room key envelope was so weird I thought it was 427 when it turned out to be 421. The worrying thing is that it opened 427 much to the consternation of the people in that room! Good job I barricade us in with a chair at night!

Life on Dorotheastrasse

We’re on holiday so set alarm for 7-30! Necessary because we had to leave the hotel at 9. Breakfast was a buffet job and there is lots to choose from. The best bit is a butter machine; you look through a hole in the top and place your plate underneath, then press a button to fire a fresh pat of butter wherever you need it. Too much fun even if you don’t need any butter!
Onto the coach which drove all round Berlin, frequently parking up so we could jump off and look at stuff for between 10 and 20 minutes. Got a cafe latte at one stop. I thought it was just the right temperature but Mum said hers was freezing. Just shows there no pleasing everyone! Oh yeah, we passed Angela Murkel’s actual home. It’s right next to the river and there is a street market outside. They don’t make a fuss but no stalls are allowed right by her house and there are 2 policemen standing outside. She wasn’t in as she’s in Canada at the G7 conference.
We saw Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler’s bunker etc etc and returned to hotel at around one o’clock. The problem was we had tickets for the Reichstag Dome at 2-15 so only had about 20 minutes before we had to set off walking. It was 32 degrees today so very hot, walking. The Reichstagg is the German Parliament building so security is equal to airports but Mum got in after the usual frisking. It’s difficult going places with a desperado. The dome has been built on top of the old building and you go up a long slope round the outside wall and the floor transmits messages about what you are seeing through a headset. You then come down an intertwining slope. Of course there are always some wallies who go the wrong way round. I wonder what their headset makes of that?
Then we had tickets to go up the tv tower which is far and away the tallest structure in Berlin but it necessitated walking all the way back to the hotel and then walking about twice as far in the opposite direction! It was very good and the views were brilliant but it was very stiflingly hot inside! We had a very nice tea on the way back and by the time we got back to the hotel we’d done 17,000 steps today. I’m in danger of the troops (aka Mum) revolting!

Berlin

Get up times for holidays get sillier. Alarm went off at 2-30am! Left home at 3! Negotiated local roads full of joy riders, burglars and drug dealers safely onto the M62 only to find that it was closed at Rochdale! Luckily the road we had no alternative but to follow lead us fairly quickly onto the road that Tom S uses to cut across to the M60 so we arrived at terminal 1 meet and great with no additional trauma other than going all the way round one roundabout 🙂.
There was a big queue to hand car keys in so I braved the automatic machine and seemed to manage ok, although the proof of the pudding will be if there’s a car awaiting us on our return, or whether we have to get a taxi to Heathrow to collect it.  As if that wasn’t sufficient tech savvy we then had to check our own bags in at EasyJet, including printing out and attaching our own luggage labels. We ended up with 2 tickets for one case so I just put one in my pocket just in case I got lost en route.
Anyway I must have done an excellent job as our cases were virtually the first on the baggage claim (they were already going round when we got there!). We did balk at doing the self passport check but I did do that on returning from Portugal. So, apart from refuelling the plane and piloting it myself I’m now fully competent in all aspects of the flight process 🤔
The upside of such an early flight is that we were in our hotel room by 11-15am. The tour guide took us for a quick orientation walk round, before he had to go back to the airport to meet the other half of our tour party from Bristol who didn’t arrive until 7 hours after us so we get the longer holiday.
We then went out walking, saw the Brandenburg gate, the holocaust memorial etc. But it was very hot and sunny (29 degrees). This always happens if I don’t bother bringing any shorts!
We came across a hotdog cafe that was pure American, including the staff, which was part of the Marriott hotel (so maybe not a surprise!). Mum had a basic hot dog with some onions. I had a Bad Dog which had everything, including every sauce known to man. It was nice tasting but disgustingly sticky and messy to eat so I had a hose down in Marriott’s very classy toilets.
We (well ok, me,) took around a week then to find the river so we could go on a river boat tour as the guide had assured us there were loads of them and they all served coffee and cake (my crafty way of getting Mum to go on one 😉) but we only found one empty boat! So after 15,000 steps we returned to the hotel for some much needed rest.
There is a cool sightseeing idea. A tour guide drives round in an ancient VW and his clients follow him, each driving one of the old East German Trabants and he tells them what they’re driving past by walkie talkie, but very sadly I’ve left my driving licence at home. Mum has brought hers but, unaccountably she doesn’t seem to fancy that experience 😕

Last day

Much better weather. We lounged around the villa all morning, ate what food we had left for lunch, then drove to Carvoeiro for a last walk along the seafront. Some had a last ice cream and others had a final coffee in our favourite cafe and Daisy went shopping for a final time  (I think!)
Final fun and games in the pool followed and then we went back to Carvoeiro for a last meal. I wanted to try a different restaurant even though all those we’ve been to have been really nice, and I had scoped out the choice and, having spoken to one of the waiters this afternoon chose one that looked like another Italian restaurant.
The main man certainly seemed Italian and was as mad as a box of frogs. He wanted to fix Daisy up with a boyfriend and was all over Felicity but wanted us to sit outside. It was getting chilly by this time and some of us had coats on but he persuaded us to sit outside “while I set a table for you”. It quickly became obvious though that it was full inside and they brought our drinks outside, then they brought us bread and nibbles outside, and then wanted to take our food order outside. At this point Mum kicked off and said she was only eating inside. He assured her a table were just finishing their coffee before leaving so we ordered our food. Much to George’s amusement he then went inside and literally moved a table of 8 onto a smaller table adjacent to it and then brought their pudding to them. They quickly re-set the table and took us inside! So we ate inside after all. Meanwhile the football was on a tv on the wall and that well known Spanish team Ronaldo was playing Juventus and the madman kept shouting “penallltee “ at the telly and every time he passed our table he said “apologies “. Then, as we were finishing our main course George spotted another party of 8 shivering at our original outside table and the madman was pointing at our table so we decided not to order a pudding as we may have had to eat it in the kitchen or outside! So we left! But George had the best time and absolutely loved the entire experience and kept ranting on about Dad’s deals! I do my best

The wet day

Well the weather forecast was spot on. We had wall to wall heavy rain from getting up til around 5 o’clock, so there was no point in stepping outside the door! Felicity entertained us all morning and we had an early lunch. Felicity and Daisy entertained us in the afternoon and we watched a film on sky. But we had several heaters on, the dishwasher and washing machine were going etc and the electric kept tripping out! So the film was in 4 instalments as the 2 Toms had to keep re-setting the electricity and then finding the sky signal and channel.
Then we were set to go out for tea but George requested that we go early enough to get back in time for the Man City/ Liverpool match. But Felicity went on much longer than usual before needing her afternoon nap. And then, when she did give in, she slept so long we set off much later than we needed to. We went to a different Italian restaurant in Carveiro which was just as nice as the other one we went to. But George got very frustrated by the, usual slow unhurried service you tend to get in Italian restaurants. The meal was lovely and the staff were brilliant with our girls but George was getting very tetchy waiting for our pudding. Felicity did her best to help by literally running back to the car, holding George’s hand. We arrived back home to see, literally the last 5 minutes but the shoreline told us it was all over but Roma were beating Barcelona on away goals so we finished up watching that instead.
So, a frustrating day overall as we couldn’t do anything and we never even took the cover off the pool, never mind anyone venturing into it! But the sun did come out at teatime and the evening was ok although George exhibited proper withdrawal symptoms from missing his football!

The next bit

Not sure where we got to but let’s start on Saturday; we went shopping. Daisy didn’t want to go so her and Tom stayed home so me and George did the driving. It was his first time abroad and he did fine. Went to 2 different supermarkets and bought loads, including enough ice cream to stock an ice cream van! Oh and lots of beer, sweets and crisps! Tom S did a barbecue for tea. The thing about there being so many of us is that the dishwasher needs filling and putting on twice a day. I like to get cleared away after meals and put it on and, in my enthusiasm I may accidentally have spilt George’s beer, thinking it was an empty bottle. He was very good about it though and hardly mentioned it (well only 20 times a day thereafter).
On Sunday we played in the pool in the morning and after lunch we drove to Carveiro and then walked along a cliff top board walk to the resort. We all had an ice cream but the ones who avoided queuing up and ordering it sat so far away that by the time we servers got to them, their ice cream was running down the cornet onto hands which made them sticky, eeeeyuk! I had rice pudding flavour and it had pieces of rice in it! Nice though! We had another coffee at the cafe we went to the other day and George was impressing the owner with his language skills. Daisy went in several shops and bought several things. We drove back there in the evening and went in quite a posh restaurant called Wolf! It was expensive but nice.
Monday was expected to be rainy and chilly but towards late morning we decided to set off for the beach, in the rain. We arrived at lunchtime and went straight in a restaurant on the edge of the beach for lunch, which was very good. The brilliant bit though was that the sun came out and was very strong in blue skies for the rest of the day. Daisy went in the sea and befriended another English girl and the bigger boys built sand castles. Oh and we played rounders (I won) and kind of cricket (I won that too). When we got back mum not only put on her swimming costume but also went in the pool and got it wet! So every one of us was in the pool today. A fabulous day but the weather forecast for tomorrow is wall to wall rain all day long!

Starting on Thursday we got up at 3-15; except for Tom who didn’t really bother going to bed! Journey to Manchester airport went ok but the experience wasn’t brilliant. Tom and mum both got frisked at security and they treated Faye like an arch criminal because she had all her diabetes tackle and also forgot to take some liquids out of her bag. The flight went ok apart from the plane was full of hen/stag do’s and golfers who are always a pain. How they could all be sozzled at 8 o’clock in the morning is amazing. Felicity was entertaining and was passed around the whole party. Others found her cute apart, possibly from the woman sat in front whose seat she kept kicking and hair she kept playing with!
We got matching cars, Renault Clio estates that you don’t see in UK. One black and one dark grey. The villa is fabulous and very rambling; there are passages and balcony terraces hidden all over! It has large grounds with trees and grass and a lovely pool with lots of inflatables to play with. Daisy immediately took up residence in the pool and everyone bar mum went in. Tom S did a barbecue for tea and we watched a Mr Bean dvd after as we couldn’t find any English programmes on tv.
On Friday we spent the morning in the pool as the weather forecast rain later on. After lunch we walked to Carveiro, the nearest seaside resort. We walked there in hot sun but it clouded over as we got there. Faye went to the shop that sells inflatable giraffes that she wished she’d bought last October and got one but when we came back out of the shop it had started chucking it down! So we nipped into a cafe over the road for a coffee. We sat there until it stopped raining then set off to walk back, with both girls wrapped in Chinese ponchos mum had brought. It kept spitting but we made it back home just about dry. The sun then came back out so we went back in the pool. We drove back to Carveiro and went to an Italian restaurant for tea.
Saturday was forecast for rain all day but it was sunny first thing so we could again eat breakfast outside and then we went to 2 different supermarkets food shopping. The afternoon was spent in the pool until it rained again and we came in to watch the Manchester derby as Tom had worked out how to get Sky sports through his firestick. Tom barbecued tea again but we had to eat it inside as not only was it raining but it was also quite cold. We are now sat watching those 3 idiots who used to present Top gear as Felicity has gone to bed. She’s absolutely loving having all these relatives to entertain her all day long!