The Very Nearly Holiday

A few months ago, we booked a long weekend in Prague. R  had informed me in one of his bathroom mirror messages that he sometimes leaves before going to work - usually it just says something like 'Good morning, Sweetie' or 'Have a lovely day!'. This time it read 'We're going to Prague!'. We planned to fly out on the Friday and return late on Monday night. I bought a guide book and planned our itinerary, getting quite excited as I did so. Prague is somewhere I had always wanted to visit and it looked both fascinating and beautiful.

The plan was to fly Easyjet from Gatwick. R had tried to book British Airways from Heathrow, which would have been much nearer, but their site was having problems, so Gatwick it was.

A few days before departure, one of my teeth started niggling slightly. It wasn't bad and I had a check-up booked soon, so thought that I'd wait and mention it to the dentist then. On the Friday morning, it suddenly decided to flare up. I rang the dentist to see if they could give me an emergency appointment, but they could only fit me in after we were due to set off for the airport. I packed more analgesics and crossed my fingers.We arranged with our neighbours for them to water the greenhouse whilst we were away, and off we went.

We arrived at Gatwick with plenty of time to spare, checked in our bag and waited for our gate to be announced.............. and waited.............. and waited. We had something to eat. Well, R did,  my mouth was too sore. The board informed us that our flight had been delayed, so we settled down on one of Gatwick's weird sofas - designed more for looks than function - and waited some more. Again, it was delayed. 

Finally, a gate was announced and we all headed to it. Upon arrival, they immediately announced that the flight had been cancelled and to head to another gate. We duly followed the instructions, wondering if we were to be put on a different flight, only to be told to collect our previously loaded baggage and to return through arrivals. We chuntered slightly at this, not only because it seemed weird to have to queue up to show our passports again, when we had not actually left the country. Needless to say, quite a few of the machines weren't working and the arrivals process took a long time. 

By this point, the humour of the situation had kicked in and R and I were quite jolly. We had the advantage that we didn't have disappointed children to cope with, so that helped. As too did the fact that I could now, hopefully, get my tooth sorted a day earlier, although I was kicking myself for the missed appointment that morning. I felt for the poor lad working for Easyjet who had been told to stand near baggage reclaim and field questions. Some passengers were, understandably, very annoyed and took it out on him.

Apparently, the fault lay with air traffic control who had left someone with very little experience in charge; a fact which doesn't entirely fill you with confidence! Luckily, our holiday had been, unusually for us, a package deal where both the flight and hotel were booked through Easyjet. Consequently, we just rang the number on the piece of paper we were handed and cancelled the whole shebang. Apparently, they could have tried to get us on a flight the following day but, as we were only going for the weekend, it didn't seem worth it. That, and my mouth was really beginning to ache at this point.

We arrived home late on Friday, I popped some more painkillers and we went to bed. All in all, it had been a real belter of a day!

Despite the fact that the toothache would have marred the holiday, I still woke up on Saturday disappointed that we weren't in Prague. The neighbours were bemused to see our car in the drive and, I suppose, it makes a funny anecdote.

So, I'm spending the weekend living on soup, porridge and smoothies, hoping to get another emergency dental appointment first thing tomorrow. Once my tooth is fixed, we'll think about what to do holiday-wise. I hope to make it to Prague at some point, after all, I have the guide book and planned itinerary at the ready! :O)

Toodle pip for now. x

Clearing the Camera

Morning all. I'm going to try and be quick today, firstly, because I'm just clearing my camera as we are going away for a few days soon and also .......... it's actually sunny here at the moment and I want to get into the garden and make the most of it. Whatever the Met Office would have us believe (doubtless they will try to claim that it has been the warmest June since records began), it has been decidedly chilly round these parts lately. We even went so far as to light the stove the other evening!

Anyway, here are the few photos that I have taken over the last month. They have actually loaded in reverse order and I can't be bothered to swap them round, so imagine that you are working backwards to the start of the month!

A trip to Grey's Court - a mixture of Tudor, Georgian and Victorian architecture, once owned by Evelyn Fleming, mother of author Ian Fleming. Bought by Sir Felix and Lady Brummer in 1937, they gave the gardens and estate to the National Trust in 1969. The house and furniture are exactly as the family left it, which I love in a property; it gives the impression that they have just popped out and will be back at any moment. Highlights included: one of the volunteers playing the grand piano in the drawing room; the walled garden, and ......... the kitchen!!

The bees loved these roses:

The kitchen was undergoing a deep clean (maybe they could come and do mine!), hence the step ladders:

There was also a sculpture exhibition on in the extensive grounds:

As part of the D-Day commemorations, there was a fair at RAF Ramsbury Airfield, which played an important role on D-Day. A wreath was laid at the memorial and Ramsbury Silver Band provided the  music:

A beacon was lit at Donnington Castle at 9pm. We all joined in with some war time songs and the occasion was only slightly marred by the i***t with the drone, flying it low over the crowd (which I'm sure is illegal!) and spoiling the solemnity of the moment with an annoying whining noise.

A trip to Mottisfont to enjoy the roses. The smell as you walked into the walled garden was beautiful:

Finishing another charity shop jigsaw puzzle. We are definitely on a jigsaw roll at the moment!

Goslings seen at The Vyne when we went back to do some of their garden trails:

The tale of Fanny Mendelssohn, told at The Watermill Theatre. An excellent production, which, in the spirit of encouraging female musicians, had a different female volunteer come up onto the stage and give a brief performance at the end of every show. A young lady played a piece on the bass recorder at the performance that we attended. She was excellent, if a little nervous!

A day trip to London to see L and meet her new partner V. We bought coffee and cake to enjoy on Clapham Common, saw a pug meet up where the theme was The Wild West (there were cowboy hats aplenty!), and sailed a wooden yacht on the pond ( the yacht shed was open and you could borrow them.). We followed it up with lunch at a new sushi place. Unfortunately, we had tucked in before I remembered to take a photo!

One evening we saw a new-born fawn in the garden near the patio. It was still extremely wobbly and the mother was licking her poor, sore rear regions. I didn't  take a photo at the time, as I didn't want to scare them. They were back the following morning though at the side of the house, so I sneaked a shot through the dining room window:

So, that's all for the moment. My camera is clear, the laundry is pegged out and I'm off to do a bit of gardening. Hope all is well in your corner.

Toodle pip for now. x