Wonderful Sea Fresh Air

What better way to start a few days away by the sea with your best friend .........

..... than a peaceful stroll along an all but empty beach ........

........  just yards from your caravan/mobile home.

It was .......... they reported, simply glorious, despite it being mid November .......

 ...... too cold for even an intrepid Nigel to swim .......

 ..... but they did have a cheeky little paddle just for the sheer hell of it all, even if it was just a very quick in and out, lest they incur the wrath of a winter chilblain!

Unfortunately, the beach café was shut, as a warming cup of tea would have gone down very nicely, and then perhaps, once suitably thawed, Alice said she wouldn't have been averse to trying a Purbeck ice cream, perhaps a rhubarb and rosehip ripple or honeycomb hash, but sadly it wasn't to be, another time maybe?

However, as eagle eyed as ever Nigel did manage to find the obligatory, holiday, holey stone, giving it to Alice to keep as a memory and to make up for the lack of a posh ice cream!

It was indeed very, very lovely .......

..... each lost in their own thought just for a little while .........

....... before heading to a nearby grove pine trees .......

...... to gather a few pine cones for Darrell, as requested, if they saw any, to go towards his upcoming festive décor, goodness only knows what he is planning!

Happy, out of season, seasidy days! 

Nigel And Alice Embrace Caravan Life.

It has to be said that Alice was absolutely thrilled to accept a few days away with Nigel in Poole, her bags were packed before you could even say Rockley Park!

Her break in Burnham On Sea in the summer with Nigel and his beloved niece and nephew had given her a proper taste for caravan life .......

...... and spending more time away with Nigel, in what for her were unchartered territories was going to be, she said, simply wonderful .......

..... especially as Nigel is, after so many previous visits, an old hand at exploring  Poole and the surrounding area's many pleasures.

According to Alice, the caravan Darrell and I picked out for them caravan is a real home from home.

Alice is in the main bedroom, with the double bed and Nigel, as ever the gentleman, in the smaller twin room.  At first Alice thought she even had her own en-suite, however, on entering, she found that said en-suite had two doors, one into her room and the other in the corridor, opposite Nigel.

They have agreed that they should keep the door into Alice's room firmly locked at all times and only use the corridor one ......

.... lest Alice should accidently catch Nigel infraganti of a bathroom type nature ....

...... or, even worse, vice versa!  That would just be tooooooo embarrassing!

They've got everything they could possibly need .......

..... including, if the occassion should arise, an ample pouffe each!

Their click and collect was collected bang on time, with Darrell and I getting the tone of the menu (????), according to Nigel, just right and though Darrell does make a very lovely Sunday meat pie, a Fray Bentos comes a pretty close second in his expert meat pie eyes! What is he like?

Oh, and the view? 

Looking out romantically to the sea, well, that's just perfect too!  Happy, happy caravanning, or should I say, happy, happy mobile homing days! 

From One Plant To Another.

No sooner are we home than we find a wonderous package on our doorstep from our much beloved (and now met) No. 1 fan, Jan the Fan.

She'd seen our post of 10th October, when we found that our rather neglected cactus was with child  ......... 

......... and thought we ought to be feeding and encouraging Mabel (said cactus) and her, at present triplets .......

..... and as such she had sent us a bottle of, the aptly named, Baby Bio Cactus Food.

Darrell has volunteered to take on this duty, feeding Mabel and her dependants once a month as directed and has set his phone alarm for 10.00 am, on the first of every month, to make sure he's not found wanting in this tender care. 

However, we are really hoping that Mabel is content with her three babies, we honestly don't want all this extra nutrition to further embolden her need to reproduce any further ......

......... as that would be just too much "paternal" responsibility for this all male household!

From Little Conkers Big Conker Trees Grow

Before Nigel and Alice depart for Poole, the little fella wanted to pop by and see his beloved niece and nephew, to say hello and then a quick adieu, as well as letting them know that the school run would be in safe hands, as Darrell would be taking over until he gets back.

Then, as he was leaving, Iris asked him if he'd noticed the small tree growing in the large pot, just to the side of the front door ........

.... it was, she told him, the fruit of her conker collecting from a couple of years back, now ready, after being carefully nurtured, to go public and make it on its own. Nigel said it was a very emotional and sort of bitter sweet moment.

Iris, Bertie and he had all mourned the shocking and severe lobbing of their beloved, twisted "far away tree" and this year Nigel had really missed watching Iris excitedly collecting so many conkers that her skirt could hardly stay up!  It had been part of their September tradition, since even before Bertie was born. This September marked the end of that era, especially with a new, revised way home, as Iris is now at Middle School, that is sadly devoid of a single horse chestnut.

Nigel said his heart beat loud and proud in his chest ....... the memories of autumns past are all still there, safe and sound, with this little tree a constant reminder of all that love and laughter.  Oooooo, please excuse me .........I'm filling up now!!

Back To Earth With A Huge, But Exciting Bump!

Well, as you can see we're home, back in the ample bosom of our beloved Towers.  It was emotional to say the least, as Alice was there, waiting for us at the front door with the warmest welcome anyone could ever wish for.  There were hugs and kisses and an eager ear to hear of all our adventures and vice versa.

Alice absolutely loved her soap and all the other little trinklets we had bought back for her, but Darrell and I had an even bigger surprise for her and Nigel .......

...... while we were sat sitting at the airport waiting for our plane, Darrell had got on his phone and booked a surprise few days away for Alice and Nigel in Poole. We'd all been so upset at leaving Alice behind in Evesham and that our traditional Halloween sleepover and midnight walk was not to be this year, so it was the very least we could do.  

Again, it all got a little emotional.  

Nigel was as taken aback as Alice, as Darrell and I hadn't said a word to him beforehand, but a few days with Alice, in a caravan, by the sea ....... let's just say Nigel was out of one suitcase and into another within an hour, even though he and Alice had a couple of days to get sorted. There were a few things Darrell and I needed to arrange too, like a Click and Collect at Tesco for all their comestibles, once they'd got to Poole. 

HOWEVER  ....... there was method behind our madness, as we're also almost on the cusp of the most wonderful month of the year, to wit December, with Nigel being away, Darrell and I can begin to get things organised, without all the obligatory Nigel pester power!  What are we like?

And So Farewell Kardemena .......

As we're only ten minutes from the airport, though you'd never know it, we had a mid morning transfer, that allowed time for a last breakfast .......

..... finally enticed into an establishment where a very lovely lady had been vying  for our custom ever since we arrived!

As we're all a bit prone to feeling a slight "ick" before a flight, we decided to keep things fairly simple in the guise of a bacon croissant .......

..... however, when it arrived, it turned out to be almost the same size as Nigel, but rather than waste any, we all ploughed through most valiantly.

Once at the airport, with a small delay announced, Nigel occupied himself with a cheeky mosey round the Duty Free .......

...... to see if there was anything of a Helenic type nature that we'd missed or was a bit different from what we'd seen in Kardemena.

However, with a suitcase already full of our Baclava and Greek Turkish Delight of choice, a Snickers or Twix, fun sized or not, is pretty much the same all over the world, as indeed is the obligatory, last minute Toblerone!

So, the little fella's attention then turned to the perfumery. OMG, he must have sprayed one of everything on his neck, wrist and other pulse points, until you just couldn't distinguish one fragrance from another, no matter how posh, exclusive or expensive.  

Well, he reasoned, they all said "try me" and therefore it would have been rude not to! As he approached us, Darrell said that he could already feel one of his headaches coming on, from the erm ...... fumes!

What on earth are they both like?

Time To Say Goodbye ........

So, as the sun set, tres romantically, on another of our Greek Oddities ......

......  we gave each other time to be alone with our thoughts and memories, just for a little while ........

...... to celebrate companionship, friendship, love and laughter in our absolute favourite of foreign climes 

Once more, we've been incredibly blessed in a truly, truly Hello magazine type way, with special thanks to Tui!

It was ....... emotional.

But then, with Nigel clutching his treasured, small pot of proper Greek honey, a gift from Krista, as we bid our final goodbyes, amidst tears and hugs and promises to be back soon .....

...... Darrell cracked open our traditional bottle of last night Asti Spumante ........

....... toasting not only this holiday ......

........ but holidays to come and all those we wished could have been with us, including  our beloved Alice.  Where we will be this time next year, is too soon to say, but our reminiscences of this year will no doubt keep us going until Darrell sits down at the computer to book another one in the new year.

Then, it was off to our Kardamena ice cream parlour of choice, just round the corner from our hotel  ......

....... for a final tub of their truly delicious pistachio (not to be mistaken for pastichio) ice cream........

It's been ........................... a blast!