a great weight

off my mind

so, as you may or may not know, there are many things that trouble my every waking hour and quite a few of my sleeping ones. . .

. . .probably the least important of these was where to go on holiday, with my People of Various Sizes

now I'm sure that there are those who cannot even begin to contemplate a holiday, due to the costs involved, so I have to acknowledge that in many ways I'm lucky to have even had to begin to think about what to do this summer

my three are all very different and the days when they were small and young enough not to have an opinion on these matters are long gone - plus, if you throw into the equation that there is another parent involved, providing a second set of choices, their options are multiplied. . .

I have spent the last few months being extremely careful with my budget, picking up brochure after brochure from the holiday shop, browsing the internet, pondering, thinking, contemplating, worrying

mainly worrying, if the truth be told

I'm sure that deciding on two weeks away should be a fun, exciting, pleasurable activity - but it was just stressing me out

I looked into France (too expensive, due to the Euro), Morocco (summer fogs on the coast, due to the heat), Tunisia (hot hot hot, due to the fact it's right next to The Sahara), Egypt (too many tourists trekking to the pyramids), Turkey (whatever I chose wouldn't match up to the gulet holiday we had a few years ago when we lived in The Big House in The Village), Scotland (I've always wanted to go back to Skye on the one hand, but on the other I do like a little sunshine in the summer) and then I gave up for a while

but yesterday it occurred to me that I have no need to worry about whether or not the children would enjoy themselves, whether I can be responsible for three young people all by myself in a strange place for two weeks, whether they'd hate the choices I made for them (despite lengthy ongoing consultations at every turn of a brochure page or click of a mouse)

I decided to take them to Polzeath

problem solved

a few hours of phone calls later (Polzeath is very popular it seems and as most people know this the place is almost totally booked out) I manage to secure a couple of the last available rooms in what used to be one of our favourite cliff side holiday residences

why am I writing "used to be"? it probably still is

let's hope so!