Year: 2018

I went into Demelza. I did feel tired, it had been a long journey home. It was pouring with rain so we guessed it wouldn’t be a very good day but we were surprisingly busy.

I have to say the Poppy window looked very nice.

We do have some lovely customers and one said to me today that it was so welcoming in our shop and we are so helpful, that was very nice to hear.

Mal had dinner ready when I arrived home.

Thought for the Day – “Take life one step at a time.”

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We travelled through the night, through Switzerland (expensive loos again) , through Luxemburg and then on to Belgium where we had breakfast and then went on to P&J’s chocolate factory.

Our next stop was at the beer shop in Calais. The only problem being whatever we bought we would have to carry at Hythe, so we were limited. Security from the shop were patrolling around the coach as there were a lot of “people” trying to get a ride into the UK.

We arrived at passport control for the Eurotunnel at 11.50 off the coach and then back on again, just in time for Trevor to put the radio on for the start of the UK’s 2 minutes silence, which we all sat and observed.

Tariq was parading at the Lords Mayors show the previous day and this day he was out on parade at the Cenotaph. Rhys sent me this photo. Not the best photo as Rhys  took it off the TV. Tariq is the one by Prince Charles shoulder!!

We let our coach and new friends at Stop24 Hythe. Lou offered to collect us from there but they told us they wouldn’t remove the cases from the coaches until all the coaches were there and some were still on the ferry! So we sat there waiting for 2 hours for our feeder coach to Canterbury. Now we know how Shearings work, we will certainly be getting a lift directly to Hythe!

Back to Lou and Rhys’s and Lou had cooked us a lovely Sunday roast, what a welcome home!

Thought for the Day – “As you get older you really just want to be surrounded by good people. People who are good for you, good to you and good for your soul.”

In theory our last day but our cases were taken at 8am. We didn’t travel until 19.30. We did ask if we could extend the time we have the room and they wanted 30 euros for a couple of hours which wasn’t much use at all.

So when it was raining we stayed in the hotel and played cards and when the rain stopped we went walking.

We found Chiesa di San Guiseppe but it was all shut up so we couldn’t see inside.

Our dinner was not included in our holiday so the 5 of us paid the 13€, not bad seeing as we were still all drinking (our holiday was all inclusive). So this was our very last supper. I had wonderful prawn and cherry tomato pasta. The staff didn’t even ask to see our tickets we bought the dinner with. It’s a bit disorganised in the hotel.

Trevor and Neil, our drivers came to collect us, our cases having been locked into the coach. It was pouring with rain again. We had frequent “comfort breaks. Expensive loos in Switzerland again.  It was a long night.

Thought for the Day – “Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be. Life goes on.”

Some people went off on a trip to Milan for the day. Mal and I didn’t want to go, it seemed a lot of time around the shops. There was also a trip to a Swiss lake but we were quite happy with our lake! Instead after breakfast we played cards, waiting for the rain to ease.

Later we walked along to Griante in between showers. There are some really lovely villas and the autumn colours look pretty in the gardens. Eric came some of the way with us. All very atmospheric with the low flying cloud!

Watching the news, I feel the UK has gone mad, the Iceland  Christmas TV advert has been banned!!

We started to pack, had dinner and then went into the bar with Linda, Pam and Eric. There is a pianist every night who plays all sorts of music and sings.  He has the most amazing voice and usually finishes the night with “Nessun Dorma”.  It was our last night and so quite sad we’ll be saying goodbyes, we made some good friends.

Thought for the Day – “You don’t meet people by accident. There is always a reason. A lesson or a blessing.”

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Another busy day. In the morning we had a trip to Como market, a huge market selling all sorts of things.

We walked through it and then went back to the Cathedral as we had missed the frog on the “frog door”. It takes a long time to find it . There is a frog carved into the door surrounds and he is eating a buttercup. It is said to be lucky if you rub his stomach. It is small and difficult to find but we did! We missed it on the previous visit to the Cathedral.

Back to the hotel for lunch . There was still a lot of low cloud around.

After lunch we went on a river cruise and saw some of the beautiful houses lakeside.

We had an Italian guide around the lake and no matter where you sat on the boat, you couldn’t understand a word and yes she was speaking in English! At the end of the tour we stopped off in Bellagio. It is the opposite side of the lake from where we are staying and just a very short ferry ride. So, we wandered up and down the steps, a very pretty place and also went into the church.

In the evening Hayley and Graham (a lovely couple from the sister hotel) came to join us for dinner. Linda asked at reception in the morning if we could reserve a table for 7 and they told us they won’t reserve tables! OK, so we decided to meet in the bar and be one of the first people in the restaurant as soon as it opened. We found a table and the waiter told us it was reserved, OK, so we will push some tables together….no we are not allowed to do it. So, we than said in which case we would go and sit on the first table as we had been told tables can’t be reserved, so please take the German reserved notice off it as we were going to sit there. Eventually they said OK the manager will let you. This was after us having a row with them, saying either tables be reserved OR NOT!! The Germans who obviously had reserved the table gave us daggers and complained to the staff…. we were not going to move! 1-0 to the Brits! I’m very surprised we didn’t find any towels on the seats.
At the sister hotel they only have half board so we all offered to get Hayley and Graham drinks…..Hayley had quite a few!

Thought for the Day – “Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave and impossible to forget.”

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We had a trip to Bergamo for the day. It was torrential rain as we boarded the coach and it didn’t ease up during the two hour drive. There were three coaches and seeing the weather was still as bad a whole coach load wanted to go back to the hotel (snowflakes!) So, one of the drivers took them. Another lot decided it was far too wet to see the sights so another driver took them to an indoor shopping centre. The rest of us did what we had intended to do which was seeing Bergamo and going on the funicular railway. I have to say we were forced into buying umbrellas even though we had waterproof coats on, the rain was so heavy. My new “waterproof” rucksack proved not to be and we were often wading through lakes which were the main roads.

We were drenched, I don’t think any one on our coach had dry feet. My jeans were also wet where the rain had cascaded off my waterproof coat. I haven’t seen such torrential rain in a long while.  But we managed to ride the funicular  up to the pretty part of the town and visited the Cathedral ,churches and other interesting places. It was difficult taking outdoor  photos as everything was so wet.

It was a very tiring day but we still met Linda and Eric in the bar after dinner. Pam said she was too tired.

Thought for the Day – “Kindness can make a bad day good and a good day better.”

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The weather hadn’t improved much. A lot of our coach went on the optional tour to St Moritz. The fact it was minus 2 and snowing, we decided against it and anyway we didn’t want our holiday on and off coaches all the time, so we had a day off starting with a leisurely breakfast with this view!

Yes, I know it would look a lot prettier in the sun but we knew the weather was not guaranteed.

We sat in the lounge with a drink and played cards until lunchtime. So many people were on trips, so the huge restaurant was nearly empty but what a choice of food. They even had cuttlefish on the buffet but I have had that before and not enjoyed it. In the afternoon we went for a walk as the rain had stopped and in fact it was really warm. We hoped to go in the Anglican church along the road but it was all locked up.

The hotel we are staying at has a sister hotel in Tremezzo where we can eat and drink if we wish (part of our all inclusive), so we walked there and sat outside having a couple of coffees.

On the way back we met a couple who are staying at the sister hotel. They said they preferred our hotel as it was much more opulent but we told them the coffee was better at theirs!

In the evening, after our dinner, we joined Linda and Eric but Pam said she was only going to stop for one drink. That was 7pm. She was still with us at 11pm and totally drunk! She had been drinking double Limoncellos!! Oh dear, we saw her to the lift with a cup of tea. She may have made her room but I don’t think the tea would have.

Thought for the Day – “The secret of being happy is accepting where you are in life and making the most out of every day.”

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