COMING HOME

Belle is on her way, jetting her way across the Atlantic but we are still waiting for news on Anastasia. The best part of the journey is the fact that her flight from the US goes to Amsterdam instead of London and from there she flies directly to Cardiff. Getting a bus from a London airport to Cardiff is a nightmare and the journey feels like it takes forever.
After waiting on the runway at 6am, in the snow on a January morning at Bristol airport I decided a couple of years ago to only fly from Cardiff. At Cardiff the majority of planes are entered via walkways directly onto the plane, going across the runway in a warm country is not a problem but trying to manoeuvre a disability buggy, an over excited child and hand luggage on a cold snowy morning puts you off going on holiday not matter how wonderful the destination may be.
As I have really fair skin due to my red hair(or what red is left after the grey set in!), I only go abroad in the winter and I love that. One year I went to Malta for 2 weeks in June, I loved Malta but never again will I go on holiday after May. In the words of Little Cook it was HOT,HOT,HOT. A weeks holiday in January or February really splits up the winter but I do not see the point of going abroad after May as the weather may not always be fantastic but I am quite happy with the weather in the UK between April and October, it is just January, February and March that I would like to spend in Fuerteventura. Fuerteventura is special in the sense that the weather is pleasant and Coralejo where we stay is just like an overgrown fishing village. It might be nice to visit Belle next winter in Florida for a week in the winter, Beauty will absolutely love it.
When Beauty started school I worried about taking Beauty out of school during term time as the government has said it no longer wants parents to do that as they feel it interrupts a child's education. I spoke to the school about this and they have no problem with Beauty going, I think they see it as a life experience. I just couldn't take Beauty on holiday during half term or during school holidays as there would be lots of other children and Beauty is not very good at noise and crowds of children do create a lot of noise! AND we only go for one week! One of Beauty's friends went to visit relatives in Canada and didn't come back until the snows came and another went home with his mother to India in June and didn't come back until November so I think my winter holidays are not too bad.

I am still in shock at the news reports of the killings in Virginia ans I feel very sorry for all those involved and those who have lost loved ones. I lived in Newbury at the time of the Hungerford
massacre and I remember the shock that gripped the town whilst it was happening and the aftermath when every body struggled to cope with what had happened. When something like this happens we all suffer,we lose our faith in the goodness of mankind.
When Dunblane happened I remember thinking about how awful it would be for the parents who had lost their little ones and how they would NEVER recover from it. Imagine a stone being thrown in a pond and how you have the ripples flowing outwards, well that is the suffering caused by these senseless acts.