Thursday 1 September 2011

A Cancer Free Week.

So, after last years colon shinannigans, I decided that what we all really need this year is a nice little holiday....a camping one no less...and people, if you haven't camped, then you haven't lived !

So before the whole prostate saga rose its ugly head, I booked a week on Herm Island.
It is a very beautiful little island just off Guernsey which is about a mile and a half long and 1/2 mile wide, so if you trip up in the wrong direction, you land in the sea !
There is no traffic and only one shop, really lovely beaches and the whole place is just very peaceful and calming. The girls absolutely love it there, as do me and Ady...it is totally un spoilt and non commercial...a little paradise island with its own micro climate.

We decided that we would just take a week away from cancer...it wasn't coming on holiday with us and if we had a text about the hospitals, then great, and if we didn't then we didn't, there is nothing we can do so we will jolly well enjoy our little holiday !

We have an agreement with our neighbour Kate that we run them to the airport and they do the same for us, so with that all organised, the chickens and hamsters settled in at our friends Kathy and Roys and the cats and fish sorted with our other neighbours feeding them and generally looking after the house, we set off for the airport.

Amazingly for us, everything went smoothly. The flight was on time, there was a taxi waiting at the airport, the Trident to Herm was sailing, and the sun was shining. The tractor man was waiting to take our luggage to the campsite, so all we had to do was wander around eating ice cream. Bliss !

Steph wanted to spend all day in the sea and Charlotte wanted to wander around with her camera taking pictures of her Schliech horses in realistic places (dont ask...she loves it and apparently, there is a whole schliech world out there!). Ady spent lots of time wandering with Charlotte and rock pooling with her as well as sitting on the beach and pottering in the sea, and I spent lots of time sitting on my arse, eating ice cream, drinking coffee, smoking fags looking at everyone else and wondering if they are fatter than me and how many stones I have to lose to look as slim as them *sigh*

The first couple of nights , it rained. I love listening to the pitter patter of rain drops on a tent when you are snuggled up on the blow up bed in your sleeping bag. I hate it when you need a wee though...Luckily, for me and the girls, we very rarely get up in the night for a wee. Unluckily for Ady, he is up 2 or 3 times in the night for one. I did suggest to him just to stand at the tent door and aim, to save himself from getting wet, but him being a decent chap, walked up to the loos...buggered if I would have done that miself !!

I did go into the sea on holiday and Jesus Christ, it is bloody freezing when you first go in !!
When the water first hits your feet, it sends shock waves through your body, and you have to wait there while your feet get used to it. Each time you take another step in, you have to wait a few more minutes to get used to the chill factor..and then before you know it, a fecking great wave has come along and hit you right in the 'down below' bits....Christ, that's cold !! Just when you are preparing to get the 'upper bits' wet, some little shite of a kid comes along and splashes you, so you just have to go for it and start swimming.
This whole thing usually takes me about 45 minutes, and then the sea is nice and warm, the sun is shining and everything is lovely.
The girls get very bored of waiting for me to get in the sea, and very frustrated of not being allowed to come near me until I am fully submerged, cos they cant resist not splashing me and making everything as splashy as they can, so I tell them I will get out if they do....they love it when I get splashed by another child though !

It was Steph's 11th Birthday on the Monday, and I promised that I would do a 'Baywatch' with them and just run in....I did scream a bit and I think I possibly swore too, but I cant be sure because my entire body went into shock. We did manage to spend most of the day in the sea, mucking about with those little surf board thingys and those big rubber rings with handles on. Those tennis balls that bounce across the water are great fun !!
We ended her day with a lovely meal cooked on hot rock and a night walk along the beach. I tried to teach them about constellations, but I could only remember the saucepan...Ady just took the piss !




We really enjoyed our holiday just buggering about doing nothing very much. The kids free to do as they please, just enjoying the beauty and relaxing nature of the island. No newspapers (unless you ordered one), no telly, no news......just us, the sun, the sea, and Herm.

Kate sent her husband to pick us up from the airport....why she sent him to the north terminal, I will never know, but he was driving round the pick up bit at north, while we were waiting for him at south. And no, we didn't have his mobile number, kate was at some book club thing with her phone on silent, Dave was stressed, we were stressed, the girls wanted to eat the chocolate I had bought in duty free, like you do, and Ady needed a wee...again.
Dave eventually found us as we decided the best thing to do was to stay put at the agreed place, and we all trundled off on the shuttle to the north terminal where he had parked at vast expense....3 hours late, we arrived safely home...back to reality. Oh, and no text...

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