Apologies that this week’s blog is a little later than usual- we arrived home at 3am on Wednesday morning and having spent 5 hours driving from Stanstead airport back to the forest, I had lost the will to live, let alone sit and write my blog….. the M25 was shut again and so a circuitous route home had to be followed and unbelievably there were tailbacks on the M25 even at 1.30am!!!!

Just to finalise the story of our Madeiran trip- the island is as lovely as ever. Gerard managed 8 days of tastings (out of a 10 day holiday!) and what he had also “forgotten” to mention at the time of booking the trip was that a wine festival was taking place just at the same time as our holiday- mmmm coincidence? I don’t think so. A good time was had by all and we will I am sure return soon for still more tastings.

The pirate ship idea (Romané and I were booked to go whale and dolphin spotting on a pirate ship during our holiday) had to be abandoned due to engine troubles, but I have to say I was secretly very relieved as on the day we were meant to set sail the wind was almost to hurricane force (well ok, a slight exaggeration, but VERY gusty nonetheless) and the sea was certainly not a mill pond. I do not travel well on boats or planes, but especially boats and so the thought of sailing on the boat in such rough seas did not fill me with excitement, so I have to confess I was relieved that we had to cancel…. We couldn’t re-arrange as we were flying home the next day, but we did make contingency plans- to go up in the cable car, but again thankfully (not keen on cable cars either) the weather interfered and that idea was shelved due to the hurricane (ooops, I mean windy conditions) and so it is that I am very enthusiastically looking forward to Romané’s other great idea- attending Bestival on the Isle of Wight this weekend in a ……. tent.  How did I agree to that? Having just arrived home from sedate, 5 star luxury and being pampered, I jump straight into a muddy field and a tent. Is it any wonder that I sometimes feel my life is a bit surreal- I can’t even keep up at times.

Thus in between unpacking sun cream and sundresses, I am now packing a ruck sack full of mosquito repellent, welly boats, thermal socks and sleeping bags- watch this space, I might even post a picture or two. Apparently on Saturday it is dressing up time at the festival- the kids are going as the Village People (not quite sure why??) and I am going as a diva- most unkindly, a number of people have suggested that I won’t have to try too hard- I can’t imagine what they mean!

Till next week…. Think of me if it’s raining on Friday and Saturday….. if it’s windy I just hope the tent doesn’t blow away!

Nx