The Time Bubble

Well, blog fans, you find me this evening in lovely Fuerteventura, enjoying a well earned two week break in the sun. Well deserved? A phrase you hear bandied about a lot, but in this case I feel justified. It's two years since our last visit and in that time I've written and published four novels! No mean feat, and a tiring one. So a couple of weeks rest and recreation is long overdue. Not that I am being idle, no not me. Those of you who know me well might be labouring under the entirely false impression that I am spending this entire holiday lazing around by the pool, stirring only to waddle to one of the many English bars serving all day breakfasts (with real English Bacon), the bar for another beer, or down town for a massive mixed grill (hold the Canarian potatoes, please, I'm British so that'll be chips if you please). Nothing could be further from the truth. When on holiday I spring into action, casting off my winter sloth from my ample frame and immersing myse...

I was awoken at 7am this morning by the sound of crying coming from the children's bedroom. It was Ollie, he was crying and saying he didn't want to go home. The thing is, I almost felt like crying myself. He wanted to know why we had to go, and I did my best to explain that we have to go back for work and school and that this has just been a holiday, and we have been very lucky to have had it - but it is very hard to console a little boy who has just spent two weeks in paradise. I lay down beside him and gave him a comforting hug, the kind to make you better that only a parent can give. Growing up he may be but I am acutely aware just how much he needs his Daddy to be there for him. I know him so well, all his fears, all his worries, what makes him happy and what makes him sad. I hope we never grow out of the hugs. I know I will always be there for both of them whether they are 5 or 15, or even 50 if I last that long! I think in past generations it was very much a case of...

Well a strange state of affairs. Here I am sitting outside a lovely restaurant just by the hotel, it is 10pm on a lovely warm evening, waiting for the waiter to take my order. Perfect Valentines scene - except I am on my own. How did this happen? Well we haven't had a row. Just a combination of events, mainly relating to the children.   My plan for Valentines was to take Claire out to a really nice restaurant and treat her. Obviously with the boys in tow, which kind of takes the edge of the romance a bit - but even so. Unfortunately today has been difficult because Jamie has been very poorly. Just like he was in Ibiza, just like he was just after New Year. Unfortunately when he gets like this there is little that can be done. He gets  a temperature, is miserable, wants to sleep, doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to drink. We brought Calpol and all that with us, all we can do it ride it out. Ollie is fine so he wanted to play all day - I took him to the kids club and th...

Today was a day long looked forward to in the Ayres household as it as the day that our long awaited holiday finally came around! Now you may wonder why you had not heard much about this up until now, well that was quite deliberate really. It never ceases to amaze me how many people go bragging about their trips all over the internet. 4 more sleeps, 3 more sleeps, then it's pictures showing off on the beach or pissed up with some cocktails.   You might as well plaster all over facebook, "Hi burglars, come and ransack my house". I would imagine insurance companies might even refuse to pay out in the future if they haven't done so already. So apart from a few close and trusted friends, no-one knew I was going away and in fact my internet footprint has vanished altogether as I have closed my facebook account for the duration. You see even in my absence someone could let it slip. It's my birthday on Saturday so all it takes is someone to write something on my wall th...

Those nice people at Confused.com are running another blogging competition - this time you have to describe your ideal winter break in 350 words or less. Which is quite timely as I am looking forward to a return visit to Fuerteventura this winter, the first since 2009, so I feel suitably qualified to write on the subject. Corralejo - in February. That'll do me! 350 is not very much - especially for someone like myself who tends to ramble on. As you know I won't use 350 words where 3500 will do, so probably will be quite difficult for me, but I shall give it a go and have conciseness as my watchword. Anyway it is well worth entering as the first prize is a 3 night, five star break to Rome, which I am sure you will agree is well worth winning  - and here is the link to enable you to do. http://www.confused.com/travel-insurance/articles/confused-travel-blogging-competition In the meantime, here is what I wrote for my entry. Managed to get to the point about half way t...

I don't know why, but I always find it absolutely hilarious when I see things that are blatantly where they shouldn't be - particularly if it's been done as some sort of light hearted devilment. We're all used to seeing supermarket trolleys in ditches and such like, but there was one scene in the sitcom One Foot In The Grave that had me in tears of laughter. Clearly the writers had tried to think of the most bizarre place one could end up. As Victor turned into his street in a taxi looking miserable as ever on the way back from another nightmare holiday, he happened to glance up, and there, perched on the rooftop was an abandoned supermarket trolley. What triggered this off, well I just happened to notice today on the way to school a traffic cone perched on top of a lampost. I have no idea how many supermarket trolleys or traffic cones disappear on an annual basis, but they do seem to end up in the most unsusual places. I know it's a blight on the landscape an...