Slowlycatchymonkey

More than Scotland?

Weather not too bad here although it doesn’t seem to be showing it’s going to pee down overnight! Its definitely a take it easy weekend for us. Then again Mr Slowly said this morning “Shall we go to Morocco on Monday?” so maybe Ill look into that cos sometimes you got to strike while the irons hot!

Thats brilliant. Congrats

Great stuff Grace. Had a fair bit to catch up on (speaker wasn't working on laptop) and its was all enjoyable stuff. Can't believe the bikes whole structural integrity hangs on two plastic spacers, mental. You look like your handling it all with aplomb, even the slippery stuff look forward to hearing how your first official tour job goes. Never heard of the coconut crab, looked it up, that is one fearsome crab "can eat chickens, kittens and birds but mainly prefers coconuts"

I like the detail. For me thinking about the varying possibilities and having the freedom to abandon any of it at any point and choosing to do something else is part of the joy. I do also enjoy not thinking, winging it and seeing what happens. That approach is far more exciting, its yielded me as much pain as it has happiness though. Decisions are always weightier when you're organising a group, other people are looking to you for knowledge of an area and possible solutions. You kinda feel responsible for making sure they have a good time, or at least the best time possible in whatever circumstances you find yourself in and thats when having plan A to X is useful. Knowing where theres a supermarket that doesnt shut til 10pm or where the accommodation in the sunshine will be and the roads are good makes the difference between happy people and wet, tired, hungry people. Folk who get kicks from braving the elements or rolling with whatever happens (I confess I'm partial to that) are definitely the minority. @Motobiker sharing his covering all the bases is a useful DIY guide, I appreciate it, I read it and think hmm maybe the alps should be next and if they are I know just the man to ask for advice!

Thats so cute I tuned back in today specifically to see if they made it and by jove theyre in Spain. Hats of to you Pete, you've pulled off something that sounded unlikely to happen I've told Mr Slowly bits n pieces of this tale as things as progressed and just gave him the update. He said "He (Pete) won't put up with that, I think what will happen is he'll say nothing until the grandkids have been there long enough to really like the life there and his son can see it then when the power balance has shifted he'll let rip because she's a bully and they only respond to being slapped down. I couldn't believe it, told Mr Slowly thats thats exactly your plan. He said nodded and said Hmm fair play.

I heard it’s summink about Stu n Six covering themselves in marmite, wrapping each other in clinglfilm and being paddle boarded by a dwarf.

Unless its the plane that gets lost, I could live with that

Deep joy, next guests flights have been delayed by an hour. It'll be after 3am now, assuming they don't get lost. I cry.

Can they not drive themselves?

Why thankyou. I got to go and throw a curry in the slow cooker. Slow cookers are surprisingly useful in hot weather, you plug them in outside so theres no standing over a boiling hob and nothing heating up the kitchen.

I'm knackered, spent all day sorting stuff for the arrival of the next guests including spending a large amount of time at varying points of the day on FaceTime with the phone screen being wobbled about at a blurry computer being asked what do to now- who leaves the important paperwork til the day they're due to leave? I don't get it, its always my primary concern. Check passport, sort paperwork and money. Surely everyone does that first?

Sounds lovely can I have some?

Great pics. Nice write up. Thanks for the trail tip, when I bring the Himmy back from Spain in June Ill have look

I'm not sure how the Easter Parades are going to go cos the Spanish can't possibly have any energy left. They really go for it. Traffic jams with everyone honking their horns, fire works being let off, they were still partying at 3am

I dunno if thats carnival or something to do with the odd pagan stuff that appears sometimes. Did you see the massive monster type thing that appeared in a field last year? The closer you get to Glastonbury the weirder it gets. Great ride that though, theres a nice place in Wells to take a flask of tea, it has with superb views for miles and miles. You probably already know Deerleap car park but if not thats well worth a visit (on a clear day before the grockles get up). https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/gallery/mysterious-figure-appears-side-hill-5370559 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Deerleap+Car+Park/@51.2398674,-2.691681,17.14z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x48721f4d9e1914cd:0x80710ba7c100425f!2sDeerleap,+Wells,+UK!3b1!8m2!3d51.2337597!4d-2.6891064!3m4!1s0x48721f4f18fb4027:0x1cc819049214b5c3!8m2!3d51.2404449!4d-2.6903136 Paganism is alive and kicking in the West Country. Just remembered even though my school was distinctly CofE we still had to make corn dollies every year to thank Mother Earth for the Harvest during Harvest Festival, country dancing was a compulsory class Theres still a Harvest Home every year, although they have conveniently moved it from the last full moon before the equinox to august because the weathers nicer I remember my Pa saying its bad enough they're filling your head with the one lot of superstitious claptrap but two lots, what is wrong with them?!

Dropped my sons off at the airport. Got the next load of incoming arriving tomoz at 2 or 3 in the morning No longer amused by this providing free holidays malarkey. Involves far too much work. Especially when the person booking the flights tries to save themselves a couple of quid by taking a flight at stupid o’clock with two stroppy kids. On the upside I did manage to get them a table at a great restaurant for Easter lunch so Ive skipped the pain of trying to cook an Easter feast in a broom cupboard sized kitchen. Time to try n fix the Himmy so I can escape!

Don’t these twinned signs just mean the mayor had a holiday at the taxpayers expense?

Doesn’t sound like much of a language teacher does it?! While I don’t like machiavellian scheming cos mostly I prefer the direct approach when it involves your children if it’s the only option for getting him some quality of life it has to be done. This is a slowly catchy monkey situation for sure (I don’t mean me ), if you go too fast with a control freak they.. freak and she’ll get them all on a plane back to Poland quicker than a quick thing.

You’ll be alright Pete just blank her and hand it to your wife to deal with, she sounds pretty formidable. Plus you can always come back to the Covert Operations thread and call her as many names as you like, you know we enjoy a good ol’ evisceration.

You haven’t received my gift? Goddam them, heads will roll.

Well obviously it wouldn’t be right to not poke fun and laugh at any pain or weak spots displayed, it’s this forums most endearing quality but in this instance with sheer volume of effort Petes put in I really would like this thing to go right.