Holiday Booked... and other stories

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Good morning to you all. I'm a little tired and not quite myself today. All is good, though. It was my dad's birthday last week, so my eldest son (Midi) and I took him out for a day yesterday. Dad wanted to go kayaking, white water rafting, and all kinds of things he did as a much younger man. I told him we can't do those things but we can go on a canoe. Well, I booked a canoe for the three of us for 2 hours. We went to the lovely little town of Warwick, administrative capital of our county, Warwickshire. We went on the bus (well, two buses as we had to bus to Coventry and from there to Warwick). Anyway, we got to Warwick Boats. The three of us had got into a canoe. The boat people were showing us how to hold the oars when my dad suddenly fell backwards. Good thing he was sitting down and I was behind him. We scooped him up and sat him on a chair for a bit. Dad said for Midi and I to carry on but this was Dad's day out and I wasn't having him sit around for 2 hours. I asked if it would be OK to swap for a pedalo, which it was. Dad then chilled at the back while Midi and I pedalled up and down the Avon, watching the ducks, swans, and geese, and taking in the landscape that included Warwick Castle. It was very cold but we did have a lovely time. We then had a wander to a chip shop as fish & chips is always my dad's favourite thing! We all had a nice day anyway. Today, I checked my stats on Vocal Media, and saw I've had a +106% change in views, with the most recent being something like 256 views in a day. I've also booked a holiday for myself, my husband (D) and the two boys (Midi and Mini). I'd been looking at Cornwall, mainly because I want to visit Tintagel. Unfortunately, D won't be able to do that one as it's not disability friendly. He will, however, be able to see Pendennis Castle with us. There are a few other things around there. We're hoping to go to the Eden Project, possibly to Japanese Gardens, and maybe one or two other places. I'd been looking for places to stay but many were fully booked or ridiculously expensive. I found one today that was available, reasonably priced, and in an ideal location for us to get to all the places we want to visit. It's booked for a week in summer that I'd booked off work. Of course, we still need to be mindful that some restrictions will still apply but hopefully no lockdown so we can travel. I have got tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday off work. Tomorrow, I'm taking my little niece and nephew to Kenilworth Castle. It's an English Heritage place. It's open to members and locals. We're members but I don't know if we count as locals (it's just under an hour on the bus). We've pre-booked that for the 6 of us, and booked travel as it's a rail replacement bus. It's half the price of the normal buses, and is quicker as we won't have to change. It's just slightly further to walk from the station to the castle than from the bus stop. I'll be packing a few snacks later once the shopping comes. My niece and nephew are very fussy eaters and I don't often buy the stuff they like. I've then got niece and nephew on Tuesday as well. We don't have plans for then but might do some baking. I'm glad things are starting to get back to normal. I'm happy for it to happen slowly, and there are some things that are probably better and should be kept as a result of the pandemic. What else have we done? Went for a walk with Midi and a friend last weekend. That was nice, especially as it was quite pleasant weather. We also bumped into some other friends, so it was nice to see people and have a chat. Midi is home from uni for the Easter holiday so he'll probably go back at the end of the week. He's having trouble with his course as he was supposed to be doing a placement in a school, which he's not been allowed to do. He's hoping to get a placement as he's done everything else he can do, and feels like he's only really had half of the course he's meant to have had. He's thinking about retaking his third year anyway, but I'm hoping he doesn't need to. He has been doing so well, getting Firsts for his coursework. Anyway, while he's been home, we've been talking about his options while also playing lots of games and having fun. What have you all been up to? Do you have any plans? Are there still Covid restrictions where you live?