How long can it rain for?
We recently took a 2 week holiday down to Devon. Lovely rolling hills, a view of Exmoor and lots of fresh air. Then on day three it started raining. For about 10 days we had almost solid cloud cover, and it rained half the time. How Devon didn't get flooded I don't know - I can only attribute it to incredibly well-draining soil although even that was starting to give up by the time we left. I did at least get to see a bit of Sun - the first day and the last, before heading over to Sussex for a beautiful wedding. According to my B&B landlord, he had beautiful sunshine for *his* holiday in Kent. Grrrrr!
This dismal holiday did throw up a couple of points though. First, what is the purpose of a holiday? In reality, there are lots of criteria that vary from person to person. For me, the forced separation from my computer is high on the list, similarly from time pressures. Being able to have the energy to do gradually increasing exercise is also there. Ideally, for me, I would like to be in a place where I can just sit and absorb the atmosphere without having to prod everything. Finally, it is a time to rest and stabilise (and for any adrenalin to wear off). In this case, then, my holiday was not a waste of time since I managed to do the first and last tasks. Unfortunately, all that rain did rather restrict how much exercise was possible (I got a few decent walks and that's about it), and sitting and absorbing rain isn't exactly my idea of fun.
The second point is one I have made before. The damp - which there is a lot of - really does get to my lungs. It didn't help that my room didn't have double glazing, had a big air vent and was opposite a drafty door which was only fixed a couple of days in. This meant that I did a lot of coughing. In the beginning it was quite dark and thick because I was still recovering from a somewhat nasty bug that took me off work for a week before I went away. By the end (and now, back home but still wet) it was thin, pale stuff hardly worth mentioning. Had I been worried and gone to the hospital, I am confident they would have put me on IVs. Luckily I know better. Having said that, I only maintained (and indeed improved) my good health by taking large amounts of no.20.
Unfortunately, all the coughing over the damp did cause me to need a fair bit of work when I saw the acupuncturist this morning.
Fuel prices: 114.9 pence/litre
The supermarkets went into fuel competition which probably helped lower it.
This dismal holiday did throw up a couple of points though. First, what is the purpose of a holiday? In reality, there are lots of criteria that vary from person to person. For me, the forced separation from my computer is high on the list, similarly from time pressures. Being able to have the energy to do gradually increasing exercise is also there. Ideally, for me, I would like to be in a place where I can just sit and absorb the atmosphere without having to prod everything. Finally, it is a time to rest and stabilise (and for any adrenalin to wear off). In this case, then, my holiday was not a waste of time since I managed to do the first and last tasks. Unfortunately, all that rain did rather restrict how much exercise was possible (I got a few decent walks and that's about it), and sitting and absorbing rain isn't exactly my idea of fun.
The second point is one I have made before. The damp - which there is a lot of - really does get to my lungs. It didn't help that my room didn't have double glazing, had a big air vent and was opposite a drafty door which was only fixed a couple of days in. This meant that I did a lot of coughing. In the beginning it was quite dark and thick because I was still recovering from a somewhat nasty bug that took me off work for a week before I went away. By the end (and now, back home but still wet) it was thin, pale stuff hardly worth mentioning. Had I been worried and gone to the hospital, I am confident they would have put me on IVs. Luckily I know better. Having said that, I only maintained (and indeed improved) my good health by taking large amounts of no.20.
Unfortunately, all the coughing over the damp did cause me to need a fair bit of work when I saw the acupuncturist this morning.
Fuel prices: 114.9 pence/litre
The supermarkets went into fuel competition which probably helped lower it.