We never know when it'll be the last holiday when we succeed in enticing all the children with us, but we managed it this year.
Got up at 5.15am, rolled out of the house into the heavily
laden car.
There were the usual holiday happenings – Five of us had to fit in the car so I had weighed up
carefully my choice of clothes and laid out my
outfit so I didn’t have to take any decisions while befuddled in the early
morning. I got dressed but
left my jumper, intending to put it on just as I exited the house. At the point of departure, it was nowhere to
be found. Five adults searched every
room. Clearly aliens had abducted my
pullover.
Nigel had allowed loads of time for the drive and we arrived
in plenty of time. But parked tightly on the ferry we had the usual scramble to
prize ourselves out of the car with our bulky daysacks, plus phones, books,
computers and not quite enough hands. It
was as if, even after queuing on the tarmac for half an hour, we had never
guessed this moment would come. We
Hobbas are also the people in supermarket queues who look surprised when asked
to pay for our goods and spend a long time looking for our wallets.
As we boarded, I said to Perran, “Really feels like we’re on
holiday now. Wouldn’t it be amazing if
we saw dolphins?”
On the ferry, mist closed in and there was an announcement
not to worry as the ferry foghorn sounded.
I began to hum the Titanic theme.
Hackneyed, I know but worth it for a view of the occasional truly
worried rolling-eyed passenger.
But then, a miracle, on the way into St Peterport harbour.
Six to eight dolphins accompanied the ferry in, riding in
the bow wave and the wake, leaping completely out of the water.
This was going to be a great holiday.
Later, from our holiday cottage, we wandered along the sand
of Cobo Bay. West-facing, the sunsets
are legendary, but not when the sea mist rolls in.
But that didn’t stop the beach art. Nigel and Pascoe made a henge. Perran inscribed a huge organic pattern in
the sand with his feet. I made a
watercolour of Cobo Bay in the mist and Carenza took photos.
