What is it about being home that makes you want to go away again? No sooner you settle down and think you dont want to travel again you change your mind . The merry go round of emotions of being home, wanting to go away and see other things than your own back yard begin again . It should have been a week of doing something . But the weather had snookered that one well and truly. It seemed to rain most days and the rain was more April like than what we expect in May. Despite promises of the hottest day of the year so far nothing was further from the truth . It felt cold and miserable . More early Spring than late Spring /early summer . Certainly not shorts and T shirt weather . Having a summer cold did not help either . The pollen had been high. At first I thought it was hay fever after my walk along the river . Eventually the penny dropped . The runny eyes , the runny nose and the feeling of generally being unwell should have given me the hint . A summer cold . Much worse than a winter
one . The first for about two and a half years . As I walked I wondered who had generously given it to me. Someone at the last football home match of the season . A swimmer from my morning swim . The guides at the Rescue station . I had little idea . All I knew was I felt as miserable as I could with a on.
My walk took me alongside the river for a while . The grass was too wet and I meandered back to the road where it would be straighter and dryer . A grey heron was wadding in the river and flew off as I approached him. It felt a walk on the wild side with the onion smell of the wild Garlic permeating from its leaves as I stood on them . The bluebells were going over and being replaced by the gently swaying Queen Annes Lace . It was a Sunday and all was quiet with the world . I had a plan and had found a circular route which would take me around Pickhill passing the old Dairy Crest Cheese factory . Long closed it was now
had some other use but being a Sunday there were few cars parked up. The road wound round and the fields had taken on a haze of yellow from the Oil Seed Rape . A few cars passed me but I could count those on one hand .
I never did make it all the way round . Another walk on another day when I felt better perhaps . At home coffee brewed up and a thick slice of toast . Are we going to be able to go to Wembley? It would be interesting to see the new Wembley stadium but the way we both felt it was borderline whether we would travel down to High . Three hours drive and a 30 minute train ride into Wembley was not that appealing with a sniffly nose and a banging head . Nor was the thought of staying overnight in a crowded hotel full of either joyous supporters or very miserable ones . The jury was out on that trip. We ordered tickets for the Play off semi finals . They were at home and a week later . Surely our colds would go by then ? And our thoughts returned to further away travel . Could we go September ? It would mean missing around four games again of the football season . We could get our money back on our fully refundable ticket . To make it worse although perhaps I should not think of it as worse but to Eurotunnel about the delay to travel a few weeks back had resulted in yet another credit note for £174 to be spent before May 2023.
We pondered going away - we still had heard nothing from Saga Insurance about Montenegro , Albania and Turkey . We got the maps out . We could buy third party insurance at the border with Albania and rush through even though we had a couple of places earmarked to see . We could go overland through Serbia or across Romania . Each would work but would we want to do it . The other alternative was the boat again from Italy to Greece . We hated it last time . A long wait for the boat at Ancona to load , 17 hours on board , a smelly small cabin and awful service . We looked at Bari . Further to drive but a shorter distance by sea . It seemed swings and roundabouts again .
