Holidays

What’s the point of holidays?

I’ve never really ‘got’ the whole ‘having a break’ thing …? If you have a break’ then you only ever have to get ‘back up to speed again’ – so why not just keep going?

This is a slightly flawed argument, which resulted in me working 22 years straight… without ever having a foreign holiday. My wife had foreign holidays, my children had foreign holidays but I was just a little too preoccupied with the next ‘big project’ to stop and ‘smell the roses’ so to speak.

This isn’t just about me finding the time to do the whole ‘holiday’ thing, it’s also about …why would I bother?

Hot sweaty airports, followed by hot sweaty claustrophobia inducing planes, followed by endless waits for baggage …then some godforsaken ride from hell with a monosyllabic driver who is a frustrated Jensen Button/Schumacher formula one wannabe …?

Hotels that are unfinished, that look nothing like the brochure and are generally terrorist hotspots…with air conditioning that simply recirculates the smell of rancid food and sweaty staff.

Generally, I’d rather not bother.

All of these problems – plus – I live in a rather wonderful part of the Peak District National Park.

I have fly fishing that is some of the best in the world, I have mountain bike trails par excellence and I have walking country that God excelled at when he created all things Peak District flavored.

I’m told by my other half that the ‘weather is unreliable’ …and that she simply must have ‘sunshine’ to survive the endless winters that we have in the UK.

B****cks… (don’t worry she never reads this)

What we actually have is an endless work cycle which means that when we get good weather we cannot react quick enough and say …’right – let’s have the week off… in fact let’s have the month off’…

We get so busy doing the next thing in front of us that we don’t stop and appreciate what we have here in the UK. We find it fairly easy to find places all over the world on the Internet… jet off on Ryan air to whatever trendy new resort takes our fancy – when what we should be doing is appreciating what is on our doorstep and making the most of our beautiful British countryside.

Give me ‘home’ any day of the week, any week of the year, any year… any time ….I’d rather be sat in my garden in Alport in the good old British Countryside.

This year I am going to make a point of enjoying life that little bit more.

I’m getting on a bit now and have realised that I won’t live forever…

So if ever you can’t reach me… I will either be sat in the garden or fishing …or writing the book I’ve been promising to do for the last ten years.

 

Mike C