Center Parc April 2007

Quality time with son D and daughter A and her fiance J at Center Parc for a long weekend.
I like the philosophy with no cars around the villas, so lots of wild life, bird song, ducks trying to get to your fridge for food! I don’t like the prices, paying out for almost everything at every turn. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves - the main pool with its flumes, cascade and wave machine was to the liking of the young ones while I read! We played table tennis, badminton, snooker and really enjoyed archery. The Aqua Sana is wonderful (but over priced) with a sauna, several steam rooms and areas for relaxation and meditation and a warm swimming pool which was not too deep even for me!
So a great weekend in which we all got on well; we eat together in the villa and out - the pancake house was especially good.

Not the West Indies April 2007

My good friend T from Scarborough wanted to be present at 3 World Cups in Cricket. 1999 was in England, we met in 2003 in South Africa and 2007 was hosted by the West Indies. However the prices were outrageous and beyond both our pockets, so we needed an alternative. Ever the one for entrepreneurship T suggested a week in the sun, lots of wine and sky sports to view the cricket! The sun was attainable at a very reasonable price via a First Choice holiday in Salou, the wine (and more important cocktails of a dimension never seen before) was plentiful and a state on mind could be reached when we thought we were actually in the West Indies. As it turned out the World Cup must have been the most unsuccessful venture of its kind anywhere! It went on too long, testing the patience of even the most avid of fans; there were too many one-sided games and the referee got the rules wrong for the final. Fortunately the outstanding team, Australia, won very comfortably.
As for our part we did see some cricket, usually just the first innings of a match before the hotel turned over to football. We had wonderful weather, sun and blue skies the entire week, and we certainly managed to chill out. T did some creative writing and I did some reading! We managed some exercise on the beach and at table tennis and had excellent outings to Montserrat and Barcelona. I have been to Barcelona several times but I cannot tire of that city and managed to show T around as it was his first visit. It was first time for both of us at Montserrat and that was certainly an inspiring place.
First Choice provided excellent value for money in a self catering apartment.