Minnie’s Musings

Packed up and departed holiday park with 10 mins to spare. Hurrah!

Now creeping along the motorway between The Hague and Rotterdam so 10 minute cushion is evaporating. Arghhhhh!

Luckily we have another cushion built into our arrival time at Dunkirk. Of course, by smugly declaring that we have a cushion we are asking for trouble. So forget I said that.

Successful trip with only one complaint from holiday park residents- and that may not have been a complaint. The site manager appeared on Thursday evening asking us if everything was alright. He had received a call saying that a fight of some sort had broken out and there was lots of shouting.

Fortunately he clocked the culprit who was wandering around our little garden squawking. The internet- for which read Disney+ – had gone down so His Nibs was struggling to regulate himself. The manager – I would like to think – realised that the “concerned” resident was possibly a busy body. He told us not to worry with a genuine smile and pottered off.

Ooooh we are off again! Whatever it was, was cleared and we are making progress.

The above incident was refreshing. On the whole most people respond positively when met with the antics of one’s middle child. And we do our best to keep a lid on the worst of it. But there is always someone…

Take the woman behind me on a flight to Boston about 15 years ago. His Nibs had kept up his usual racket for the duration of the flight, unimpressed with the movie and utterly overexcited by the act of flying in a large plane.

The lady in question asked me in a rather testy manner whether I was aware that he had been making noise for the whole flight. Given that I had been sitting right next to him and shushing him at regular intervals, I felt it was patently obvious that I was, so I gave her my mother’s best drop dead stare and went back to packing up my table.

This reminds me of another American lady bitching about a toddler screaming in the airport lounge at Heathrow, just loud enough to penetrate the racket and reach the ears of the mother who was clearly exhausted. I wonder whether people really do think you are letting the racket happen for the fun of it or that being made to feel worse or more embarrassed than you already do is helpful or just plain mean.

Ooops we’ve stopped again. Best Beloved suspects bridge ahead has been lifted.

Anyway, I am already plotting our next Summer sojourn in Holland as it suits His Nibs and us. Car boat, bikes and lots of water to splash about in. What is not to like?

Off again! Dunkirk and the ferry, here we come!