I love the Isle of Wight, and I'm really looking forward to our holiday there. It's been a while - 18 years since our last holiday there, and 28 since my first visit. During that time I had 7 family holidays there at Boulders Lea, 4 choir holidays, and one holiday at the Cliff Tops Hotel in Shanklin. That last holiday in 1990 was rather special, as it was the first time that I went on holiday with Nicky, but I have wonderful memories of the family holidays that we had there in the early eighties. Here are a few things that spring to mind.
- As well as Mum, Dad, Bec and me, having a houseful of other visitors - Rew, Frances, Nan, Poppa, Uncle Fang, Robin, Jane, Dave ...
- Boulders Lea having the biggest garden in the world - a huge front garden with a long gravel drive, lots of trees and secret woodland paths, an enormous lawn, and a back garden that went all the way to the sea!
- Playing games in the garden - bat 'n' ball with a court marked out with rope. A later addition was a net made out of more rope between two oars from an inflatable dinghy.
- Fang took a great photo of Mum, Dad, Bec and me in silhouette, stood at the end of the garden. It was framed and on the wall at Mum and Dad's for a long time. Not sure if it's still up. Must get a copy of it from them.
- Thing - G-nith !! And I can still do it !!
- Not being able to get a Brown Derby from the Wimpey in Ryde.
- "Carry I out but don't bend I".
- Sitting in the car listening to the test match on the radio.
- Walking to the pub in Fishbourne and having lunch in the garden.
- Pestering my parents to take me to the arcades in Ryde, and to the Appley Pitch 'n' Putt.
- Having a sense of humour failure when the pitch 'n' putting didn't go according to plan.
- The model village of the model village of the model village of the .....
- The rooms on the top floor at Boulders Lea - mine at the front and Bec's at the back.
- Dad taking Minnie for her morning drag to the paper shop in Binstead. Me occasionally going along and buying a comic.
- Days on the beach at Grange Chine.
- Digging holes on the beach - a particularly large one dug by me and Dave when we realised that our music teacher was on the same beach!
- Getting a remote controlled car, and then getting in trouble for not letting Dave have a turn.
- Getting a nose bleed on a slide at Puckpool - I was sliding down and collided with some idiot child who had decided to climb up.
- Going to the craft centre at Arreton - Mum choosing photos to buy and Nanny buying me a leather coin pouch.
- Leaving my cricket bat on Sandown beach.
- Feeling sick on Mr McKenzie's boat.
- Dad making cooked breakfasts, and me going round with a pad to take orders. One year my regular order was two sausages and two slices of fried bread.
- Walking round nine holes of golf at Ryde golf club with Fang. Going there with him in his old BMW that smelled of pipe tobacco, and Mum and Dad picking me up before he played the second nine.
- Depending on the dates, looking out for new registration plates on 1st August - IOW plates ending in DL.
- Watching the fireworks at the end of Cowes Week.
- Stocking up on provisions at the International supermarket in Ryde. There was a stamp shop next to the car park and I got the Disney-themed stamps that were on display in the window.
It's lovely to remember those fantastic family holidays from many years ago, but I know that I shouldn't expect next week to be any sort of replica. That way leads to certain disappointment. Next week is going to be fantastic (come rain or shine!) and it's going to be so for all of its own reasons, not for any kind of reliving the past.
It's amazing to think that I was seven when I first went to the IOW, and Jake is already eight. When we had our family holidays there, I was the child, Dad was Dad and Poppa was Poppa. Now, Jake's the child, I'm the Dad, and Dad's Poppa! It's also worthy of note that my first trip to the IOW also represented, as far as I can remember, my very first departure from the mainland of the UK. Jake, by contrast, has already managed several trips to Orlando, Paris twice, Mallorca, Spain, a cruise around the Med and another cruise in the Caribbean. How times change!
I love the Isle of Wight!