Holiday May-Jun 2017

SO I FIGURED that I would go for the cheap tickets when I was travelling around England and the Continent, and, at first, I was barely aware of the implications when it came to carrying baggage. This is not a good idea. When I went to Berlin in 2014, I flew by easyJet, so, when I saw cheap easyJet tickets to Denmark, my next stop after England, I thought, "Easy!" In 2014, I was going to Berlin for two nights, and managed to fit all my clothes, a Dell Laptop and a small camera into my laptop bag which was just the right size for a guaranteed trip in the cabin of an easyJet aircraft. I figured that I should be able to take a bag of similar size onto an easyJet flight without hassles. I happened to have a suitcase of easyJet standard dimensions. It was actually more commodious due to its rectangular plan. All I had to do was fit four weeks worth of clothes into it. I had to strap my sneakers with cable ties to get them compressed enough. I had to lean on a z...

.. Composite image L-R: Street in Twickenham; grandchildren and friend (in black) at Sidcup area park;  Nickolai Church in Berlin. .. IN MARCH and April 2014, I took a trip to England and Germany to catch up with family and good friends, and, of course, to see the sights. At that time, my wife was quite ill, and I recognise her selflessness in encouraging me to take the trip as, throughout our married life, we had rarely taken breaks away from each other, unless they were in some way work related. As I said to my daughter when she dropped me to the airport, it's always better being lost in company than being lost and alone. I was only away for a fortnight that time, and am glad to report that I hardly got lost at all. Less than a year after that trip, Chris died; and around the middle of the following month (while travelling home from a cousin's funeral) my brother and I got word that our mother was unlikely to see the month out. Although confined to bed for al...