Skip to main content

Isle of Wight Time

We decided to vary from English countryside and try the English seaside instead. The prospects were not good. This week it snowed in London, the week was grey and cold, we were exhausted from a nasty week at work. For the first time in years we did not go in search of guaranteed warm sun as we always do in the first May Bank Holiday. Initially planned as a Cornwall trip, our weekend turned to the Isle of Wight, also unknown to us. 
Isle of Wight is not disappointing so far. The classic English manor house at the Priory Bay Hotel offered us a superb room with a view overlooking the estate and the sea. The friendly staff are welcoming of our unstoppable toddler though we are surprised to see almost no guests (after the website said they were full and we called just to give it a try). The estate also give us direct access to a large sandy beach (from where I started this blog) where we spent a long lazy time watching the sea, collecting stones and throwing up them back at the water. The beach had only locals who immediately took the good weather on offer. They all seem to have a dog, must be a requirement around here. By good weather I mean we were ok in our wintery jackets, not in shorts or t-shirts! C played endlessly with stones and sand. She does not get messy enough as she is often oicky about having her hands dirty so we encouraged her and, as we moved to the beach 'next door', a pebble beach, she enjoyed laying down and burying daddy on the stones. 
The afternoon took a turn away from the sea as we decided to visit the IOW Zoo. At first we were suspicious of whether we were making the right choice, but as we started the tiger feed we knew we were in the right place. Tiger Aisha chose to place her meal just in fromt of us, a meter away, where we could enjoy the scenery without having to zoom in any camera. Of all places, I never thought Isle of Wight Zoo would be where I would see closer lions, tigers and a jaguar. Exhausted but happy we finished our day with a muffin by the beach. 
As we walked on the beach I got nostalgic of what i know won't last forever. When one of our long lasting dreams comes through and we move to Portugal, we know we will have less time for our core. So we promised we would do this no matter what, to spend time with each other. And stop to watch throw pebbles and get our hands in the sand. Thank you Isle of Wight for a happy (Portuguese) mother's day!

 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We are not afraid.. are we not?

I see signs saying we are not afraid. Londoners are tough and endured the bombings of WWII. But those Londoners are hardly the same as the ones here today. Yes people in general are resilient, more than we think we can be when looking outside out. That is anywhere in the world, not just in London. And truth be said there is merit in not letting fear control our lives and terrorism win.  Well I just walked into the district line, 5 stations away from Parsons Green and I am afraid. I am not shaking, crying or running away. But I am afraid mostly because it is all so natural. Life must go on I said, as I decided I was not going to cancel my lunch and avoid the tube. But that is what makes it scary. Life goes on and in an effort to not be afraid we recklessly do not change our habits and rely on the stats that more people die on the road then on terrorist attacks. Reality is, the law of probability does not matter because terrorist events are binary.  So I think about my frie...
1 comment
Read more

Too low

Sometimes I feel too low. .  My job by nature involves a lot of rowing against the current, or sometimes just rowing on my own.  I have these immesurable drive to get results and some moments in th day, whére I look and evaluate what I have not progressed, it just brings me down. Today I almost cracked. It does not happen often, I must admit. Maybe I should have blogged during the day to help with the venting process.  An accumulation of incompetence, unwillingness and also just the absolute amount of work it needs to be done by a single person (me) has made me really question why bother. As B says, it's just money, and it's not mine. I wished I could feel like that today.  Maybe i just need to buy those supplements And naturally on top I feel like a bad mother. No matter how I spent the day thinking how I missed C, that wont bring me closer, and what does she care about my thinking. She wants me there. She has struggled with the last weeks, and has become more attac...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flying Sunday

It's been a while, I know. But time is really a precious asset and I have not been leveraging on it well enough... But today I did and I am proud. I threw all the plans out of the window and took the irrefusable offer I was made "Do you want to go flying today?". How does no work as an answer there? Here is one of the c. 30 airplanes you could see there. First reaction from our pilot: "Why are all these planes here, don't people realize it is an amazing day for flying?". Well, I had not untill he told me so! But the best is still to come, as the only girl in the group I got to ride in the front, get first view in take-off, listen to the radio of the air control all the time (we get Boston airport frequency), check the map, speeds, everything... I guess throughout the way we were some quiet passengers, in the wonders of realizing you are on air, the curiosity of identifying different places and the struggle to take the best pictures as we pass the Harvard...
2 comments
Read more