O.K. so yet again our Summer seems to be a bit of a wash out so perhaps we could cheer each other up with a few memories of those Summer Holidays that were a complete disaster.
It might have been the weather, the company or the fact that the place you went to stay made Fawlty Towers seem like a 5 Star Accomodation.
Here's one of my memories:-
When I was about 8 my parents had booked a week at a seaside 'Caravan Park', at least according to the address it was, The Seaview Caravan Park. When we got to the resort we caught the bus and asked the conductor for that destination, "ah", he replied, "you must mean, the Sandy Valley Caravan Park that's the only one on this route".
We arrived at the park and made enquiries, no you're not booked here what is the full address of the site your going to?
My parents told them, Right that's 3 miles back the way you came when you get to Seaview Boarding house they will direct you.
We eventually found the boarding house and the Landlady walked us round the back of the house and there stood on bricks was an old moss covered caravan.
Mother wasn't pleased but we had paid in advance otherwise we would have left there and then.
As it was, we had to make the best of it, the best of it ha! it would have been better if our parents had dumped us with social services and slept on park benches for the week.
First thing discovered, rough army blankets on all the beds and an acrid smell of damp, questions asked of the landlady for sheets, SHEETS! she screamed, if you want sheets you should have brought your own.
She gave us a list of rules which included toilet facilities we could use the ones in the house up until 8pm. but the back door was locked after then.
We settled down for the night scratching and itching which we thought at first was the blankets, wrong! it was the red ants that objected to us invading their living space.
As soon as it was light we went to find some breakfast and head for the beach, a good and sunny day was spent on the sands.
Back to the caravan as late as possible and another nightmarish night, fortunately the ants were no bother that night because of the heavy thunderstorm that washed them under the crack in the door due to the fact every window leaked.
My parents couldn't take much more of this divorce would have been imminent had we remained.
But do you know, my main memory from that tender age was that the owners had lied to us because in actual fact although it was called sea view from where we where you couldn't see the sea!
