10 posts tagged “holiday”

Here is just a sample of some of the photos which I have been uploading to my flickr account recently.

This was Cadet Corps parade - the first one of the new term, so obviously some of the kids had forgotten their uniform, or couldn't find it, or put it in the wash,or.......The certainly didn't seem too pleased to be on parade!  I took a series of shots with all the cadets looking various shades of miserable.

Later on they cheered up as they got on with the afternoon's activities.  Some of the RAF were doing a command task - blindfold challenge - but that didn't stop one boy from posing as soon as he saw the camera.

I've also uploaded some pictures from my holiday in Spain.  This one is from a series of two boys play fighting on the beach - again they seemed to respond well to the camera.

I've also added some old photos - here's one of some students on a Duke of Edinburgh Award overnight walking expedition in the Cotswolds.  This was 2005.

Finally I used fd's flickr toys to create a mosaic of photos featuring my wife.

One of the things I love to do during a holiday is to read books - I seem never to be able to get round to it during term time, or I start a book but don't finish it.  So it was good this holiday to read three books that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Catch-22 is a very well known book by Joseph Heller describing the lives of airmen and others on a Mediterranean usaf base during the second world war.  I found it very funny and deeply meaningful as it dealt with all sorts of human predicaments and moral issues, not just the futility of war.  Very highly recommended.

John Ortberg in his book "if you want to walk on water you've got to get out of the boat" is challenging and provocative without being simplistic or "religious".  He appeals to Christians to break away from comfortable norms and be prepared to take risks for God - but risks that are considered.

My final choice is "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith which is a splendid, gentle book about Africa.  Again, thought provoking but not as "in your face" as the other two books.

If you haven't read them, I highly recommend all three.

I'm just back from a week's holiday in Spain.  We went to the Costa Del Sol, to the lesser known resort of Nerja. Nerja is about an hours drive east of Malaga, past Torrox.  It's an area of small coves, with fine shingle beaches and usually cliffs to get down.  There aren't the high rise blocks that you get in the big resorts, but still lots of building and a big English community.  The building developments seem to be mainly 1 and 2 bed apartments, that look very smart and colourful, and Spanish (at least when new).  The weeather was unusually poor with one day of rain all day, and couple of other days with showers, and, of course, the weather in England was unusually sunny and hot!

I took a few photos - see the collection opposite - most of which are self-explanatory.  But on Easter Sunday after the English service, there was a parade through the town which was most odd.  Basically all the town dignatories traipse around town carrying varying icons around with a brass band and drums, and lots of people dressed in weird robes and even weirder conical hats like the Klu Klux Klan (apparently they are penitents).  I also took lots of photos of the Cuevas de Nerja (caves) with some wonderful stalactites and stalagmites, discovered in 1959 but showing signs of having been occupied by pre-historic cavemen.

This is really just an excuse to post the photos I took last summer when we went to San Diego to see my son.  We had a great time and really liked San Diego.  We also flew up to San Francisco for a few days and exhausted ourselves walking all over the city.  We are planning to go back to San Diego this summer and may be fit in some other trips around.  Here are the photos - there are rather a lot!

Normal classes this morning then a concert this afternoon, followed by a parents consultation, and then half term break.  I should be so happy, but actually I'm a bit depressed.  See my wife is on break next week when I go back and she's working this week when I'm off.  So I'll be all alone....and blogging a lot!  And I really miss the kids at school - probably more than ever before.  So I've already watched 2 dvds and I'm watching Tim the Toolman Taylor on "Home Improvement" now - pretty rough, hey.  I know this is all ridiculous since many of you have much bigger problems than me. Anyway, in order not to waste the whole week feeling miserable I have given myself a couple of projects - take lots of photos, blog a lot and really get to grips with photoshop. Watch this space!

Just booked up a summer holiday in Mayrhofen in the Austrian Tyrol - Zillertal.  We haven't been to Austria for two or three years now - see my earlier post - so it will be great to go back and see the mountains, green meadows, and sunshine, not to mention the cafes and restaurants, cable cars and mountain railways.

Here's a few pictures from a trawl around google to keep me going through the winter.

In the midst of grey, wind, rain and cold, we've been thinking about summer holidays.  Although we hope to go to California, San Diego, to see our son again, we would also love to go to Austria again.  We love the sunshine and the mountains - I think I've mentioned this before about Ellmau.  The following photos were taken 3 years ago in Soll or Soell in Austria, near St Johann and Kitzbuhel and Worgl.  They bring back happy memories - all those delicious ice creams eaten on the top of the mountains; and all those scary chair lifts up and down the mountains; green fields, blue skys, great little villages and towns, local festivals and street markets.  Top quality!  Brilliant!

And more pictures - I can't resist, it was a great holiday.

Show us something that warms your heart.

This compound photo is of Ellmau in the Tyrol, Austria, where my wife and I went for a summer holiday to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.  We fell in love with the Austrian mountains and have been back several times walking in the mountains and enjoying the cable cars and the restaurants.  What a great idea to have a restaurant on the top of a mountain so when you've climbed up the refreshment is ready and waiting!  Austria in the summer is just beautiful.

Show us your favorite mode of transport. 
Submitted by NomDeCocon.

You already know that I'm train mad so I couldn't resist this.  Here are some trains at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway (more photos at http://www.gwsr.com/html/galleries.html) Also some photos of Switzerland in memory of a great holiday in Zermatt and Grindlewald a few years ago.

Show us a happy memory.  - Happy memories of visiting my son in San Diego, with beautiful beaches and wonderful weather.
Submitted by Liz.