All change

WE had more or less decided on the route for our spring cruise – Barcelona to Venice, both places I had never visited. We’d shortlisted a couple of cruise liners.

I then looked into the liners. The first was expensive as well as very American. The last time we went on a sea-going cruise (Vancouver –Alaska and back) we’d gone on an American ship. We were shocked by the level of tipping expected. Every activity seemed to cost yet more money.

The next company I looked at was cheap & cheerful, as well as very American. It was dedicated to FUN, whether you like it or not. We could have the joys of karaoke & silly games. I shuddered again. There’s nothing like being told you will have fun to spoil any enjoyment I might have had.

Around the same time I was doing a jigsaw of the Dolomite Mountains. The snow covered heights soared above lush greenness & alpine chalets. Beautiful. We happened to have a brochure of various European holidays, hotel & self-catering. There we found a hotel in the Italian lakes area. Behind the hotel soared the Dolomites. We looked into the hotel & our enthusiasm grew, so now we’re thinking Italy for our spring break.

This comes as a surprise to me. We visited Italy once before. That time we stayed in Pompei. The Fox came back saying “never again”. We had found the signs of poverty around Pompei depressing. Hopefully the more affluent north will be better. The Fox had found the people temperamentally unsuited to him, the roads a disaster with erratic aggressive driving (even coming in reverse along the motorway as they’d overshot the turn off) and appallingly signposted. But now the Fox is once more keen on Italy, even if it means driving in Italy. We can just hope that Italians in the north are less volatile than those in the south where we went before. 

 Meanwhile, at home we’ve got new neighbours. They moved in a couple of houses down from us on Friday. We’ve still not met them or even worked out who is staying & who is helping with the move. I hope they turn out to be nice people.

I have to confess it never ceases to amaze me how often people seem to move house. Admittedly we only stayed in our first marital home a couple of years but that was because of necessity rather than desire. The agricultural cottage we were renting was needed for an agricultural labourer. Our next home we stayed for 23 years & only moved as I could no longer cope with going up & down the stairs to our upstairs flat. We’ve been living here now for over 12 years. We put down our roots & are loathe to move. Others don’t seem to have the same feeling. Some at least have the same attitude & were here when we arrived or shortly afterwards & are still here. 

I’m telling myself change isn’t necessarily bad.