"Well, this is ...snug!"

[shewhomust]

- said D., surveying our accommodation at Lower Bamburgh View. It's the house in which Peter Mortimer wrote 100 Days on Holy Island, and the stone he carved then is still outside. In the interim it has been a bed & breakfast, and this helps to explain the oddities of the conversion. We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a pleasant sitting room but a tiny kitchen with literally no food storage space other than the fridge - which is itself not large. The dining table is outside on the patio. It does, durham_rambler assures me, have a view of Bamburgh - it's quite hazy tody, and I can't see it myself, but I believe him.

We are just happy to be here. Last year we stayed home and ignored the solstice; the year before we were in Shetland, which was a delight in its own way. But this year we are back on Lindisfarne, and about time, too!

Comments

[cmcmck]

I remember holidays........... :o(

[shewhomust]

Are you still not making even teeny-tiny plans?

[cmcmck]

Remember that we choose not to own a car and that limits things rather with public transport in the mess it's in.

[anef]

Trying to decide whether to come to Durham for the Classics summer school this year. Their list of Covid precautions is long and includes daily self-testing and (I paraphrase for brevity) "you can come on public transport, but if we test you and you test positive you must have private transport to go home again in." This is difficult. It's a long drive. If I drive and test positive (which seems very unlikely, having been double vaccinated) I'll have to drive home again the same day. If they let me in I'll have to find somewhere to park the car for a week (also difficult). If I come on public transport and test positive I'll have no way to get home again.

Actually, writing it down has clarified it for me. I think if I go I'll just have to drive.

[shewhomust]

On the one hand, Covid figures in the University are not good, and are rising; the Elm Tree hosted the pub quiz precisely once, and then cancelled the following week.

On the other hand, the summer school is - what? a month? - away, and the students should be long gone, which will improve things.

And on the third hand, we may be able to help with parking.

[anef]

I have just confirmed that I am planning to go and will comply with their covid restrictions. I have asked them about parking, but I may need to take you up on your kind offer.

[shewhomust]

Good! Look forward to hearing from you!