Last year I made the mistake of not using up all of my holiday leave. It was such a strange year. I kept cancelling holidays because of lockdowns and thinking I could rebook them later when things got normal again. Little did I know that normality was nothing more than a distant dream, and by the time I limped into December, exhausted and with barely a break taken all year, it was too late to cram all my leave in. Thankfully, I work for a good organisation, and got to carry a lot of it over into this year, meaning I have an unusual amount of holiday to use up this year, and I have learned that, irrespective of whether I have plans or not, it’s vital to use my holiday allowance.

Last week I should have been spending a few days in Stratford Upon Avon, but once again Coronavirus put paid to those plans. Nonetheless, I wasn’t going to relinquish my holiday leave this time around. I took it regardless. I’m so glad I did too since we enjoyed unseasonably warm weathers, despite the fact that, as I write this, snow is pattering away on my bay window. Good old British weather.

Early on in the week I had decided I would finish the decorating in my living room. I enjoy decorating, but it takes me a long time as I have to try to fit it in around the rest of my life. There’s a great pleasure, however, in seeing a space come together. The weather was astounding though, and I couldn’t let it slip by without enjoying some beach time so whilst on Monday I cracked on with painting the last of the coving in my living room, before going to collect a wallpapering table from my friend for the following day. When Tuesday rolled around though, we were blessed with blue skies and beautiful sunshine and I couldn’t let it pass by without taking little miss for a morning on the beach.

I can’t deny I was a tad nervous. Living in a seaside resort means that once the sunshine comes, so too do the crowds, pandemic or not. Thankfully I was down there early enough, the tide was far out so we could get to the quiet side of the beach and station ourselves amongst the rock pools to play and enjoy the atmosphere.

A few other families had evidently had the same idea, but it felt nice, and safe, and a little bit like normal. By the time I was leaving in the early afternoon, the crowds were starting to form and the beach was getting busier. I was glad to take little Miss for her obligatory ice cream and head home, leaving the beach to the crowds.

I’d been putting off wallpapering my chimney breast for so long. Having never wallpapered before, I was afraid of messing up. After much procrastination however, I finally set about it on Tuesday afternoon. My house was built in 1910, and so, a while back when I started decorating the room, I bought a Crown wallpaper that was a rerun of an original print they issued in 1910. To my eye, it looks quite modern for the time, and gives me that period feature without turning my home into a full on period home. Once I got into the swing of wallpapering, I was pleased to discover that it wasn’t actually as scary as I had anticipated. While it took me a good few hours, not least because that’s one hell of a pattern to match up, by the time I had finished I was really proud of having learned a new skill. I am also totally in love with how gorgeous it looks.

Wednesday was another belter weather wise, but given I don’t trust British weather I took the misguided approach of wearing all black for a little walk around nearby Thornton-Le-Dale. Did I regret it? As the thermometer tipped 18 degrees Celsius, yes, I absolutely regretted it. In spite of that, I enjoyed an afternoon pottering by the little river, drinking coffee from Baldersons bakery and drooling over the classic cars at Matthewsons auction house. There’s such a gorgeous peppermint green VW Camper on their forecourt at the moment that could be amazing with a bit of work.

My week away from work was half way through, and so far I had enjoyed fabulous weather, beachy days and finished decorating my living room. I’d spent hours playing with little Miss, doing jigsaws together and looking for shells in the rock pools, this was definitely what holiday time is all about.

Check back later in the week to find out how the rest of my week panned out.