Signs of Spring

These are some of the snowdrops that can be found along the roadside near our house. The daffodil spikes have started to poke through as well. The early ones may bloom at the end of next month. This winter seems to be a particularly long and dark one. I find that I have turned to thoughts of travel to get me through until the weather warms up and the ground dries out.

When I was a child, I used to go straight for the comic section of the Sunday paper when it was opened up after church. It was for me and probably still is for most Americans, the best part of any Sunday paper. Peanuts, Family Circle, Blondie, they're tops! In the UK there is no comic section in the big weekend paper. After recovering from the latest culture shock, I had to learn to find fun in another section of the paper whilst I had my morning cup of tea. I found respite in the travel section. I really can't resist it now. I will bypass the lead story, ignore the oh so worthy family section and set the real estate section straight on the recycle pile ( we are not ever moving). I go for the section with the big photograph of a sunny, sandy beach on it. Inside there are stories of glorious little cottage hotels in Cornwall with views of the sea and freshly baked everything. There are full page ads for trips down the Mekong in Vietnam and a piece about a family with small apple cheeked tots having a glorious time in a static caravan in Brittany.

I end up my journey through this week's travel section with a look at the bargains to be had in the back. I must say that the bargains are starting to look ever so slightly full priced. For the three of us to fly to Thailand (my current desired destination) it will cost about £600 each!

I have had Thailand on the brain since the middle of January. It was then that I started taking vitamin D supplements to counteract the lack of sunshine on my pale white skin. I always joke to resident (and bronzed) locals when we go for our two weeks of holiday in places that have proper sunshine that it takes a week for my skin to go from blue to white and a second week for my skin to get from white to red.

The desire to go to Thailand was not helped at all by the fact that we were sent a postcard from a Thai friend inviting us to join her on a dive trip in April. The dive trip itself was very inexpensive and the thought of being on a boat in the Andaman sea for four days is quite sustaining, it's just getting there is the thing . . . .
The summer and our holidays are still a few months off yet. So today as I get ready for work and while I'm driving up the M74, in my mind I am diving head first into a warm clear sea. I'll be floating in that easy way you can in salt water and letting the sun soak into my bones.

If anybody knows of a way we can get to Bangkok airport in July for LESS than £300 please let me know!