The World Tour List

I will travel Ireland in  a  horse drawn caravan, drinking  Guinness in roadside pubs. I will spend a few days in a yurt,  glamping. I will take photographs in Marrakesh,  visit the ruins at Pompei and Herculaneum, and go on a boat trip on Lake Garda. I will revisit my beloved Isle of Wight, where I have been many, many times before. I will see the hot springs of Iceland and the Northern Lights. I will visit my friend who moved to Lancashire. Once again I will walk beside streams on the North Yorkshire Moors, where I walked for hours and hardly saw another soul. I'll see the Rockies, and the Blue Ridge Mountains,  and have a long weekend in New York where I will ride in a horse drawn carriage through Central Park. I will stay in gîtes and visit the medieval villages of France. I will visit Greece again and drink a glass of wine looking out to sea, à la Shirley Valentine. I will sit with you on your porch.

All of these, and more, are on my World Tour List, a list of places I want to visit which currently resides inside my head until I get around to writing it down. Some are more achievable right now, others will be possible one day, I hope, as I hope yours will be too. 

I hope you enjoy your quiet week alone. I hope you can use the time to restore and rejuvenate yourself . Read, eat good food, and treat yourself to your favourite things. Try not to worry about your girls, though of course you will miss them. The Young Philosopher went on holiday with my parents for a week when he was seven. I kept his bedroom door shut the whole time he was gone, so that in the evenings it was as if he was sleeping there in bed, which made me sleep easier. 

As I have been writing this an idea has taken shape. I have a week alone coming up soon, as.the Prof is away at summer school, so it will be just me and the Young Philosopher. He is mostly either in his bedroom or out, which is how it is when they are nearly 20. I have a mad idea to go off on my own for a few days. It is just a glimmer of an idea at the moment, but it would be wonderful if I could. I am thinking of a little bed and breakfast place in the countryside, quite near to my friend in Lancashire. I could spend time with her when she isn't at work, and the rest of the time go for walks, read, write. Treat myself to some nice meals and just be alone with myself. I wonder if I could.