Sunday, September 17, 2017

on the last leg of the holiday road

hello once more


and so a final look at some pictures from our trips across the country this most recent summer. yes, this does somewhat feel like quite a while ago, look you see. i just thought it would be quite boring to put all of the pictures up all at once.

in the last post from this, well, last trip i finished off with the Lakeland Maze. this is in and around the Kendal area. rather than heading home straight from there my (considerably) better half elected to explore reasonably priced hotels in the area of an overnight stay. to this end, and to her credit, she found a fabulous place at a rather generously discounted rate.

more of that through the post, but for now, then, a wander through Kendal.



not that this shall be an exhaustive guide to Kendal as such, for we didn't really spend all that much time there. our travels took us from the maze to the hotel late in the afternoon, and then in the early evening off we went to Kendal itself. when most things were, as it were, closed. these pictures, then, are really mostly for family and friends around the world wanting to see how the boys are getting on.

so, about that hotel.

 

quite a magnificent old building, i would believe you do not require me to point out when the picture above pretty much does so.

there are indeed quite a few hotels of this nature scattered across England. indeed, perhaps the whole of the UK. usually they are big country estates which once housed a wealthy (and presumably large) family, but have now been converted to accommodate guests.

back to a roam around the streets of Kendal, then, and some mostly splendid street art that William spotted down a side alley.



some fantastic drawings, paintings or what you would call them on display, there, celebrating some artists who are now sadly no longer with us. although at least three in the above are, even if at least one of them does not do so much any more.

but anyway, back to the grounds of the fancy swanky hotel, and indeed back to some pictures of the boys.



indeed, a well. or a well like structure. the boys charged over to this, all excited about the idea of dropping a stone down it or perhaps lowering the bucket,but no. it was all gravel in it, and was there just for show. i would expect that it i an integral part of any photograph which happens at the place as and when they host a wedding.

so far as i am aware the poisoning of wells is nowhere near as commonplace as it once was. before, in days gone by (as opposed to those to come), when we used wells for water rather than the current plumbing and tap scenario, marauding villagers used to poison the wells of other villages. why? i have absolutely no idea. something to pass the time, perhaps.



yeah, sorry, that without warning is indeed a picture of me, along with the 75% of my family who i am quite aware of the fact that you all like and care for a good deal than you do me. but, indulge me, it would not be a family holiday without family photographs.

that was on the streets of Kendal, early evening. we popped over there, some several miles from our hotel, in order to dine. 50% of the family wished for Subway, the other 50% wished for KFC. so we sat together in both, but had split dinners, so to speak. one really can't help think that all of that would have been avoided had the McDonald's not been closed for refurbishment or other such business.




rather like the incident with the well i had to share with the boys a view, or interpretation, that the swing they were rather excited about wasn't a swing as such. again, i suspect that this is a prop in place for photography that happens at weddings. but, as you can see, to them it was a swing, and used as such. no groundsman came out to admonish us, so i take it as such behaviour was accepted.

have i ever poisoned a well? not in a direct sense, so far as i am aware. perhaps in a euphemistic or metaphorical way. to me the idea of going around poisoning wells is a bit like that "eye for an eye" approach to justice. pretty soon everyone ends up blind.



the boys, and again i would suspect his is clear in the picture, were intrigued by the war memorial to fallen soldiers on display in Kendal. it is, sadly, rare indeed to find a village or town anywhere across the country without a similar tribute.

for centuries our armed forces have served to both defend our own land and the lands of others. all too many have fallen in defending. there is, then, a major emphasis on respecting and honouring those who serve the nation.

but, you are here for more updates on the boys, i would imagine. and so here's another picture of them within the lavish grounds of the fancy hotel we stopped at.



of our time in the hotel breakfast was interesting. we were seated in a dining hall that looked and felt as though the value was higher than the whole of our home village. and by no means is our village a cheap or poor region. this caused all of us to speak rather softly, then. we did this right up until the point at which a family with rather young children arrived, with the children making exceptional noises. after that we just spoke normally.

yes, another family photo / selfie, so i am in it. go on, just the one more picture of me.





i did that with the front / face facing camera, so i suspect that i should have "flipped" or rotated the image prior to posting it here. never mind, for now it is done.

Kendal, and the Lake District entire, is a place of happy memories for me. a recent post showcased some of these. it is a place i would love to go again for a longer holiday. the boys, i fear, alas, might get a touch bored at they age they are at if faced with the prospect of walking hills and looking at lakes. maybe when they are older we shall go, or perhaps at some stage my (considerably) better half shall go on our own.



on the whole a lovely yet all too brief stay in Kendal. it would indeed have been far too much for us to have headed from the Lakeland Maze straight home, so a stop off was wise. as is the wisdom of my (considerably) better half, i suppose. the only truly foolish or questionable thing she really did was settle for me, so it is no surprise that she made a good decision.

but, you know, all things end, or if you will nothing lasts forever. after our overnight stay it was to the road of our holiday, and a return home. 



hopefully that we had a most splendid time with our exploits has been expressed in the images and in the words i've composed.

i think i have said this in another incident of commenting on our holiday road. should i be mistaken, so far in recent times we have travelled east, south and now west in our pursuit of a break. perhaps north is next.

thanks as usual for reading. until the next time, then,




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





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