If you’re a campsite person, you’ll have had the conversation; the one where you chat with the people in the mobile home across the way about which campsites you’ve been to and which ones they’ve been to, and which ones were great and which ones were awful. Who you stayed with, the size of the pools, and … Continue reading “Four Campsites in Italy: Comparison and Review”
I need to preface this post with a caveat: we went to Union Lido campsite in Italy for the second part of a two-centre holiday, the first part of which was spent in Bella Italia. We had an incredible time in Bella Italia, and had agreed that it didn’t matter that our mobile was fairly … Continue reading “Union Lido Campsite Review: Going back for more”
“So where are you off to?” my child’s teacher asked, as we chatted about holidays. “To a mobile home in a campsite in Italy,” I said. “Oh, is it Bella Italia? I went there when I was ten,” the teacher replied, and that was when I realised for the first time that Bella Italia had … Continue reading “Bella Italia campsite review – what’s in a word?”
Sitting on the deck at half past midnight, I can hear Killing Me Softly wafting across the campsite, to the background sound of waves washing up on the sand. I’m finishing a glass of red wine and thinking about closing my book. The candle flickers in the darkness, and I don’t want to blow it … Continue reading “Family holiday in Italy: Review of Campsite Marina di Venezia”
Two things we didn’t consider when we booked our holiday this year: 1. Italy can be very hot in July (subsequent raised eyebrows and “Italy in July? With small kids? Really?” comments did hammer this home) 2. Our campsite, Norcenni Girasole, is inland – way inland – sitting prettily in the hills of Tuscany but nowhere near … Continue reading “Family Holiday in Italy: Review of campsite Norcenni Girasole”
Recently, I asked my seven-year-old if she remembered Sequoia Parc, the campsite we stayed in, two years ago in France. “Of course I do – it had a dragon pirate ship thing beside the pool,” she said. “No,” I said, “That was Clarys Plage, last year.” She was sure I was wrong. I was sure I was … Continue reading “Three campsites in France: comparison and review”
The three things I’m asked most often, here on OfficeMum, and on Facebook and on Instagram, are as follows: 1. Which is the best campsite 2. How do you get into freelance writing and 3. How do you write a book – or: I’ve written a book, what do I do next. I’ve answered the … Continue reading “How to Write a Book”
I remember it so clearly. I was driving down the Quays, towards the Samuel Beckett Bridge, heading home from work, wishing for an email. Not any email – one particular (in my head, at least) life-changing email. Begging the universe. If I could have just this one email, everything would come good. If this person who … Continue reading “Freelance Writing for Beginners”
“We’ve been here six times,” said the woman behind me in the queue at the bakery, “and now we’re afraid to go anywhere different in case it’s not as good.” This was in Cambrils in Spain, and she wasn’t the only one who said it. One family reportedly rented the same house in Cambrils every … Continue reading “Something Old, Something New: Back for More in Union Lido”
After 18 months of searching, fourteen thousand buckets of tears when we walked away from our old house, seven nail-biting weeks from “sale agreed” to “here are the keys”, and a month of almost-done refurbishment, we’re finally in our new house. And it’s bliss. Except for all the things that aren’t working yet, like the oven, … Continue reading “Snapshot of a woman in a house”
