I used to go on cruises, but found being among large numbers of people increasingly difficult to cope with. Instead, I go away with my daughter to country retreats, or visiting my later mother's vineyard in France which was left to me. Touring France is very pleasant, especially now when the weather hasn't got too hot and spring flowers are looking so pretty in the fields.

Though chartering jets is useful since I have a part-share in an aircraft, I've never liked flying and frquently sick up. When I was younger, cruising was much more fun. One particularly great memory was sailing up the Grand Canal in Venice, at around 1 or 2 knots. The views were breathtaking! Now and much to the Venetians' pleasure, all cruise ships above a certain size are forbidden to cruise the Grand Canal, making the vaporetto the only option, and these water craft can get very packed with squawking tourists. Ever heard multilingual conversations all at once? It's enough to cause panic, and one would no way want to exit the vaporetto into the canal. < thanks, but no thanks! The water around Venice stinks!

So..my best vacation? It is now, somewhere in France among poppies in the verdant distance and a vineyard surrounding my late mother's farm and chateau. A sleepy-eyed boyfriend smiled lazily at me this morning, a linen wrapped bowl of warmed croissants at the breakfast table, a cafetière of coffee and the smell of lavender just about to start flowering, its scent soft and welcoming on the warm breeze. Growing nearby next to the verandah are a clump of lillies of the valley, the like of which are given to our loved ones on the 1st of May.

I cannot think of a better more idyllic place to be than here, right now. Off sick on a doctor's certificate, I hope these next few days will be healing to me, and my family will begin returning to happier normality, our children playing among themselves and Peggy strumming her acoustic and singing a French song of love long ago returning to dwell among us. When she runs, her blonde hair flies out behind her like a flock of yellow canaries....ahh, sweet memories are made of these times.