I have loved visiting Bournemouth, Poole, and the beaches and countryside around and about. I know Albie has very much enjoyed his time there too.
I'd really like to sort out a nice visit or two over summer.
Albie's summer holidays start on Friday 19th July and end on Sunday 1st September. He is not available on the 10th August.
Please tell me the dates we can come down, and whether we'd be staying with you or booking a hotel. It is much easier for me if you tell me the dates that you have available rather than me telling you when I'm coming down.
I need a proper bed. I have money so I can probably get a hotel if a bed isn't available, but booking in advance helps keep costs down.
Travel from Cheltenham to Bournemouth or Poole by train is a nightmare. It takes a long time; you have to change trains; the trains are crowded; you can't always book seats for the entire journey. On top of that Albs always has way too much stuff, and getting everything on and off the train will be complicated, especially now that I am frail. I need to book support to help me board the train. I may just pay for a car to take us.
I NEED TO KNOW THE ROUGH PLAN FOR EACH DAY. It's okay for things to change, but YOU MUST TELL ME IF THEY CHANGE. It's genuinely distressing to me that people just don't let me know what's going on. I don't feel like any of you have ever understood just how difficult it is for me to live in the chaos of not having a clue about what's happening next for day after day. Please, just tell me what the plan is.
Late nights out are not great for Albs. He would really prefer not to be eating out at 9:00pm. He doesn't particularly enjoy noisy crowded busy environments, especially if they're full of rowdy drunk people, and he will want to leave.
Albs enjoys junk food: so McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, supermarket pizza, diy hot dogs (with onions, sliced cheese, pickles, mustard, ketchup, or sometimes tinned chilli), etc. He also likes fruit and picky bits and "charcuterie". ANd he'll enjoy "family style" dinners.
We both love swimming on sandy beaches. He'd enjoy water sports I think but it is ESSENTIAL that SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT. No-one wants to see their child get injured, but there are additional factors for us that mean AVOIDANCE OF INJURY IS SUPER IMPORTANT. This includes seemingly simply things like making him pay attention when he's walking down zig-zags. Albie is medically clumsy (with a diagnosis from an NHS paediatrician) so he needs reminding to watch where he's walking. I'd love to spend some time rock hunting on pebbly beaches. (If this is an option please tell me BEFORE WE GET IN THE CAR so I can take my all the stuff I need.) If we do go to a beach, especially a rocky beach, I need someone else to pay close attention to Albs. I am slow, and I am quiet, so I can't chase after him and I can't yell to get his attention. I think he'd enjoy a tank museum or a plane museum - we should ask him. I think he'd enjoy monkey world (and I have money to help out with the costs now). I'd enjoy very short country walks, with plenty of resting, that end with a pub lunch or a cafe lunch. (I can't do picnic lunches unless we buy the food and eat it immediately, because I have to be so careful with food). On a good day I can walk for maybe one kilometer total, if there is plenty of rest built in. Rest means "sitting down for five minutes". On a normal day I can do maybe a half a km, but that would involve lots of rest pauses and walking slowly. I am happy to sit on a blanket with a book and some food while you all go off adventuring though.
I will need lots of rest. I will need lots of naps. I eat very small portions of food, spread across the day as lots of tiny meals. I like cornflakes or rice crispies with very cold semi-skimmed milk. I like cheap white bread toasted with a thin scrape of butter and a thin smear of light orange marmalade or apricot jam. I like nice apples, nice grapes, and nice mango.