to try and make my house feel like I’m on holiday...

[shakeituntilyoumakeit]

Other than drinking Fanta lemon, getting the paddling pool up and eating grilled bbq meat at lunchtime to try and recreate that holiday feeling what else can I do, we have been shielding and trying to make it feel different for when I’m not at work....

Get Alexa to shout “are you coming to join in the beach volleyball” at you in Spanish/Greek/Italian 5 times a day.

Make a buffet with loads of random fridge contents.

Start drinking shit wine or strange beer at lunchtime and sleep on a sun lounger all afternoon until you’re burnt to a crisp (heatwave imminent which will help with this).

Put an old door under your mattress and sleep just under a sheet.

Also shielding.

We watched sunrise and sunset from Glastonbury (online).

looked at the eclipse online this morning.

Found different food suppliers this week - fishmonger and baker dropped things off, as hubby wanted a change.

We had a Greek night with Calamari and red wine and watched Bettany Hughes doing a sort of classical Nigella round the Greek islands.

Did online village quiz team yesterday.

Going for walks in woods nearby now.

Ordered in a new film for film night with kids (Onwards, it's very good).

Oh, don't forget to play 'is this just a spot or have I been bitten?' with any bump or red mark you find on yourself.

Buy a bar of Ritter Sport

Play this on a loop i actually love it

Have someone drive a noisy moped up and down the road outside your house early in the morning whilst shouting to their friends

Charge yourself £4.50 every time you get a drink out of the fridge

Burn yourself, put cocunut oil all over yourself and aloe vera, then have painful to the touch sex and end up with greasy sheets

Haha the moped thing is so true...sometimes these long evenings a lad on this estate goes by on a moped and just the sound of it in the summer evening makes me really nostalgic for greece....

Cook a large tray of moussaka in the morning and leave it in a tepid bain marie all day...taking and offereing helpings from time to time.....

Bibbity

The neighbours loved it, we live on cal du sac and all 5 houses loved it and came out at different times to listen to music from fence

We had a Greek night with Calamari and red wine and watched Bettany Hughes doing a sort of classical Nigella round the Greek islands. She's very, er, buxom isn't she?

Anyway we were supposed to be going to Greece next week so I'm noting some of these ideas for my week in the garden. I shall also be drinking unsweetened lemon juice every morning and we have a coca-cola branded garden paradol so I can pretend I'm sitting outside a bar.

Oddly, my phone's clock and weather update have actually set themselves to a town on Paros and has done this intermittently since we were last out there. It's currently 21.44 and 25 degrees. Nice.

Block you drains to get that authentic Spanish aroma. Get loads of cakes, buns, fruit, cereals in bowls and have as buffet breakfast. Have 6 different types of pudding on one plate. When you are sunbathing, get one if your family to interrupt every few minutes offering a massage, then a selection of rip off dvds, then 'designer' handbags. Then towels.

Have sex in the sand pit

Don't do anything except relax and especially not any jobs or housework (except the occasional bit of washing up) , do not look at the time or set an alarm and day drink!

Make sure you spend the 24 hours immediately before your 'holiday' in the traditional routine -
washing
Put the heating on to dry the washing because it's raining outside
ironing
last minute shopping for shorts
clean the fridge
change the beds
pack everyone's suitcase
find everyone's passport
cry when you realise you've not lost 714lb
have a huge row with DH
forget to pack ore than 1 bra
panic-buy citronella on amazon
scream when the printer runs out of ink just as you're printing off the tickets
buy 3lb of Wilko's pick and mix for the journey
etc etc

Gazelda

@Duggeehugs82 bet your neighbours loved a three day musical in the garden 🤣🤣🤣 that would do my head in

As i said before the neighbours got involved they listened to the music other side of the fence, we did consult then before we went ahead

Gazelda this is why I'm not too bothered about going on holiday! as I'm the person who has to plan it all! I'm very happy staying in our beautiful village.

This thread has inspired me im going to make our home like hotel for one night, get my husband out house for hour while i make kitchen side into reception and bar area, put coffee and tea and kettle in bedroom, take out all toiletries from en suite and buy little miniature ones out. Put towels on bed. Put paddling pool out and sand tray for children, have bar menu for cocktails and do dinner menu for evening. Then in morning put out a breakfast spread on dinning table 😁😁😁

Duggee you sound lovely and very creative, but take it from me that your neighbours certainly did not love it! They may have come out to see what it was about and to humour you. But no neighbour in the world would love music playing for three days straight on a homemade podium.
You say they were involved, they didn’t have much of a chance of not being involved!
You sound fun, but don’t mistake their politeness for anything else than politeness/ humouring you/ not wanting to confront.

This thread means I'm going to try preparing this tapas tomorrow

Duggee you sound lovely and very creative, but take it from me that your neighbours certainly did not love it!

100% this and the rest.

We have formed quite a bond during lockdown and become quite good friends ( the 5 houses) meeting every friday for gin at 5pm outside our houses we r away from each other so socially distancing and all similar age to us. I actually wanted music off in evenings as worried about neighbours, they told me to have it on as liked listening to it and one of them r thinking of doing a garden concert which they had planned to go but is cancelled for their anniversary

Also add we r a new build development so all moved in at same time