No, I haven't shed this mortal coil !......

I've just been extremely busy.

Since my last scribble we've been on holiday to Croatia and 'er indoors' has been driving me hard with a series of decorating adventures.

So, to begin with the holiday, we joined a group of 'Saga louts' on a 10 day sojourn in Croatia. This was something totally new to us, never having been on an escorted trip before. We have always been independent travellers, making our own arrangements and generally trying desperately to avoid any element of intense socialising during our holidays.

Dubrovnik

In fact, the whole idea of travelling with Saga was deliberated long and hard, for it seemed to me, that although Saga, purports to cater for the over 50's, one secretly suspects it is used mostly by the extremely old, who rely largely on Zimmer frames as a means of propulsion. For the young and beautiful, like my lovely wife and me, this decision could almost have an element of 'chucking the towel in', at the ridiculously young ages of 67 and 68 respectively!

It was certainly true that a number of our friends were waiting expectantly for our report at the end of the trip, without wishing to bravely go forth into the breach, as we were doing.

Great fun was had, sitting at Gatwick airport, trying to guess which of the passing travellers were on our package, in fact it was quite hysterical, caused mainly by nervous exhaustion brought on by our decision.

Korcula harbour at dawn

As it turned out, we were not the oldest on the trip and neither were we the youngest. They were a really pleasant mixed bunch of people who we enjoyed being with, well most of the time anyway.

We visited Dubrovnik and the islands of Korcula and Brac, also signing up for a day excursion to the old town of Split. What a beautiful area it is and we enjoyed fantastic weather throughout the whole holiday.

No worries with driving, no worries about luggage, just plonked on a coach and with the services of an excellent guide, it wasn't bad at all and we would certainly go on an escorted tour again, but perhaps not yet.

Bol on the island of Brac

In the meantime we'll continue to organise our own holidays and transport, either in our Volvo or the Morgan.

As far as the decorating goes, with three rooms completed I've still got a bedroom to do, which I hope will be the last, in this current programme to preserve our crumbling pile! However, it has to be said that once I get started I do find the process quite therapeutic, although it does preclude other pursuits, like going for a spin in the Mog.