Have you ever noticed the fact that whilst on holiday your quirky inner self surfaces and you participate in some weird and wacky activities that are not normally part of your every day life?
I am not referring to the obvious holiday sins such as buying the giant wooden fork and spoon, singing karaoke or even wearing socks with Crocs. I am referring to the true quirky actions that for some reason or another don’t often happen at your regular residential address.
Let’s start with fashion. As Husband’s golf clubs travel on every holiday with us, I have always travelled light. I manage to pack a mix and match wardrobe consisting of three tops, three bottoms, underwear, beach wear, pyjamas and a jacket. With all the permutations and combinations this enables me to wear a different outfit for about 8 days (all achieved with only two pairs of shoes and one handbag.)
There is also a change in our family diet whilst on holiday. Oldest son knows that holiday time is Nutella time. The delicious chocolate hazelnut spread that all children adore has been banished from our house for crimes of sticky mess and bouncy behaviour. So is it the fact that some other poor soul is left with the sticky mess or the fact that the holiday activities disguise the bouncy behaviour that give Nutella a temporary reprieve during holiday?
Then there is the fire making. This ritual stems back to our years and years of camping holidays. All male species seek wood, build a fire and cook marshmallows. Non camping holidays make the ritual a little more challenging but we have managed to make do with fire proxies such as wood stoves, fire eating performers or even candles. This year our chalet came with its own Weber BBQ and Youngest and Oldest sons built a fire with wood they collected from the forest and charcoal we bought from Aldi. The neighbouring Germans did not understand but smiled politely.
The most wonderful holiday quirk for all of us is the television. Holiday television is either in a foreign language, leaving you no choice but to watch CNN, has no cable channels or is completely non existent. These factors all result in the pursuing of other interests. Late night walks, board games, cards. This year it was the carving of spears using the Swiss Army knives Husband purchased for Youngest and Oldest sons (note to self: hide these when we return home.)
So why do these quirks only surface during holiday? I can survive with two pairs of shoes and one handbag. Fire making in Kings Hill is not as wacky as it sounds – we just need to purchase a suitably acceptable outdoor fireplace, and we lived for years with a retro television with no remote control or cable channels. But despite Oldest son smuggling home two packets of Nutella in his pockets and then begging for mercy, I am not ready to stage war with Nutella just yet and I will definitely never wear socks with Crocs.
