{"id":2763,"date":"2015-06-23T11:34:51","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T11:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=2763"},"modified":"2015-06-23T11:34:51","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T11:34:51","slug":"in-praise-of-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=2763","title":{"rendered":"In praise of\u2026.holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sea\/damesnet\"<\/a>

Sea\/damesnet<\/p><\/div>\n

Just say that magic word and immediately I feel full of anticipation, special, singled out. There was a family tradition when I was a child that when my father came home from work the night before a holiday was due to start, he would walk through the front door, throw off his suit jacket and shout excitedly. \u2018I\u2019ve broken up! I\u2019ve broken up!\u2019 We all clapped, cheered and capered around the house, joining in the refrain, rushing around knowing that we had to be doing something but not quite sure what it was.<\/p>\n

When I had my own family the ritual I unwittingly introduced was the mandatory singing of Cliff Richard\u2019s \u2018We\u2019re all going on a summer holiday\u2019, as we left the house, bags packed. As my children grew older the squeals of delight at my breaking into song were replaced by groans and much eye rolling, yet they could never quite manage not to join in.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m revelling in having just spent ten days by the sea on a beautiful, remote part of the Greek mainland where the daily preoccupations were of the simple variety, such as finding the goggles for the early morning swim, checking there was enough feta, olives and tomato for lunch, and wondering what page of my book had I got to before falling asleep last night. This and using my eyes in a very different way\u00a0from usual: not looking at a screen.<\/p>\n

Apart from the luxury of warmth and fresh local food, what struck me particularly this time was the ability to gaze happily at the world around me without any particular aim apart from seeing what there was to see at that particular moment. Nowadays of course mindfulness has become de rigueur; we\u2019re all encouraged to be aware of what is going on, inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment. I\u2019m not thrilled by the money-making industries that are being spun out of the concept, but having the chance to \u2018stand and stare\u2019, with apologies to W.H. Davies, was what made this holiday so special. I was also struck by the tranquillity of my surroundings being somewhat at odds with the financial turmoil Greece is experiencing \u2013 this could perhaps be attributed to the greater self-sufficiency of people in a rural setting, but maybe if I could have understood what everyone was saying at the vegetable stall I might have formed a different view.<\/p>\n

So here are a few of the things I observed, without the medium of the internet or any social media, and please forgive the whimsical nature of some of the following:<\/p>\n