Diluted Dante wrote:

Shouldn't have put that feeder up.

Chortle

I feel for you Wookie.

That would fuck me right off!! You have my permission to go postal.

b0r1s wrote:

That would fuck me right off!! You have my permission to go postal.

I'm making my peace with it.
They can pay for dinner

You need to start leaving fake breadcrumb trails to a bothy in the Orkneys.

Centre Parcs is the tits. Loving it here

Yeah, I always kind of wanted to hate Center Paris on principle.  But it's great, especially when your kids are at the "fairly independent, but not quite" age. They fact you have to book almost everything 3 years before you get there always pissed me off though.  (Mainly because my wife and I are pretty chaotic, so we'd generally miss everything.) We went to one in Holland as well (can't remember if it was an official "Center Parks" or just a similar one) and it was great. Significantly cheaper, and felt a bit more like a "holiday" - though it did involve travelling on a ferry which is possibly my most hated form of transport. (I was once told by a fortune teller I would die at sea. I think fortune telling is complete bollocks, but it still prods that irrational bit of my brain every time I get on a boat.)

We did that too a few years ago. We went to one called Kampervennan (sic). It was huge and had a ski/snowboard centre on site. The accommodation was a lot more basic than the UK ones and the food was turd, however it was a lot cheaper and a good time. All the activity stuff was similar. 

We flew there. A reasonable flight to Eindhoven airport then taxi to the site. Easy enough.

Enjoy it Wookie. We always have a good time there.

My shout for a nice activity to do as a family is the pottery painting. Really chilled and can spend a good couple of hours there.

Just got back in after the trip to see the in laws.  Brother and sister in law and their kids are awesome.  The 4yr old is an absolute "chaos muppet" (their words).  Had so much fun with them all.

MIL is still batshit crazy and getting worse.  I limited our interactions with her as much as possible.  How my sister in law copes with her constant shit is beyond me, I'm so glad I don't have to put up with it regularly.

Had some amazing bbq and tried lots of root beers.  Wife had to go into her head office nearly every day but I had a proper holiday.  Restarted slay the spire and made some great progress.  Didn't get as much into BG3 as I wanted as I've got some sort of RSI thing going on in my left wrist.

When we arrived it was 36c.  We definitely caught the noticeable end of summer and beginning of Autumn.  Mosquitos only twatted me twice although that was still annoying as I react very badly to them.

Also went to see The Breeders on their Last Splash 30th anniversary tour.  Absolutely amazing, a once in a lifetime gig.  I will never be as effortlessly cool as Kim Deal.

It's the only way to be sure.

Oh fuck you all. I've wanted to see the Pixies since I was 14 and nearly 29 years later haven't managed it. Just found out the other day they've sold out 3 nights next March in the Olympia, probably the best place in Dublin to see them.

Fuckity fuck fuck.

Saw The Pixies at Edinburgh sometime around 2005/6.  Teenage Fanclub were one of the support acts.

The atmosphere in the crowd was interesting.  There was a definite vibe of fear that they might not be the same after the reformation.  Two chords in that vibe changed to absolute joy.  Magnificent.

Actually if I can get my hands on tickets I'll bring my daughter. She's never been to a gig.

Wookienopants wrote:

Got an afternoons fishing in by the lake, was absolutely wonderful.
Several big bites but only managed to land one carp.
Had two big battles with something big enough to almost bend my rod in half, resulting in a snapped line. Twice.
First time my hook line snapped, losing just the hook and bait. Second time it snapped my mainline, lost the terminal tackle, my method feeder and led clip.

Damn.
Was sweating at the end! Was brilliant fun!

We’ve all been there… get some ointment.

Wookienopants wrote:

I went to the boathouse and told them I only have a fishing pass for Thursday but once I explained to the guy there that my in laws just gate crashed and I need an escape, he smiled and said "I got you bro"
He then upgraded my pass for the week for free and told me where the quietest swim is.

That is god-tier customer service right there.

On the plus side I've finally learned to let go of lots of things that triggered my anxiety around family holidays.
It's "do our own thing, don't go with extended family and other people's kids and find a place with a decent fishing lake"

And also, this shit is really important for your kids too. Seeing dad having a great time away from home will be lovely for them.