Claire's Poetry Hub

Friday 26 th -Saturday 27 th September Our last day in Portimao and we wanted to make the most of it. After breakfast we got some of our clothes and accessories ready for packing. We also caught up on booking our transfer back to the airport via the agents Best4U transport. There was the task of checking in for the return flight too, which we could eventually access after midday. We made sure that our boarding passes were sent to our email addresses – we found this a much eas

Wednesday 24 th September It was time for a day at the apartment, relaxing and just generally taking it easy. After having breakfast and catching up on emails and news, we went out to Lidl for supplies. We decided to get some food for lunch, this time opting to have our main meal at base. James picked a tasty-looking cheese lasagna, and I chose a spinach and ricotta tortellini. Once back at the apartment, we unpacked the shopping and prepared lunch. It was another sunny, warm

Monday 22 nd September On the Monday of our already fabulous and enjoyable holiday, we decided to have a very relaxed day. We planned to have a swim if the pool wasn’t busy – possibly in the afternoon. So after breakfast and we had cleared up, we caught up with reading and listened to the radio. James had a browse of local restaurants on his phone. As he was looking, I remembered about the grill-house we had passed on our walk on Sunday. I couldn’t recall the name of it, but

Sunday 21 st September We eased into the morning after having breakfast. As part of the general relaxed feeling, we decided to go for a swim at the on-site swimming pool. When we got down to the pool area though we realised there was a minor setback. We couldn’t use the bathroom towels from the apartment as part of the owner’s rules. We hadn’t brought towels with us either (take up too much space in the bag!). We did check with the friendly male concierge if we could hire tow

Friday 19 th -Saturday 20 th September James and I had done an “all-nighter” for this year’s holiday travel to Gatwick Airport. This was mainly driven by cost – to get a taxi from Basingstoke to Gatwick is around £92. Ouch on the wallet! So we took connecting trains, via Clapham Junction, and arrived at Gatwick Airport around midnight. As anyone who’s travelled to that airport at night may know, there’s nothing much open in the early hours. We were flying to Faro in Portugal

Open the window wider on waking, catch a blackbird’s early morning chant. His melodious chimes scattered with his neighbour, the lively...

I’ve completed a new round-up of restaurants for your reading pleasure. These three eateries caught my attention over the summer months...

Boswells Café, Basingstoke   Boswells Café is a new addition to Basingstoke’s Festival Place and opened in October 2024. It’s a popular...

There is a lido venue that was closed for a number of years, but which was refurbished and given a new chapter. Namely the Thames Lido...

Summer has emerged from the strange spring that we encountered this year. Now the sun has made a long-awaited appearance, my thoughts...

Hello, just checking in to say I'm still here with you. I've been away for a little while working on various projects. Happy to tell you...

As part of my birthday present for October last year, James had bought us tickets to go to The Comedy Store in central London. We are...

My Seasonal Wish   December arrives cloaked in a dull, dampened cape. A little mild, then very wild: no great difference there. The...

It was September 2023 when I last gave my recommendations for local restaurants and eateries. As you may know by now, I’m a bit of a...

It’s an adage that we never stop learning throughout our lives, and it comes back to me repeatedly. We are often not aware how much we’re...

Images are with all of us, most of the time. Specifically photos of our nearest and dearest, from years ago and present day. I personally...

Day One After a smooth journey from Basingstoke to Kings Cross St Pancras International, James and I picked up our journey to Bruges. Our...

It has been an extremely sombre time in my life over the last couple of months. I have taken a break from the blog to reflect and...

Around this time last year I published a poem on the blogsite, called The Price of Progress, discussing how our local amenities and...

My ideas for a new post for February 2024 didn’t necessarily include extremely serious subjects and themes. I had wanted to set a...