mostly david ephgrave

I’ve noticed #DisneylandParis25 is trending as a sponsored hashtag on Twitter to mark the park's twenty-fifth anniversary; I was there for its first birthday: I’m older than Steamboat Willie. I remember three things predominantly about that holiday: (1) it rained a lot, (2) my mum wouldn’t go on any ride except The Adventures of Peter Pan (which was the tamest option there, save a park bench on Main Street), and (3) my dad and I kept going on the Haunted Mansion repeatedly every day because it was great. People might knock Euro Disney, particularly in its early days when it was a lot more basic, but I loved it. I was so excited to be there, having always wanted to go to Disneyland as a kid. There was no way the bad weather (or the fact it was in France) was going to ruin it for me. It’s testament to how much I’d wanted to go that so much of it is still so vivid in my head; it was my first experience of a theme park and was a pretty good initiat...

Tomorrow see the end of my holiday and if I’m honest, I don’t want to go home yet. There’s something peaceful and comforting about waking up in the morning and looking out of the bedroom window to be surrounded by trees. That’s unless you fell sleep in a treeless environment, wh en this would just be unnerving. The rural atmosphere has aided my meditation by giving it a calming backdrop; before you know it, I'll be so 'back to nature' I’ll be wearing pants made from leaves. Today, we embraced Center Parcs activity-driven manifesto by doing a spot of ten-pin bowling, playing pool and having a round of Adventure Golf (the word ‘Crazy’ being dropped in the interest of being PC). I haven’t got around to running my show but then I did do it yesterday; as long as I do it on a day-on day-off basis, it should be okay. I did do a twenty-five-ish day straight run in Edinburgh in August, so it’s not as if it's unfamiliar; if anything, a little time away from it has b...

Tonight sees the first night of my few days' break to Center Parcs , and as it's a suitably middle-c lass destination, I've decided to play a game of Count the Gilets. I’ve been looking forward to this for months, following a stressful year, with my first solo Edinburgh Fringe sitting dead-centre like an ominous, foreboding summit, peeping every so often through the clouds as I trudged my way to the top and then back down the other side. This, combined with some non-work-related bits and bobs made for eleven months that alternated between being difficult and settled, with a few peaks and troughs along the way. I have my wife to thank for booking the holiday early this year, giving us both something to set our sights on as a little time for us to relax. We visited the same site (and stayed in the same cabin) last October and had such a lovely time we decided to do it again - and though there were occasions when I thought the break would never arrive, being over...

I’ll keep today’s post brief, as I’m currently sitting in front of a log fire (see GIF below), enjoying a glass of wine and some cheese and biscuits at the end of the last full day of my holiday (to a destination just 18.3 miles from my house, door to...well...'forest'.) Arthur Brown would love it. Today, I drove an electric boat. Yes, that's right, an electric boat. It was steered by joystick, like the best things in life. We were only sailing for thirty minutes, which wasn’t long, but I still had time to experience the whole gamut of emotions, from smiley…   …to serious. (These are actually the only two states I can manage, as I’m not a versatile actor - and I'm not even sure if smiley is an emotion.) We played a couple of games of pool, which is something I haven’t done for years; so long, in fact, that I couldn’t remember if I was any good at it. I was, as suspected, resoundingly average, but I still ...

I've come to the conclusion that Venice is v. nice. Last night, we went for a lovely al fresco meal by one of the city's many canals. While we ate, a little girl sitting at the table next to us threw chunks of bread into the water, which were instantly engulfed by a swarm of fish. It would have been sinister if it wasn't for the picturesque setting. I was tucking into a plate of sea bass at the time, anyway, so I had the upper hand. The hotel is ridiculously plush. Our room is like a small flat. I happened to mention we were on our honeymoon on checking in. Within minutes, they'd brought us a bottle of champagne and some fruit. I should get married more often (or say I have, at least). In the night, I was woken by the sound of thunder. It was very dramatic. Yet there was no evidence of the heavy downpour by morning; one of the plus points of being in such a hot climate, I guess. Today I have been mostly walking, with a little sitting, eating and drinking thro...

Today's blog was written in the sky.  I'm in a plane, not up a ladder, on my way to Venice for my honeymoon.  I've been looking forward to it. Although, at the same time I haven't; with all the wedding excitement, I'd almost forgotten I was going, so the holiday feels like a welcome surprise.  This isn't my first trip to Venice. I went with my parents in the late Eighties. Despite being seven or eight at the time, I still remember it vividly. I guess this is because the city is so distinctive; there aren't many holiday destinations built almost entirely on or in water (except for the City of Atlantis, which doesn't really count).  I remember travelling by gondola. I also recall posing for the photograph below.  We were standing in St Mark's Square, where I'd just watched the little mechanical people who lived in the clock tower make their way out as it struck the hour. Round my neck is a toy camera, full of slides of famous I...