Damp street party or red hot pool party, which would you choose?
I had an interesting conversation on the phone yesterday with a nice guy I have never met; he wanted to rent my lovely apartment in Spain for a week. He loved the apartment, the location is just right, the price was very acceptable, the standard of accommodation high, the pools looked lovely (they are), everything was okay. But there was one problem.
Our Queen has reigned over us, which means not much really, for 60 years now. As a result the bank holiday, that we normally enjoy on the last Monday in May, has been moved forward a week. An extra day off has been given to us by the government, for reasons I’m not entire sure are sensible, so we now have two bank holidays in June, Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th of June. These are to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The government seems to think we live in the dark ages, are all peasants, are going to organise 1950’s style street parties and sit out in the rain with the bloke who lives over the road, eating sickly sausage rolls (thanks Alan).
Get real! Anyone can figure out that by taking just three days off work, we can have a nice nine day holiday in the sun. Anyone can figure that out, and the airlines certainly have. What is actually happening is that most of us have tried to get flights to the sun and had been put off by the ridiculous prices that are being charged. To make matters worse it is also half term, of course, so the flight prices go up then anyway. The Diamond Jubilee exodus has just made it worse.
My friend on the phone is really disappointed, he wants to stay in my apartment, he’s worked hard he says and needs a break, but he is not prepared to pay £650 for a return flight for two people and a bag, and I don’t blame him one little bit.
As an example if you wanted to fly Leeds/Bradford to Málaga on Friday 1st June, it will cost you £231.99 ONE way, not return, and that doesn’t include a bag, add another £30 for that. By contrast the same flight going on Sunday 23rd June is just £32.99. It’s supply and demand, I understand that.
So my apartment is empty for one of the peak weeks of the year and I have no income as a result, it’s because nobody can afford to get there. The Queen is not really to blame for that, it’s the greedy airlines and the stupid government.
Oh and one other thing, as a result of my apartment being empty, HMRC will not be receiving their cut. 30% of nothing is nothing. Sorry about that, not my fault.
Ooops. I need to update this already. That nice bloke on the phone has decided that his time off is more valuable than the money he has to pay the airline. So he has booked. My apartment will not now be empty for the Bank holiday / Half term / Diamond thingy. Good.
Oh and a note to HMRC, I’ve given him a huge discount, huge, so don’t expect much.
However Dave….if you lived in the South West as I do, you would witness NO END of bloody bunting everywhere, and EVERYONE (except me) seems genuinely excited about the thousands of Street Parties that are being organised. I haven’t met a single person (except me) who has nothing but blind admiration for every member of the Royal Family, (major, minor, or corgi). Enough to make me want to move back to the Wirral (except the Beaches are nicer down here). Hope you had a great Birthday Dave, glad you secured the booking at a reduced benefit for Her Maj’s Tax Bastards.
We don’t seem to have any street parties up here. Can say I’m bothered.