It almost seems cheeky writing a little “explanation for my forthcoming absence” post here, as I’ve not been very present for a good few weeks now, gallivanting around the UK – with and without Tadpole – to London, to Brighton Pride, and even to Uttoxeter (which I am still woefully incapable of locating on a map, despite having been there).
But book has gone to the copyeditor, Tadpole has gone with Mr Frog to spend some more quality time with her mamie and papy, and I am heading to the Cyclades with my boyfriend, for Two Whole Weeks, as of some ungodly hour tomorrow morning.
I’m excited, and a little nervous, frankly. I’ve never done the whole “go on holiday without actually booking accommodation (apart from the first 3 nights) thing”, and I’ve known the Boy for three months (exactly three months, as it happens, as we met on 17 May). It could all go every so slightly extremely right (as Tadpole/Lola would say) or horrifically pear-shaped. And it remains to be seen how I weather two weeks of cold turkey away from the internets, and how he weathers two weeks without Full Tilt Poker.
Only one way to find out…
about
books
press
fbk
petite anglaise 
And I trust you’ll tell us when you get back…
I hope you have a great time.
Comment by Z — August 17, 2007 @ 6:01 pm
Right of Stoke on Trent and down a bit.
Comment by Daniel Durrans — August 17, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
Have a fantastic holiday my dear. You totally earned it!
Comment by Peggy — August 17, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
Oooh, much excitement!
The ‘not having accommodation booked’ is a nice little adventure. I suspect that in the Cyclades you’ll have no problems – but I’m as jealous as hell. Enjoy and recharge.
:-)
Comment by Brennig — August 17, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
uh-boy… no reservations? you will be stormed upon arrival shoreside… just be certain if you want to stay in town or closer to the beach… not all “beach front” hotels are good beaches…
which islands anyway?
Comment by kara — August 17, 2007 @ 6:50 pm
Bon chance! Bon vacance!
Comment by Forest Green — August 17, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
Have fun! x
Comment by Mimi — August 17, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
No reservations? It’s the best way!
I recently did a trip through Slovakia, Austria and onto the Czech Republic…with three other people and all without reservations.
It was tiring at times, potentially plan altering at other times but always (always) exciting.
Good luck :)
Comment by Flowers On A Friday — August 17, 2007 @ 7:36 pm
Have fun! Send us a postcard!
Comment by Leslie — August 17, 2007 @ 7:44 pm
ooooooh tres jealous! two weeks of sun, sand and se…. ;o) But its ok, I’ll console myself with the fact that its only 3 weeks to go until my own holidays to la belle France with my boy. I have known him twice as long but the excitement and nerves of the ‘first holiday as a couple’ are still the same I’m sure!
Enjoy x
Comment by susie — August 17, 2007 @ 8:03 pm
Have a good time..bon voyage!
Comment by Jean-Luc Picard — August 17, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
Ah….bliss! I hope you’re careful in the sun fair lady! Yes, well deserved holiday after all the hard work!
Going on holiday with “the boyfriend” means to me that he means a lot to you. It’s like a mini test run in a way for living together, n’est-ce pas? ;P
Comment by Karma — August 17, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
Take the plunge, and have a great, adventurous and well deserved holiday petite
Comment by Jasper — August 17, 2007 @ 8:44 pm
Have a great time Petite. Can’t wait to hear all about your adventures on your return (altho we’ll all be going cold turkey from lack of potings too!!)
Comment by Catkin — August 17, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
sorry, i meant postings!!
Comment by Catkin — August 17, 2007 @ 9:44 pm
Good luck! Two weeks this soon will either be heaven or a return after three days.
Comment by joeinvegas — August 17, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
Have a great time – I hope the lack of internet will not be too much of a hardship!!!
Comment by Louisa Hibble — August 17, 2007 @ 11:02 pm
I’ve just spent 5 weeks holidays with my boyfriend (of one year)in Turkey and Iran with no accomodation booked (except the first week in Istanbul) and it went really well : it was really easy actually (and it was MY first time travelling that way…so don’t worry, relax, you’ll only have to choose among all the offers! Enjoy!
Comment by enna — August 17, 2007 @ 11:13 pm
Hey I just did 2 weeks in Cuba with my lady – best thing I ever did – miles away from work and from stress – Im sure things will be fine and in the words of
E.E. Cummings “Lovers alone wear sunlight” Have a great time !
Comment by Mark — August 17, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
Two weeks away from the dripping ceiling… brilliant!
Comment by grayarea — August 17, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
bon chance! I don’t comment often but read voraciously – I can’t wait for the book your writing is addictive.
Comment by Ellie — August 18, 2007 @ 12:43 am
You’re a braver woman than I am, going cold turkey sans blog. I’m leaving on Sunday for my own two weeks around Europe and I’m dragging the damn laptop with me so I can email friends and family, and do some blog posting of the trip. At least that’s the current plan. This is part vacation, part book research so I really did need the laptop to write, whether I blog or not. But I haven’t gone more than 4 days without Internet access in over 15 years. I’m getting the DT’s just thinking about it. Bon voyage and looking forward to hearing your stories when I get back after the rentrée too.
Comment by The Bold Soul — August 18, 2007 @ 1:21 am
I have complete faith in you. Live free! Be well!
Comment by ~Tim — August 18, 2007 @ 1:59 am
So happy for you on so many counts, Petite.
Great that you got the book off to the editor. I still can’t wait to get my hands on it! Also great that your ex-company gave in, and will give you the money. Wonderful that Tadpole has loving family to watch her while you take a break. And oooh, you, taking a vacation on Grecian isles . . .
An acquaintance of long, long ago advised my then-boyfriend, now-husband that the best way to get to know someone was to travel with them. Thirty-some years later, I still believe this to be solid advice. So I wish you a lovely time full of good tidings of things to come. It is the journey, after all, not the destination that matters.
bisous
Comment by PJ Carz — August 18, 2007 @ 4:53 am
There’s a test: two weeks travelling together with almost no bookings! Can’t wait to hear about it.
V.
Comment by Voyager — August 18, 2007 @ 5:18 am
I’m sure you will learn alot about your “boy” on this trip that you didn’t know before. I saw the inner workings of a marriage when I vacationed with my husband with another couple. It was a completely different look at how they functioned-and not in a fun way.
Comment by Linda — August 18, 2007 @ 8:21 am
So, I find you, then you go…….. typical.
This is one poke I’ll relish.
Comment by Daddy Papersurfer — August 18, 2007 @ 10:56 am
Good luck!
Remember it’s always possible to make yourself some extra luck if you need it.
Comment by Naomi — August 19, 2007 @ 3:22 am
Have a great time! Whatever the outcome, you’ll both know each other a lot better upon your return.
Comment by BlondebutBright — August 19, 2007 @ 10:10 am
Have a great time – just relax and let things flow. I love vacationing without definite plans/bookings! It makes things exciting (and occasionally frustrating – but those occasions make the best party stories!)
Comment by Allie — August 19, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
“Cyclades” reminds me of La Lectrice…
Comment by Jonathan — August 19, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
Leap! (we will always be here on your landing.)
Comment by Danna — August 20, 2007 @ 12:42 am
Enjoy your wellearned holiday and I hope it all goes right.
Comment by sablonneuse — August 20, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Google has educated me where the Cyclades are.
And I thought they were manufacturers of Serial Port boards – http://cyclades.com/products/
Comment by Hywel Mallett — August 20, 2007 @ 6:02 pm
2 WEEKS!! IN A ROW. I haven’t been away for two weeks IN A ROW in over 15 years.
Comment by Sparrow — August 20, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
Good luck! And have fun!
Comment by Sally Lomax — August 20, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Sounds like everything is coming together…
Comment by Ariel — August 21, 2007 @ 2:45 am
petite, for your 1 year anniversary (fingers crossed) you must celebrate in style by taking a trip to Oslo-since you met him on Norway’s National day!!! They’ll be a city full of people to celebrate alongside you1!!
until then have a lovely holiday with the boyfriend!
Comment by aminah — August 21, 2007 @ 8:56 am
one question. who’s paying?
Comment by gdang — August 21, 2007 @ 11:56 pm
Interesting blog. Greetings from Chile, Southamerica.
Comment by Eduardo Waghorn — August 22, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
I do hope Boy is up to two unmitigated weeks of your insatiable appetite for, umm, life. Age gap relationships can be very invigorating.
Comment by andrew — August 23, 2007 @ 2:01 am
What are you guys going to do after the initial three days?…meaning, are you simply going to live off the land, or are you going to find lodging as it comes in a nearby hotel or something?
I seem to have missed the story of how/where you two met, but I actually like the mystery of not knowing…
Comment by mademoiselle smith — August 23, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
It seems that you are going to be back in the past, wen travelling means going somewhere … But not knowing exactly where …
I dream about that ! But the greatest aventure is the boy. No ?
Comment by Rosemary — August 23, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
While Petite has been off dallying around the Greek isles, it is I who hold the keys to the kingdom and have been moderating her comments.
(this is not the first time I’ve served as the gateway to her box)
But I hardly think I’m needed around here, what with the lack of lewd comments and complete absence of filth. I mean, really – she dangles the phrase “full tilt poker” in her last paragraph and nobody takes the bait?
I’m sure that One Track’s moderators have to work harder than this…
Comment by Le Meg — August 24, 2007 @ 11:36 am
Does ‘full tilt poker’ stand for ‘a bloody good rogering?
I certainly hope so!!
Comment by AussieGil — August 24, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Can we start horrid rumors? Or some kind of betting pool on numbers of books she will sell? There has to be a way to wrangle control, even if it’s only a little! Cat’s away and all . . .
Comment by Leslie — August 24, 2007 @ 3:59 pm
P’tite
A choice between 2 weeks with you in the Cyclades and Full Tilt Poker. If it were me, just guess which one I’d pick ;-) There’s a great song by the Buena Vista Social Club titled Chan Chan–The “keeper” should listen to that one rofl
Have fun, luv
Cheers from Seattle
Beau
Comment by Beau — August 24, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Re: 12 “Going on holiday with “the boyfriend” means to me that he means a lot to you. It’s like a mini test run in a way for living together, n’est-ce pas?”
Surely a test run for living together would mean a holiday including Tadpole! ;-)
Comment by purple — August 26, 2007 @ 2:10 am
I think everyone is up to their ears with all the poking that goes on on the pseudo-legend which is facebook to be interested in any extra curricular pokin.
Comment by Claire — August 26, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Sorry, you’re not being kept more busy Meg …!
Hope everything is working out well, Petite. I was half expecting there to be a mid-holiday post here when I checked in today… Well done for not falling off the blog-wagon.
Comment by Stratfordgirl — August 26, 2007 @ 10:05 pm
I’m sure you’ll both be otherwise occupied….. internet and poker will probably fade into the background;)
Comment by Allecsis — August 27, 2007 @ 12:30 am
My pulse was racing at the prospect of you being in Uttoxeter, just down the road from me. Let me know when you next need to find somewhere in the area, and I’ll gladly email you a map. Bon voyage!
Comment by Graham — August 28, 2007 @ 12:29 am
Bonjour Petite,
Having watched the horrific reports of fires all around Greece on TV last night, I just wanted to say that I hope you’re OK!! Not sure whether the part of Greece you’re in is affected by all this, but I guess I’m a worrier by nature…
Comment by Grande Anglaise — August 28, 2007 @ 8:47 am
I hope that you have good weather and that there are no fires there.
Comment by Lost in France — August 28, 2007 @ 11:36 am
Not to begrudge you the holiday but COME BACK! I am down a way to avoid studying…….
Comment by Susie — August 28, 2007 @ 6:56 pm
Hmm looking at the dates we should have some idea by now.
Comment by meredic — September 3, 2007 @ 6:38 pm
Hmmmm — doesn’t someone have to be BACK TO SCHOOL ? c’mon, give us the goods !!!
Comment by magillicuddy — September 3, 2007 @ 9:17 pm