Holidays and Ferry Bookings All Done

It may seem a long time in advance, but I have just completed booking our Late Summer Holidays. I call them "Late Summer Holidays" because they usually start in September. Being involved in the "wedding trade" - (I am an organist at a local church) I usually wait until the wedding season has come to a close, so as not to disappoint any would be brides! The end of the season is usually around late September - hence our holidays usually starting then.

I found last year that our planned three weeks - a week in Dumfries and Galloway, followed by a week on the Isle of Arran, followed by a week in Northumberland, were difficult to arrange due, in the main, to the fact that we always take our chocolate labrador with us, so we go self catering. This means we have to book places which accept pets. For a goodly number of years we have used the same places,  but last year one of them was not available during the week I needed  it, however we were lucky to find another self catering establishment in the area which took pets and was available.

It can be a bit of a logistical nightmare as we also have to book a ferry on and off the Isle of Arran, which must fit in with our self catering bookings too. So this year I have booked very early and managed to get all three self catering establishments booked and the ferry booking all fitting in with our holiday plans!

My deputy organist usually takes his holidays after our holidays, but seeing that our holidays have been booked later this year, it may well be that I have to search for a replacement organist to cover for me during my holidays, and as my deputy says, finding a replacement organist is like trying to find hens teeth! So although the accommodation and ferry sailings are booked I may yet be searching for an organist!