Ghosts in the Guest House Countdown

This Cleo Marjoribanks Murder Mystery (the 3rd in the series) goes on Countdown on Saturday 24th October - starting FREE.

Cleo and DCI David 'Steaming' Kettle go on holiday to Spain and stay at a boutique hotel where all sorts of strange happenings occur, including their finding a body in the garden. And the holiday goes downhill from there. A Spanish detective who cannot trust his officers enlists David's help, a pair of English teenagers disappear, a smuggling ring is discovered and general mayhem ensues.

Among other guests at the hotel is a grandmother and her sulky granddaughter, an English couple and a pair of Texans - she with big hair and big boobs.

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School Holidays

Here in England if parents take their children on holiday in term-time they risk being fined by the school. The reason given for taking schoolchildren away then is because package deal holidays are too expensive in the High Season. It has always been called the High Season and has little to do with children.

Let's go back in time. Most of my parents' generation didn't go away for holidays. They couldn't afford it.

I had my first holiday in 1947 - one week on the Isle of Wight. I was eight-years-old. My next holiday was three years later.

In those days the normal annual holiday was two weeks and workers were told by their employers when they could go. Bosses did try to play fair and give dads their holidays during the school summer break but it wasn't always possible.

We couldn't afford holidays every year but a couple of mine fell in term-time. My other drawback was having a mother who didn't have the patience to cope with my young sister who was born in 1948. Therefore, before she started school, if Mum had had a bad day with her I was kept home the next day to keep her entertained. The same went with the children's illnesses - I was kept home from school to help look after her.

As the schools maintain, taking children out of school in term-time interferes with their leaning. I KNOW. It took me many years to catch up. My knowledge of English grammar was mostly learned in Spain when I went to Spanish classes in the 1970s.

The answer - if you can't afford to take your children on expensive package-deal holidays take them somewhere affordable. There are plenty of places to spend holidays in the UK.

As a travel courier I discovered that the reason why many parents took their children overseas was because they wanted an overseas holiday. And I lost count of how many of those parents expected others to care for their children. I once rescued a toddler from a second floor balcony at 1.00 am. - his parents were at a bar in the town. On another occasion there was a child who almost drowned in the pool - his parents were in their room having a siesta.

Sorry, but I thought holidays (and weekends) were the time for families to bond.

Okay - I'm off the soapbox!