Friday 24 September 2010

Farewell to Fat Camp

"Daddy?" said Jamie, shortly after arriving back at our Butlins accommodation last night. "Can we go home now?"

I gently explained that we had one more sleep to go before our departure, which he accepted without dissent, but the message was clear.

That said, I'm sure he had a very enjoyable four days in Skegness - like all other camp mates (including myself), he certainly ate particularly well. And the kids' entertainment was top drawer too.

However, having been to Butlins twice in my early years (albeit the now defunct resort in Ayr), the place is just not what it was.

British society has obviously moved on, which is sad in some ways but also inevitable. And Butlins has rightly tried to move with it.

But back in the late 1970s, I looked at the world through innocent eyes and my recollections are clearly coloured by this. And whilst we did have a good time this week, I cannot help but feel a tinge of selfish regret that I didn't leave my memories of Butlins right where they were.

On a much lighter note, last weekend I wrote here that Barnaby Bear was coming on tow. One of the requests the nursery makes when an inmate takes him away with them is that they get a photo of Barnaby at their holiday destination.

As you might imagine, Jamie took this responsibility extremely seriously. When the moment came, White Jnr insisted on driving Barnaby down to the chosen spot himself - even lending him his very own sun hat and shades for the journey...

...before personally supervising the taking of the money-shot.

That to Big Bob The Builder for agreeing to appear in the photo (and for not charging Jamie £5.99 for the privilege, as a smaller version of himself attempted to do elsewhere on the site).

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