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"Welcome to Center Parcs" proclaimed the message on the blackboard in our lodge. Phoebe added "We take all your money." Which was a good piece of satire for one so young. And very much correct.
I'd anticipated a long queue to get in, as this has happened the other times we've been to a Center Parcs, but we were straight through at 11am and had only 5 hours to kill before we were allowed into our accommodation. But we've learned the lessons, packed light and picked up our bikes and headed straight to the pool. This Center Parcs feels a little smaller than the other ones we've been to and the pool area not quite as varied, but we had three hours of fun, before thinking we should get some lunch. I had worn my Apple Watch in the pool (as it's a good way to pay for stuff and it's waterproof) but at some point in the last week I had cracked the corner of the screen. I didn't think that would lead to any problems but the watch stopped working and I assume water got into it. Center Parcs is so expensive though that breaking a £500 watch is getting off cheaply in comparison to everything else.
For the first time we didn't elect to get the bike with the trailer which meant that Ernie was going to have to actually ride his bike rather than being chauffered around and he did a very good job for someone who only took his stabilisers off a few weeks ago, but it did take us a while to get to our lodge. And we're right in the opposite corner from the car park which led to a rather tedious journey to get the car here and then back again. I thought I'd left it long enough to not caught in traffic but everything was at a standstill and I couldn't even get my car out to begin with. When I finally did a man passed and said I'd save ten minutes if I turned around and joined the queue a bit further down. I nearly didn't bother, but I am glad I did as he was 100% right. Aisle B3 was gridlocked but B1 had only one car ahead of me and we both got into the flow almost straight away. This life hack also meant that I arrived at our lodge just before the man next door and I got the parking space. So thank you mysterious stranger. I don't know how he knew or what he was doing in the car park if he'd already got out of it. I can only presume he was an angel sent by Jesus to make this trip slightly less arduous than it might have been. Seems a waste of resources Jesu and there are more pressing demands on you at the moment, but I get it. I do the easy stuff on my to do list first.
Having unpacked I then had to drive the car back to the car park and Phoebe, who is desperate to cycle as much as possible, wanted to come along, with her bike in the back of the car (I'd already cycled to get the car so my bike was waiting there already). So we had a father daughter expedition and stopped off to pick up some stuff from the supermarket.
Anyway, we're in and we've booked in a couple of activities (we weren't going to bother but relented at the last minute) and I managed to score relatively high on the Zoe app by having a Waldorf salad for lunch (a diet that rewards you for eating cheese has to be applauded), so never mind the loss of the watch (I have the excuse to buy a more up to date one at least) - I think we're going to have a good time. This is the perfect place to be if you hate having any spare money. And that's exactly my ball park.
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