Dear Friends,

I am just off (but I shall be back before you read this) to Seattle and Vancouver - a long way to go for a wedding !  We've never been to the Americas before, and we'll probably never go again, but we got this invitation so we shall make the most of it.  Relatives and friends to see, and doubtless scenery and `places of interest` as well.

Considering the scale of it (it will be far and away the longest journey either of us have ever undertaken) I have surprised myself by allowing it to `just happen` - the essentials have been booked, of course, but otherwise it will simply be allowed to unfold as the days go by.  This is not the way I normally approach a holiday, and certainly not one that will involve so much travelling.  I intend to take a minimum of luggage, as well.

You could say that, for once, I am going to take an awful lot of this holiday on faith.  Faith that we shall see everybody we want to see; faith that we shall make the most of the other opportunities that present themselves; faith that it won't be so tiring that we end up not really appreciating what we do manage to do !

But isn't that what holidays are really all about ?  Opportunities to experience something new, to step outside the everyday, to meet new people - but without the pressure and expectations of our normal everyday lives.  The very word `holiday`, of course, comes from the two words 'holy day', those days which our medieval forbears were allowed off work - ostensibly to go to church, but in practice to go to fairs and markets and all sorts of entertainments as well.  The stub-end of that can still be seen in what we nowadays call 'Bank Holidays', many of which have their origin in religious festivals (think of Christmas and Easter, for a start).  The notion of holidays as we know them is only really twentieth century in origin.

The other medieval idea of 'holiday', maybe more akin in practice to ours but still very much religious in origin, was the 'Pilgrimage' - a journey, sometimes very long indeed to far distant lands, sometimes within one's own country, but always (for all but the very rich) on foot.  Again, it was ostensibly about one's faith; a visit to a holy place; penance for a misspent life; prayers for healing (for oneself or for another).  In practice there was a great measure of simple faith required that one would survive the journey unscathed - many did not !  Whatever the motive, Pilgrimages were undoubtedly mind-broadening experiences in oh-so-many ways...

So, whatever your holiday experience (or mine) may be, I pray that we will all find refreshment in new experiences, new people, new horizons - and in simply getting away from the everyday.  We all need to do that, even when we are retired !