london1967 | The island syndrome

It's all doom and gloom here in London: Adrian (

london1952) will be out of work at the end of the month and British Telecom has announced even more redundancies (totalling 10,000).

In such a climate, it'd probably be sensible to save money and weather the storm... but no, I need something to cheer us up and what's better than planning a holiday?

The shortlist of places that we have come up with for an early sun-kissed spring holiday is: Malta, Gran Canaria, Madeira, Key West. All islands.

Adrian's always been very keen on visiting islands.
This reminds of the time I stayed at a B&B by Lough Erne (Northern Ireland) and the owner asked for advice on the Italian lakes, because she really fancied a trip to some different lakes.
Part of me feels slightly claustrophobic at the idea of being on an island, but over the years I've certainly come round to the idea.

Last week we toyed with the idea of Key West because it'd be more relaxing (we've been once before = no sightseeing) and there were some very reasonable American Airlines flights. Now they are gone.

Maybe it's a sign that we should stay in Europe. Madeira at the moment is the favourite: Adrian said that now he's old enough to go there! LOL!