The Izzle of Wiggot

When I was a child, my parents couldn’t afford to take us on holiday. The closest we got to a summer holiday was watching Cliff Richard on his double decker bus at the cinema or a day trip on a coach to the seaside with my nan. However, when I was nine or ten, the school offered a five-day holiday on the Isle of Wight (dubbed the Izzle of Wiggot by our teacher), off the south coast of England. When Mum and Dad said they couldn’t afford it, my grandparents came to the rescue and paid in weekly instalments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJjCEbEGpVc

It was an educational trip, but for me it was a big adventure. We got a coach to Portsmouth, where we visited Nelson’s ship, the HMS Victory, and then got on a ferry. We stayed in a bed and breakfast that catered for school groups. I shared a room with three other girls and we slept two to a bed. I remember lining up for a bath and climbing into a huge old-fashioned tub with a couple of inches of water that another child had already bathed in!

Image result for hms victory portsmouth
Image found on www.hms-victory.com  

I loved visiting Carisbrooke Castle, Shanklin Chine, St Catherine’s Lighthouse, and The Needles rocks and coloured sands of Alum Bay. We were amazed by Osborne House, the favourite home of Queen Victoria, where we saw a two-headed lamb (a stuffed one) in a small museum in the Swiss cottage, as well as toys that belonged to the royal children. There were fun and games too. We had races on the beach every day and sing-songs in the evenings. The only problem was, coming from London, I had never had so much fresh sea air and lost my voice.

croaking gulls circle
seaweed wafts a pungent whiff
breathing out summer

Kim M. Russell, 2017

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Monday Haibun: What Did You Do?

Toni’s our host once again on the Haibun Trail.  She says her prompt today will hopefully make us smile and take us back to middle or high school, when teachers always gave you the assignment “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”.   Toni would like us to write a classic haibun in our own words or as if we were children or high school or college students.  We can even write about a vacation we took years ago. Images found on isleofwightattractions.co.uk.

29 thoughts on “The Izzle of Wiggot”

  2. I love this trip you took. Those were the simpler days when people didn’t mind sharing beds and rooms and….baths! I am so glad your grandparents came to the rescue. My parents would work hard and save for a little treat for us during the summer. Usually to visit our cousins in New Jersey or down to the beach for a day. What fun. And you lost your voice due to all the fresh air! That is the first time I have ever heard of that.

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      2. Mine were removed in Germany not long before I started university. They told me they wouldn’t be giving me a full anesthetic and I hid under the bed until they promised they would!

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  5. Oh what an amazing adventure Kim, the Isle of Wight has so much magic for a child and I remember those fairy-tale like cottages in Shanklin. I love your haiku with the ‘croaking gulls’ mirroring your loss of voice :o) xxx

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  6. Oh how magical this trip was for you as a child. You must have felt like the richest child in the world to experience all of this. And…I love how you end with losing your voice and segway into the croaking gulls in your wondrous haiku. Enjoyed this vacation with you! Thank you! 🙂

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  7. Wonderful memories. I was just reminiscing with Dad the other day about Cliff Richard and that double decker bus. We grew up in simpler times. Your vacation was magical. Even those day trips were magical. A lovely memory.

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