End of holiday blues

[WotchOotErAPolis]

Well, here we are again, nearing the end of yet another summer holiday when we've done nothing, achieved nothing, not been away at all - even for a weekend - and I am getting my annual dose of "can't keep up with the Jones's"-itis.

All I see right now is happy Facebook postings of 'our pony club weekend'; '3rd week of our hols and we're now in Spain at a gorgeous villa with lush grounds and a huge pool which we've been in every day"; "here we are enjoying our trip to Azerbijan & our hotel is lovely".

My DH is still out of work, I'm still working p-t and have not been able to take any time off, apart from two weeks sick leave after major surgery at the end of July, coinciding with the best Summer weather ever. We have a van in Pembrokeshire which we can't get to as we can't justify spending on petrol and food to get there. We're trying to sell it as we just can't use it, but no one can afford to buy.

The kids have had friends round every now and again and they have been on a couple of music school days, and one son has competed at a couple of local athletics events, which are the only things we do spend on, but argue every time about whether we can or not.

Now the weather is sh@t, my friends are all seemingly still on holiday, it's raining.

Does anyone else get this end-of-holiday blues feeling when they feel they really should have "done more"? Does it matter? What can we do? I have a ds11, ds15, ds17, so library/museums for free don't wash any more and the two eldest count as adults so costs more to go anywhere.

[LastingLight]

Get off FB, it's making you feel shit and you can do without it in your life. There are hundreds of other families in situations similar to yours but you won't see them posting about it on FB. It sounds as if your ds's managed to keep busy and you know what? Children have to learn that they can't always get what everybody else seems to have and that you can be happy going without. Isn't part of the fun of summer holidays just being able to do nothing? Will your ds's be interested in learning to cook and bake if they don't do that already?