kerrylaughs

When Ed and I lived in England, we enjoyed a few British package holidays which always resulted in fun times and great memories.  We have always been warm weather types when going on vacation so we always ended up in sunny places.    The hotels we stayed in usually provided rooms for the entire package groups from England as well as other European countries.   The biggest difference between the tourists from the UK and all other European countries became clear at the hotel swimming pool.  Guests tended to gather by language.  The English-speaking group always had the whitest skin and wore swim suits containing the most fabric.  You could find the English group the most quickly by looking for the pool side umbrellas.  Most, if not all, umbrellas had been drug to their corner.  During the majority of the day they safely remained in the shade to prevent 2nd degree sunburns (I was one of these people).  I blended in well with this group because my entire heritage is from the British Isles.  Deep tanning was not usually possible for us – the goal was simply to take the edge off our brilliant white glow.  Ed on the other hand is swarthier because of his French and Portuguese heritage.   He would do much of his tanning with the continental folks.  They achieved very quick tanning results and could lie out all day long.  Unlike Ed who is very modest in his swimming attire, the remainder of the European group were not.  Coverings for the top portion of the body were few and far between regardless of gender.  Depending on the holiday location and local laws, the Europeans wore as little as was legally possible.  Most people can’t pull off near naked lounging and rarely did you see a pretty sight.  The worst visions were those holiday makers that you couldn’t actually see any clothing because it was hidden by rolls of excess skin.  Our little British groups may have had alabaster skin but we became much closer because we all had to really squeeze together to stay in the shade of the umbrellas.