Another evocative song

You see, we'd never really taken holidays, I was always to busy to take holidays.

Sure, a few times when the kids were very young we took them to Benidorm to see their grandfather, but that doesn't count because it was during the winter and it pissed it down every time we went there,if you think Benidorm is bad in the summer then you should see it when its dull and wet.

It wasn't until '99 that I decided that we should start to take at least one annual family holiday by default and so we discovered Menorca, possibly the quietest of the three Balearic islands and not encumbered by high rise apart-hotels, it was perfect for our first real family holiday and we loved it.

We returned every year and then in 2002 when the kids were 14 and 10 years old we went again with friends and their children of the same age, it was probably the best holiday that we have ever had together as a family group. We stayed in a small block of 10 apartments which shared a large swimming pool and all of the other apartments had children of a similar age, it was Walt Disney perfect and we had a ball.

We'd hired a car and as always the Menorcan radio stations were utter dross but unfortunately having made the switch to mini-disc we hadn't brought any cd's with us, and then I remembered the music magazine that I'd bought at the airport that contained a free compilation cd on the cover - it was retrieved from the dustbin and we stuck it in the car cd player.

Out came the refrain of The Flaming Lips and "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" and for once in all our lives we all agreed that we loved a music track.

The rest of the cd was rubbish so that one track was played on repeat over and over again where ever we drove on the island, and on Menorca you drive nowhere fast, trundling along at 30mph on a scorching hot day with aircon up full and all the windows open (yes I know), and "Yoshima" belting out on the cd player, again, and again, both girls singing along from the back seat, a moment frozen in time whenever I hear this song, a perfect moment in time that is forever encapsulated in resin and stored safely in a corner of my memory, I hope I never lose it.