Making memories

What can I say, our lovely holiday in the Dordogne is over and done with for another year and despite the fact that we stayed for 10 days rather than the normal week it felt like it passed in a flash. Happy memories though.


Highlights of the week included meeting our Woolton Hill neighbours for dinner and a pool party - they had coincidentally booked a holiday for the same dates just up the road from us! The kids loved showing off the house and playing in the pool with Grace and Finn. I managed a passable BBQ for them while Simon and Glenn went riding, they proceeded to cremate ours when they got home - nothing to do with the 3 glasses of wine I had in the meantime I'm sure! 


Both girls loved seeing Jerry and Pauline, and catching up with the horses again, This year Combostel, Bel Ami and Tulin were joined by Amigo, a lovely skewbald. They managed a couple of rides in between the hottest days, the last of which almost ended u in a disaster when Tulin spooked and unseated Izzy. She was winded but not put off and after a bit of deep breathing jumped back on to finish the ride - she's made of strong stuff!

We had great weather for the most part - a bit cloudy to start with, then it got hot, hot, hot - almost to the point of being unbearable for a couple of afternoons, then it cooled down a little for which we were all quite pleased. We made the most of the sunshine with the pool, and the cooler days we went and did a few things but not much - the nice thing about going to the same place year on year is there is no pressure to sightsee. Good job really as it's noticeably more expensive, particularly given the weaker pound post the Brexit decision.


The saddest event while we were there was of course the Nice Bastille day horrors. It did make us all stop and think, not least as we were in the country and Simon and Audrey have just moved very close to where it happened.  While it's true to say that these things could happen anywhere it still feels pretty frightening when its in a country you're visiting and you know people close by. France is in a state of emergency but it wasn't at all obvious where we were - life goes on I guess.

On our penultimate day I took the girls to a medieval horse show in Rocamadour which was fab. It was a bit strange - all in French and from what I could tell based around the 100 years war between the French & English and the search for Excalibur. A it of colour and poetic licence was then added with influences of James Bond and benny Hill - only in France! The equine acrobatics were amazing and immediately both girls wanted to be able to do this - they spent their normal amount of time trying to work out how to get ponies of their own despite us staying firm that its too early yet!


Coming home has been lovely - we had a great run through France and with the whole weekend before back to work the timing worked really well. We had a 50th birthday party last night which was good, albeit Glenn may have had one glass more than was sensible and couldn't decide whether he'd been poisoned or just drunk too much when he woke this morning... I suspect the latter! Abi and I left him recovering on the sofa with Izzy in charge while we went out to the garden centre to get a few bits and pieces - as I said, good to be back, even if I'm counting down the weeks already until the next time.


So back to work for me and now the summer holidays start in earnest. The kids have got a variety of things planned, plus some much needed downtime. Izzy is an avid bookworm now and is mostly to be found curled up in a corner somewhere with her nose deep in a book. Abi is more likely to be curled up with the dogs somewhere - she was so pleased to get her boys home - the house isn't the same without them for any of us but particularly her. Lets hope the good weather holds and everyone has a relaxing summer break. Back to work for me though and I'm feeling ok about it which is good. It also speaks volumes on me finally feeling settled - it does take a while and its good to feel I'm there now.