Skip to main content

France!

Ah, we are in France and it’s as lovely as ever. This place just seems timeless. While one or two buildings have had a make over every year, and a new shop may have sprung up or gone away, the basics here are absolutely the same it seems year in year. That is except the prices which seem to go up exponentially every year!

This year we drove down in one go, something we always do on th way back but never normally on the way down. It went without a hitch and we arrived late afternoon feeeling a bit stiff but able to jump in the pool and freshen up to start the holiday more quickly than normal. I saw it was easy, of course I didn’t drive but that’s Glenn’s fault - he won’t let me!

The weather has been fab (apparently it’s only just warmed up properly, unlike home where it’s  been hot forever it seems) and we’ve swum, biked, walked and generally relaxed with no dramas. The girls love being here so it really is very easy. As Abi says - pool, sunbathe, iPad or read, eat, repeat!

My only concern this time was leaving the dogs. This time we have Di and Alby at home dog / house sitting, with Natalie (one of the mums from school and a dog walker) coming daily to walk theM properly. Day 1 went well from all accounts, Day 2 apparently Freya was a bit non-pulsed that this same person had turned up again to walk her, and Day 3 she refused to go! So much for my plans. Bertie will clearly go with anyone whose prepared to talk him and went anyway, and got to walk with 2 other dogs which he thought was great. After an inspection it seems Freya had a sore underneath her leg which was rubbing so after some attention and germaline she was all good and I’m informed it’s been fine since then. I’m definitely at the stage where my dogs worry me more than my kids. That will change no doubt as they get a bit older.

One of the nice things about them being that much bigger is we’ve eaten out most evenings for some variety. They’ve complained every night before going but have enjoyed the fact they get to drink orangina and have ice cream. In fact Izzy yesterday opted for only that, no main course. Maybe the whole Camembert I found her eating before we went had something to do with that!

So a few more days in the sunshine then home. The nice thing is we are home on Wednesday evening so I have a few more days to relax and detox (sunshine and a glass of rose over ice is too good a combo) before I have to contemplate work again. Long may the sunshine last!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bank Holiday sunshine

Off to meet FiFi and Grumps for a walk  (and yes, she is on the seat) Finally after weeks of rain and cold weather, the tide has turned and we have glorious sunshine for the bank holiday weekend and half term - hooray, it's about time.  Also just in time is half term as the kids were definitely ready for a break. They have both done brilliantly settling into the school, making new friends and finding their feet in an unfamiliar environment. Izzy has just had her exam week and felt it went OK given she hadn't covered all of the syllabus, and Abi's exams start as soon as she is back next week. I hope she's done some revision as she left for Devon with Claire, Adam and Mia today and isn't back until Saturday. There is talk of looking at some of her notes but who knows. My view is that a bit of R&R will probably be at least as beneficial if not more so than cramming all week so she should take the time to relax and have some fun - she deserves it. So we packed Abi o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Half term

Whatever happened to half term?? It seems to have disappeared in a flash, do doubt partly as I was working having had 3 days off the previous week for Kerrie and Ryan's wedding. The plan was to not have a plan - both girls have exam week coming up and so our major intent was for them to spend at least half an hour a day or so doing a bit of revision. This has sort of worked - we only had one day where I got an irate message from Glenn that Izzy knows 'absolutely nothing' about her maths... we'll see. With half term comes effort grades and if they genuinely know nothing, it's not for a lack of effort. Abi did really well, keeping up her average and getting a 6 (top grade) in French again. Izzy, who we always worry is apt to cruise if allowed, got the first 5.0 average grade we've seen from either of them and 3 6's in French, English and DT - well done Izzy! I tend to assume all the kids work hard but it seems not - according to Abi "all the boys always...
Post a Comment
Read more