Kate and the Camel

After spending a comfortable night in Sheena at a services just outside Limoges, we made good time to our ferry in Dieppe, arriving with enough time for a siesta in a leafy layby and spend ages sitting in the queue waiting to be loaded. The crossing was incredibly smooth - we've yet to have a rough one (famous last words) and we actually arrived in Newhaven early. Which was lucky as they took ages unloading us as well.
My old school friend Thom lives just ten minutes from Newhaven in the beautiful village of Glynde, from where he takes the train to his teaching job in nearby Brighton. We spent an amiable evening with him in his charming country cottage and were treated the next morning to a gorgeous and hot English summer's day. We were in no hurry to hit the motorway again, so when Thom suggested a walk in the Sussex Downs behind his house we were quick to agree. We were treated to fabulous views at the top of the hill, then descended past Glyndebourne Opera House, fields of alpaccas looking rather odd shorn of their coats and a rather friendly and majestic camel.

No ordinary country walk! Sadly that was about the only perfect day weather-wise we've had since landing back in the UK, though the novelty of rain and overcast skies still hasn't quite worn off!

Cathy's party

Beep! Beep! Beep! Suddenly the peace and quiet of another long, hot Sunday afternoon in the South of France was shattered by a string of cars and vans honking their way down the drive to Cathy's gite. Even those of us who were expecting them were pretty surprised, especially at how they'd all managed to coordinate their arrival perfectly. Cathy dashed into the kitchen saying "Oh god! what have we got to feed them" but she really shouldn't have worried, as no sooner had the cars parked when people started tumbling out bearing huge tureens of soups, trays of pizza, platters of roast meats and vegetable terrine, giant bowls of salad, breads, cheeses, pates, dips and bottles of wine, along with boxes of cutlery and crockery. Within five minutes a table for 26 adults was laid, a separate one set up for the enfants, while another was covered with drinks and snacks.

It was Kate's mother's - Cathy - 60th Birthday and she'd planned to have a quiet one. Just her, her boyfriend Jean, her two daughters and their families plus her friend Christian (who's 50th birthday was also that day) and his family. A mere 15 people for lunch, on 3 tables set out under the oak. No sweat. Jean however had other ideas and had teamed up with their friend, landlady and feast organizer extraordinaire Margitte to magic up a surprise party and feast for Cathy's french and anglo friends that lasted well into the warm summer night.

It was the perfect culmination to the two glorious weeks Kate and I had spent relaxing at Cathy's in the company of Kate's sister Becky and her four beautiful children (husband Dan joining us the friday before the party). It was a lovely, lazy time, with mornings often spent swimming at the local lake, trying out boats I'd built with the kids out of paper and plastic bottles, long 5 course lunches eaten out side, walking through the woods with their mental Breton spaniel Cocky, games of cards with Jean and their neighbour Norbert, visits to other friends and local markets, plus lots and lots of reading. It really was a shame to leave - if only the rest of our families and friends could be persuaded to move to France (preferably the Lot region) it would be ideal!

familiar France

...and relax!

Kate and I are back in the lovely Lot region, chez Cathy, for our sixth visit in 18 months. We're becoming such regulars that on a trip into the local produce market in Montcuq we were the ones stopping to say 'Bonjour' to various locals and to introduce Kate's sister and four photogenic niblings (neices and nephew). The catering, as ever, is second to none with massive al fresco lunches held in the shade under the huge oak outside Cathy and Jean's converted gite. Kate and I are kipping in Sheena, our van, as all available rooms (including an old oven) are taken, but we're very comfortable there especially as Kate had the brainwave of buying a mosquito net to keep the flies off.

Last night there was a huge thunder storm, which on the roof of the van sounded like a bunch of teenage drummers attempting to break a world volume record, but otherwise the weather has been lovely; one absolutely sweltering day, but otherwise not too hot to go walking in the woods, but still warm enough to make swimming in the local lake very pleasant. It's exactly the kind of relaxing, laid-back, fresh air holiday that we've been craving.

Farewell Madrid...hasta septiembre.

Our home for the last seven months is now mostly dismantled and piled up in bags and boxes ready for the next move. Yesterday we had a farewell picnic by the pool for those of our friends who hadn't already fled the Madrid summer heat and now we're contemplating the monster drive back.

We've already been hit by two set-backs: when Theo tried to start Sheena she point blank refused. It's almost certainly a flat battery, as she's spent most of her time in Madrid languishing in the basement garage of our flats and hasn't had a decent run for a good six weeks. Still we've got jump-leads and hopefully we'll be able to sweet-talk a car-owning friend into lending us a bit of electrical power, so hopefully it's not an insurmountable problem.

Set-back number two is Theo's health. He came back from his exertions among the youths with a raspy throat which has now deteriorated into a snotty-coughy cold. Not really the best condition to be in when about to embark on a fourteen-hour road trip to France, but hopefully it'll ease off in the next twenty-four hours or so before we hit the highway. If not, we'll just have to delay our departure until he's feeling up to it.

How do I feel about leaving Madrid, albeit temporarily? Fairly neutral, actually. It's been a fantastic seven months in so many ways and I've grown fond of the city, for all its noisy hot smellyness, but the idea of a holiday is extremely appealing. Getting out of the aforementioned noisy hot smellyness is part of the reason, the other part is seeing the loved-ones we haven't clapped eyes on since Christmas. Yep, I'm really looking forward to going back to England for a wee while. And I suspect, by the time we're leaving for Madrid again, the weather and Swine flu outbreak will make me relieved to be going back to Spain. Hasta pronto!