A quiet day

Fridays tend to be quiet at work, and today was no exception! Not one member of our senior management team was in, and even Nicola had taken today off work. Sara left in the afternoon, so that meant it was just Kathy and I working, and one other woman in the finance office. It was bliss!

The shift passed quickly, and it was great to escape at 4:00pm and look forward to the weekend. When Sophie arrived home, we opened a bottle of rosé and watched Ever After, filmed at the Château de Hautefort. It was wonderful to see the gorgeous house on the screen and to relive memories of spending time there!

Keith had made a curry, so we didn't need to do anything for dinner, just cook some Basmati rice and the naan bread.

After we'd eaten, we watched the end of the film, and then caught up with an episode of Amanda and Alan in Italy. Amanda had wanted a golden floor in her bathroom, which I thought would look horrible, but it worked!

A sobering afternoon

I am quite enjoying having an extra day off a week, so I'm going to make the most of it! Keith went shopping while I did some chores, and I helped him put the shopping away when he returned.

It was lovely to pootle about for the rest of the morning, and I went to see my Mum in the afternoon. As soon as I walked into her room, I knew she wasn't feeling well, and I had a miserable visit, with her in tears several times. The sad thing is that today would have been Mum and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary, and she welled up when I told her. One of the carers came in and said she hadn't had a good couple of days, so I said I'd see someone about a urine sample as she may have an infection.

I went home feeling a bit miserable and started the dinner which we should have had last night. Sophie was delighted when she arrived home and saw that it was all done! All we needed to do was cook the rice, and that was it!

I carried on watching the Tour de France after dinner; the route ended in Chalon-sur-Saône, where we'd stayed a couple of years ago, and I wanted to see if the route passed through the Burgundy vineyards. It made a very pleasant end to the day!

The parched earth...

Things were a little tense between Sophie and me this morning! She was working from home, so she stationed herself in the kitchen until Keith and I pulled out the fridge to clean behind it. Before we pulled it out, I took everything out and cleaned all the shelves. This disturbed Sophie, so she moved into the conservatory, and I don't think she was very happy about it!

We had to do this job this morning, though, as Keith was going shopping tomorrow, and I wanted the fridge to be clean and tidy. When we pulled the fridge out, I gasped with horror; there was a sticky black stain on the floor, loads of broken bits of glass and pottery, and the cats' toy balls. Keith poured some very hot water and detergent into a bucket while I hoovered and got rid of the cobwebs. It badly needed doing!

When I'd culled all the old jars and Keith had washed them out, we were all done, and it looked so much better! I also swept and mopped our little laundry cupboard, so I felt like I'd made a difference this morning!

At lunchtime, Sophie went for a walk with the cats and took some photographs. Both cats seemed to love posing!

Gomez

Mooney

Mooney

Gomes of the Gomezes

Moonbums

Things between us had thawed out a bit, and when she showed me the photos, I couldn't believe how dry and parched the grass was. We now have a hosepipe ban in place (since the 11th of July), and there is still no sign of rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future. I am avidly watching the Tour de France, and the fields there are the same. We all need a few days of sustained rainfall to bring the grass back to life.

I had an appointment with Gabriel in the afternoon, my penultimate session of shockwave therapy, and he really hurt me today. I said that my foot was feeling better, especially after walking for a little while, so it must be doing some good! He had another physio with him, and they both thought it was highly funny when I groaned my way through the treatment!

Back home, Sophie had suggested we go to the pub for a drink, and this turned out to be an impromptu evening meal as well. Keith hadn't fancied our dinner for tonight - chicken stroganoff - so we indulged in pie and chips (Sophie and me) and fish and chips (Keith). I drank, and enjoyed very much, a couple of Guinness zero alcohol beers, so I might buy myself a couple in the shopping to enjoy during the week.

The food was good, and the pub gradually grew busier as people arrived to watch the England-Argentina game. Sophie and I enjoyed a dessert each (mousse and crème brûlée), and we paid the bill. Keith wanted to be home to watch the game, and Sophie and I went upstairs and decided to catch up with a couple of episodes of Simon Reeves in Scandinavia. We thoroughly enjoyed the two programmes we watched and learnt a lot about Norway, Finland and Iceland! While we watched, we indulged in a tiny glass of Berliner Luft... delicious!

A morning drama!

Our weekly fire alarm test happens every Tuesday morning, and it went off as usual. However, five minutes later, it went off again, so Sara and I went downstairs to find out if it was genuine. Unfortunately, we learnt that a man had collapsed in the pool and one of the staff had to dive in to rescue him. He was then given CPR before paramedics arrived. Luckily, he was revived and went off in the air ambulance, but we all said if you're going to have a heart attack, have it at a gym, and preferably one next to a hospital! He should make a full recovery, thank goodness. So that was a bit of drama to start the day!

I finished the moan report today and put most of the holiday activities on, as I wasn't on the phone. It really irks me that I now only have one day of admin, but not for much longer!

The temperature climbed again this afternoon, and I left the thermometer with Nicola so she could check tomorrow and Thursday. I rejoined Keith in the car, and we went home to pootle about. Sophie came home and wasn't pleased that we hadn't prepared any vegetables for dinner, and unfortunately, we had a bit of an argument this evening. We don't argue often, but when we do, we can get a bit shouty! As all of our doors and windows were open, I'm sure the neighbours witnessed our bickering! 

Catastrophe!

This morning has been cloudy, and the temperatures have been more comfortable, especially in the office. I took my new thermometer in so we could keep an eye on how warm it became. It reached 28c just before we left as the sun made an appearance in the afternoon.

After work, I drove to my old place of work to provide documents to Dan and Sheila for my new job. When I left and drove home, I realised I was on autopilot and went home the way I used to! Sometimes, I now drive to Overstone and cross the A43 instead, and I was surprised at how quickly I slipped back to old habits!

As we were sitting in the kitchen chatting before dinner, we heard Vince reverse down the drive, and then there was an almighty crunching and scraping... Keith rushed out to find that his wheel had hit the central brick and wooden strut, and the downpipe for the gutter was hanging off and badly bent. Oh dear! Amazingly, his car wasn't damaged! He spoke to Keith about it, but we suspected he would do the repairs to put it right, as he is very handy. 

We enjoyed leftover Chinese for dinner, and Keith and I watched the last episode of Panda, which ended well. Will there be a third series, I wonder? I hope so!

Sinner's a winner!

I woke up to the stunning news that England beat Norway last night! They'll now play Argentina in the semi-finals on Wednesday. Can we really go all the way?

First thing this morning I started preparations for a strawberry and ricotta tart - a recipe that was in You magazine. We thought it would be perfect as a dessert with our buffet lunch today. Our big plan for this afternoon was to watch the Men's Finals at Wimbledon between Sinner and Zverev, but it wasn't starting until 4:00pm.

With the dessert, I mixed porridge oats, brown sugar, honey and butter to form the base and popped this into the oven for ten minutes. I would whip lemon zest into the ricotta before serving and topping with strawberries.

Sophie and I went to see Mum and called into Costa on the way to get a couple of matchas and a  cappuccino.  My Mum seemed a bit bemused by the coffee but enjoyed it, nonetheless! We sat and chatted and then popped to Tesco so Sophie could pick up her new glasses.

Back at home, we relaxed before making a start on lunch. We opened a bottle of fizz from Bergerac and had lunch at about 2:00pm. We were a little surprised by the late start of the tennis as normally is starts at 2:00pm. Starting later risked a long night if it went to five sets!

Like last year, we all made predictions: Sophie said it would go to five sets, with Sinner winning, Keith said three with Sinner the victor and I predicted a four set match with Sinner winning. The winner would be treated to a pint in the pub from the losers!

I have to say that I thought the match was a bit boring. Sinner broke Zverev's serve in the third set but the first two resulted in tiebreaks. In the fourth set, Sinner broke Zverev's serve again and went on to win in four sets, just as I had predicted!

We had eaten dessert later in the afternoon, and I was a little disappointed with it. I wish I had used double cream rather than ricotta as it gave the pud a slightly savoury taste!

There was a lovely breeze in the living room all afternoon and our new thermometer registered 26c before dropping away as the evening wore on. Perfect!

A relaxed Saturday!

Sophie was doing a 5k run in Daventry this morning and I waved her off before 8:00am. I pootled about, getting lots of washing done and tackling housework. It felt a lot cooler today with a heavenly breeze coming in from an easterly direction, so it was lovely. A perfect temperature! Why can't our summers be sunny but about 22-23c? We all hate it when it's too hot! And talking of which, I ordered a little thermometer from Amazon today to tell just how hot it is in our office at work. It will also come in useful at home.

Sophie arrived home as I was eating my lunch and she had two bags of clothes with her; she'd hit all the charity shops in Daventry and had bagged a good haul, as usual! In one shop, she and Becky had paid £7.50 each for a bag and they could fill it with as many clothes as they liked. Sophie had found three lovely dresses, so not bad for £2.50 each!

We had a good chat and then we both went upstairs so Sophie could try on her new clothes. To my delight, North by Northwest was showing so that gave me a perfect excuse to sit and watch it! I had a moment of wishing that Cary Grant was still alive and looking like he did in the film... so gorgeous and sophisticated. I don't know why he was never chosen to be James Bond. He would have been perfect!

Once North by Northwest had finished, Vertigo started, with another of my favourite actors, James Stewart. I had a long, cool shower and we went downstairs to watch Stage 8 of the Tour de France, from Périgueux to Bergerac. I watched it in its entirety and loved every minute. To our utter delight, they featured the Chateau de Hautfort, and it looked gorgeous as the camera panned over it. However, this was only one; there were loads of other chateaux featured. What a fabulous area! We are definitely thinking of going back next year.

While we were watching the race, we had a couple of Aperols with tonic and then opened a bottle of the Euphonie wine we'd bought at Chateau Monbazillac. It was on the sweet side and had to be really chilled, but it was delicious.

As a treat, we ordered a Chinese takeaway and bought enough to have leftovers on Monday night. The Tour de France finished just before 10pm, so it was time to put on the football to see England play Norway in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. As I haven't watched any games and they've won, I didn't stick around and went to bed. I didn't want to jinx it!

Feeling hot,hot, hot!

My office, even at 7:30am this morning, was already warm. I dreaded to think what it would be like later in the day! I came into 182 emails waiting for me, so I was busy throughout my shift. Kathy arrived at 9:00am and we were the only ones in the office as both Sara and Nicola were on annual leave.

Kathy went and fetched some cold water from our water cooler in the gym, and I managed to drink two bottles of water that I'd brought with me. We also made a point of getting up and moving about, but we had a very hot shift, and it was uncomfortable and sweaty.

When I got into my car, the temperature was registering 36c and it went down to about 32c on the way home. As soon as I arrived home, I had a long, cold shower and then sat in front of the fan to dry off. That was bliss!

Sophie and I watched the match between Sinner and Djokovic in the evening, and we were sad that Fery had lost to Zverev earlier in the afternoon. Both of us were in a bit of a despondent mood this evening, mainly due to the heat, which is now becoming uncomfortable. It's not in the same league as France, but there we had an air-conditioned house and a beautiful pool to jump into when it all became a bit much!

We witnessed Sinner win in three straight sets and then caught two episodes of Amanda and Alan in Italy. They looked hot as well! The highlight of the day for me was watching Gardener's World, which came from the RHS Badminton Flower Show. There were some gorgeous gardens!

Sexy stockings!

I had an appointment at the GP surgery this morning to see the nurse about my puffy feet and ankles. She wanted to try me with compression stockings... oh, how sexy! She also urged me to drink more water and make sure I get up and move about regularly during my eight-hour shift, which I have promised to do!

Keith went shopping, and I made a start on loads of jobs that I had to do. It's been hot again today, so in the afternoon, I resorted to wearing my swimsuit, and while updating my blog, I had the fan on and felt lovely and cool. I just wished I'd had a pool to jump into!

As it was so hot - about 30c - I called the care home to say I wouldn't be visiting my Mum this afternoon. I made the right decision, because the residents were being treated to a football party and entertainment, so I was very pleased Mum had gone to that rather than sit with me in her room!

For supper tonight, we had cheese and biscuits (no cooking required!) accompanied by grapes, celery and apples. Keith took advantage of the cooler night air and sat in the garden. He wanted to try to catch a glimpse of our bats wheeling about as dusk fell.

Mooney came in during the evening with one eye closed, and it looked like he'd got something caught in his eye. Sophie held him while I had a look, and I realised it was a blade of coarse grass. I gently pulled it out - boy! Did he struggle! - and then we bathed his eye with a piece of tissue soaked in water. He had obviously wanted us to help him, as he'd let out a long yowl when he came into the living room. How long it had been in his eye, we'll never know. We gave him two cat yoghurts, and he was fine!

This little episode had a happy ending, but I forgot to mention Sophie's rescue mission on Tuesday when she took an injured crow to the vets at Moulton. The poor bird had hit the window at work and had broken its wing. Sophie called the vets, who agreed to take it in, so she'd put it in a box, with help from her colleagues, and driven it to Moulton. They sadly told her that it wouldn't survive and was badly injured, but at least she hadn't left it to die in pain. We were all sad about it, especially as I love crows and loved feeding them when we had our soft play business.

Mooney was fine after all his fuss, and we let him back out so he could continue his roamings!

A Fery good day!

Sophie and I were very excited about our day at Wimbledon, and although we had been a little disappointed that Sinner wasn't playing (he was on Court 1 anyway on Tuesday), we were delighted that we'd be seeing the Fery-Cobolli match instead. Arthur Fery was a British wildcard and had done brilliantly at getting through to the quarter-finals. We were hoping for a fantastic match, and knew that there would be a huge amount of interest!

Sophie had frozen a bottle of German white wine (she thought we would be seeing Zverev) and chilled a bottle of Cava for tipples while we watched. Keith had spent yesterday morning making sausage rolls for us, and these were all packed into a cool bag. We took the two plastic Wimbledon glasses Sophie had acquired on her previous trip, and we were all set to go!

Keith dropped us off at Northampton station, and we bought drinks and pastries to eat before we boarded the train. It was already warm, and we were hoping we wouldn't be too hot later in the day. We had dressed in loose trousers and tops, and I took the hat I bought in France with me.

We grabbed seats on the train and chatted. As we drew near Euston, the train became more crowded, and a young woman standing next to me sank to the floor to try to sit down. I offered her my seat, but she wouldn't take it, even though I offered it twice. The sun was shining relentlessly out of a clear blue sky outside, and the glare from the cars and glass on the buildings was intense.

At Euston, we had a few minutes of difficulty locating our pre-booked Addison Lee car. We found him in the taxi rank with one of the station staff talking to him. We jumped in, and he set off straightaway, thank goodness, but the air conditioning certainly wasn't very strong, and I nearly had to ask him to cool down the car as I was so warm!

It took us over an hour to get to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (a.k.a. Wimbledon) through a maze of London streets teeming with cars, cyclists, pedestrians and scooters. The driver dropped us off a short walk from the entrance, and we joined a throng of other people heading into the grounds. We had to show photographic ID and then our tickets on our phones, which Sophie had sorted out for me. 

Once into the hallowed grounds (it was so good to see the familiar ivy-covered Centre Court), we made our way past The Hill (formerly Henman Hill) to get a glass of Pimms.

The grounds were very busy, and there were long queues for drinks and food. I managed to grab a seat in the shade while Sophie bought the drinks - £13.45 for a glass! While we sipped our drinks, we munched on Keith's sausage rolls, watching other people eating expensive sandwiches and salads!

Our next-door neighbours, Vince and Sue, had kindly lent us their hand-held fans, and they came in very useful today! One of the things that I noticed was the lack of shaded areas to sit at Wimbledon and the lack of seating itself. Seats under an umbrella were hugely coveted!

We finished our drinks, put the plastic glasses into a bin for recycling (we could have had a £1 back, but you can donate to charity) and decided to have a look around. It was very crowded and hot, and the idea of going to look at the outer courts didn't appeal. There were matches taking place on these, but I hadn't heard of any of the players. I was so pleased we had managed to get Centre Court tickets; you can get a Grounds ticket, but that definitely didn't appeal!

A wheelchair match was taking place here

As it was getting close to the 1:30pm start time, we made our way into the underneath area of Centre Court. Here, there were big display screens with all the previous winners, some going right back to the late 1800s!

We found the correct entrance and walked up a flight of steps, where we had to show our tickets again. We then turned right, went up to Level S and along to our seats. We had a fantastic view!

Gradually, the seats filled, and we had a row of people in front of us who had Hospitality lanyards around their necks. I could tell that they were wealthy just by looking at them, but they didn't seem interested in the tennis at all when the Ladies' Quarterfinals started between Marta Kostyuk and Jasmine Paolini. They were solidly engrossed in their phones, checking emails and messages (I could see clearly from where I was sitting) and showed no emotion at all.

We watched avidly as the spectators in the Royal Box arrived, and I spotted Queen Camilla immediately. She had a lovely blue dress on! We also think we saw Roger Federer and his wife (I later found out that Jason Isaacs was there, as well as Dominic West!).

The Royal Box

Sophie and I thoroughly enjoyed the Women's Quarterfinals and predicted that the Ukrainian player, Kostyuk, would win. She did so in two sets. There was a short break before the Men's Quarterfinals started, and we finished off the sausage rolls and the Cava!

Luckily, our seats were in the shade the whole time we were there, and I did feel for the spectators opposite who were sitting in full sun. The people were using fans to cool down, but it must have been so hot.

Shaded seats, thank goodness!

We were looking forward to a great match between Cobolli and Fery, and I hoped it would have some drama and tension. Fery won the first set 6-4, and there was a tie-break in the second, with Fery winning. The crowd went wild whenever he won a point, and Sophie said she felt a bit sorry for Cobolli, as he was definitely the underdog. This is a huge thing for Great Britain, though, as we don't seem to produce winners at tennis (I sometimes forget that Andy Murray is British, as he seems so passionately Scottish first and foremost!) in any great number!

We both thought that Cobolli gave up in the third set as he lost without winning a game. I couldn't believe the great roar of noise when Fery won the last point, and everyone stood up to cheer and go wild! He will face Zverev in the Semifinals on Friday, and Sinner and Djokovic will play as well. Who will be in the Final on Sunday?

We stayed for the interview and then made our way out with thousands of other people. Sophie wanted to visit the shop to buy a towel (£40), and she also bought some hair scrunchies as well. We then went in search of the loos and stopped to buy a bottle of Evian water on the way. We had consumed two bottles of wine over the four hours and hadn't drunk any water at all, so we needed some desperately. We had no choice but to buy a bottle for £5 each; if we had bought them earlier, they would have been filled again for free.

After using the loos, we made our way out of the grounds, but left a different way. Sophie tried in vain to get either an Uber or an Addison Lee car, but a lot of the surrounding roads were closed, and hundreds of people all had the same idea...

I had to stop and take some tablets for a thumping headache (I only had myself to blame), and we started going up a long, steep hill. It was utterly horrible and still relentlessly hot! Sophie then said we were going the wrong way, so we turned around and went back towards the grounds. We spotted a taxi rank queue (horrendous) and one for the bus to take people to the train station.

Some people were being picked up by sleek, black Mercedes and cabs, but it was fruitless searching for an Uber, and we were quoted £120 for one to Marylebone. Sophie descended into a bad mood after the elation of the match, and I tried to cheer her up by saying we would sort something out, but we might have to forego a nice dinner!

In the end, we had no choice but to join the bus queue, which cost us £4 each! People were also queuing for the Park and Ride, and they looked fed up as well! It took us about an hour and a half from leaving the grounds to get to the station, and thankfully, the bus was air-conditioned, so we had a pleasant journey. On the High Street, we saw lots of lovely restaurants and every other person seemed to be carrying a Wimbledon bag!

We used our debit cards to buy tickets and took the District Line to Victoria, where we could change. At first, the train was quiet, but at Southfields Station, a huge swarm of people boarded, obviously all from Wimbledon, so there was a huge crush. I was glad the train was air-conditioned as well!

A lot of people disembarked at Earls Court, which gave us some room. At Victoria, we took the Victoria line and had three stops to go before Euston. We had given up on having anything to eat as we didn't want to be too late back to Northampton.

Unfortunately, the underground train we were on was hot and stuffy and at Oxford Circus, the train stopped, and there was an announcement that there would be a slight delay. I was already uncomfortable being on the Underground (I hate it), so we decided to go and get a taxi. Standing on a hot train was not my idea of fun, and we had no idea of how long the delay would last.

Up at ground level, we hailed a black cab that took us to Euston. We were able to board the 8:56pm train immediately, and made the mistake of sitting next to a very strange man who reached out to touch Sophie's Wimbledon bag. We rapidly found another couple of seats!

On the way to Northampton, we chatted to a woman in the opposite seat who was very interesting, and ever so slightly mad! She was three years older than Sophie and told us all about her job and how she gnawed at her fingers when she was anxious!

Keith was waiting to collect us and take us home. Driving back, it was still registering 27c! Phew! Sophie spent some time outside with the cats while I had a drink and made myself cheese on toast. We watched a few bits of the matches today, and then it was definitely time for bed!

Awkward situations...

I was in the kitchen at work making myself a coffee this morning when our MD walked in, saw me, and looked very awkward. I presume he knows I'm leaving, but he didn't say a word, not even to wish me good luck, and scuttled off to his office, not even holding the door open for me as he went. I was very disappointed, to be honest, as I've worked for the company for almost nine years, and had a close association with him when we sold our soft play business eleven years ago. 

I spent the rest of my shift writing the moan report and catching up with emails. I also mentioned to Nicola that the school holidays are looming and that I've had no holiday activities to put onto the system or swim camps... I don't have long left!

As we were leaving, Angela and Jo mentioned my puffy ankles, which was a bit embarrassing... Gabriel, my physiotherapist, had urged me to contact the doctor about them, as he thinks I'm retaining water. They have been bad in the summer ever since I started working eight-hour shifts three times a week. In the good old days, I finished at 2:00pm so I could go home and potter about.

I went straight home and made an appointment with a lovely nurse called Angela for Thursday morning. On holiday, they were fine because we were drinking gallons of water and I was in the pool every day. I was also moving about a lot more, but working for eight hours at a desk in the heat does me no favours at all.

Sophie had watched some of the Sinner match at Wimbledon today, and said he'd won in three straight sets, so it was a bit boring.!

Before Sophie came home, I started on the dinner, cooking the chicken first and gently frying the leeks and garlic. I felt so hot! Doing this put me in a bad mood, and when Sophie came home, she insisted on taking over. I went upstairs and had a long, cool shower before trying on a new dress for tomorrow. It was a beautiful, long, flowy dress, but it gaped at the cleavage, and I knew I'd be forever fiddling with it. Sophie forbade me from wearing it!

Sophie had finished the preparations for the meal and popped it into the oven when I reappeared. We sat and chatted over a glass of wine and had it confirmed that tomorrow we'd be seeing Arthur Fery play the Italian Flavio Cobolli on Centre Court! Woohooo!!

Freaking hell!

I woke up twice in the night to check on the football scores. The first time was 2:05am, and I learnt that the game had been delayed and had only just kicked off. The second time, at 3:17am, the score was 1-2, and then I had a dream that England lost 5-3. When I woke at 6:00am, I was astounded to see that England had beaten Mexico 3-2! I was totally gobsmacked and kept saying "Freaking hell!"  What a result! I can only imagine the atmosphere in the pubs and clubs when they won!

At work, one of our directors came and sat with Kathy, and I and we chatted about the game. That was a nice touch, I thought, and he told us how he'd gone to bed, but then woken up at 1am, saw the game had been delayed and snoozed on the sofa until the start. I should think a lot of people did that!

The heat is due to build this week, and it was already warm in the office in the afternoon. Milena, one of our finance bods, came in and said she had heard I was leaving and said she'd miss me, which was lovely. We don't work closely together, but have become closer since moving to this new office as we bond over coffee in the morning!

Back home, we all watched Wimbledon, and we were delighted to witness our only British hope, Arthur Fery, beat Dimitrov! What a great double for us today! We're hoping we will see him when we go on Wednesday!

Supper tonight was chicken wraps. We are having the Tangle Pie tomorrow, when it's due to be even hotter. Not a great idea!

Sunday sport

Sophie had an appointment for an eye test at 11:15am this morning, and asked me if I'd go with her. We needed to get some bits in Tesco anyway, which was where Vision Express had an outlet. While she had her eyes seen to, I sat and enjoyed a coffee in Costa, accompanied by a very crumbly flapjack that I almost ended up wearing!

Sophie texted me when she was about to choose her new glasses, and the pair she was wearing when I arrived looked lovely on her. Sophie has an "accessory face" as every single hat she tries on suits her, and now the same thing happens when she puts on glasses!

She placed her order, and we did some shopping. Originally, we had planned to have The Hairy Bikers' Tangle Pie with chicken and leeks, but, as so often happens, we had changed our minds due to Sophie making an appointment to see someone at VW this afternoon. She really didn't fancy preparing the meal later in the day. I think, to be honest, it's better if we eat at lunchtime on Sundays, and during the summer, have something very light! We had a small bickerfest about dinner and wandered around, not knowing what to have. In the end, we settled on chicken wraps with salad and put a tub of hummus and some crisps into the basket as well.

Back home, we unpacked, and I hoovered the kitchen and conservatory, which is rapidly turning into dead fly city as it always does at this time of the year. It doesn't help that we leave the windows open, so all manner of insects come in. I also ran some very hot water into a bucket and mopped all the hard floors downstairs.

Glad that we had done a little housework, we drove to Subway on Brackmills to order lunch before we went to VW. Sophie was able to order the food in advance, and it was ready to be picked up when we arrived. I enjoyed a turkey and ham sub with loads of salad, accompanied by a bottle of water. Now that we are back at home, my water intake has fallen again, and it's due to get hot again next week, so I must try to get into the habit of drinking more!

We drove to VW via our new Brackmills gym to see how busy it was, but there were plenty of spaces in the car park. Unfortunately, our management team chose not to install air conditioning in the building, and it's bad timing that the gym has opened with such a spell of hot weather forecast.

We were a little early, so we sat in the car park of VW and watched an RAC van unhitch a 2022-registered VW Arteon from a low-loader. I felt for the poor couple whose car it was! It was only four years old.

At our appointed time, we went in and saw a woman called Yasmine. She was already familiar with why Sophie had come in, but really didn't have any good news for us. Sophie, quite rightly, said she no longer trusted Olive and that the faults she was having with the car were getting more serious. Yasmine was sympathetic and understood what Sophie was saying, but as it had been a used car, and not a brand new one, the only thing she could do was buy another car, but it would mean upping her monthly payments or putting down a larger deposit.

We left feeling very disappointed, and I said how much I hated buying a new car. It's never an easy process; the value plummets the minute you drive it off the forecourt, and there's always disappointment involved. Sophie said she felt penalised by VW for having a car that was obviously faulty.

Back home, Keith was in his element watching the Grand Prix from our very own Silverstone and the Women's World Cup cricket final. In the early hours of Monday morning, of course, Engand play Mexico, and a lot of pubs are opening at midnight so people can go and watch. I will be tucked up in bed!

Sophie and I sat at the kitchen island, and I did very little, which I now feel guilty about! We stuffed our faces with crisps and hummus and then decided we didn't even want the chicken wraps for dinner, much to Keith's annoyance! We ended up having fish finger sandwiches later in the evening!

A day in Nottingham

We had arranged to see Mike and Abbie in Nottingham today, and go out for lunch. After a bit of wrangling, this had been arranged at a pub in Beeston, where they live. We left home at 11:30am and made good time to their house, which is situated in a quiet residential area of the city. It felt strange to see them in Nottingham when he had got so used to travelling down to Southampton!

Both of their beautiful cats were in the house, so we had a lovely cuddle. Huge was a monster compared to our two!

We drove to Beeston, a suburb of Nottingham, and finally managed to park the car a short distance away from the pub that Mike and Abbie had chosen. It was already pleasantly busy, and people were making the most of the fine weather and sitting outside. I chose half a pint of Biscoff Stout, which was delicious!

We had a good chat and then returned to the car to park closer to the pub we had chosen for lunch, The Commercial. This was a large, busy pub with a beer garden where people were enjoying drinks and food. This time, I had a half pint of Plum Porter, which was good, but I did prefer the first stout I had! 

We'd already checked the menu online before arriving, and placed our orders with the barman after a great deal of dithering on Michael's part. He couldn't decide between the fish and chips and a burger! In the end, he chose a burger along with Sophie, while Keith, Abbie and I opted for the fish and chips. We shared a huge platter of nachos, chicken goujons, beef chilli and halloumi fries first, which filled me up! 

For once, Keith was delighted with the crispy batter on his fish, and he was glad he'd chosen it! Hooray! The food was very good, and there was a lot of it! None of us had any room for puds, Keith paid the bill, and we walked back to the car. Mike and Abbie wanted us to go to a shop called Essen, which specialised in wine and cheese, so we left Keith in the car and walked to Beeston High Street.

The High Street was busy and bustling with Saturday shoppers, and Sophie spotted a couple of charity shops! We went into Essen, and I had a good look at the eclectic mix of wines, all of which I had never seen before. On each bottle was a chalked figure, which I thought was the location of the bottle elsewhere in the shop. But, no, this was the price! One bottle of wine from Jura was £125! I was astounded! These are the sort of prices you'd pay at a wine merchant such as Berry Bros & Rudd in London. I didn't see one bottle under £14, and we certainly weren't interested in buying any after the wines we had brought back from France.

We made a hasty retreat, and Sophie eyed up the charity shops, unable to resist going into a couple to hunt for bargains. Mike suggested we move the car to a nearby road, but Sophie said she was finished, even though I knew she wanted to look at a couple more!

Our last stop was at a pub called "Somewhere", which served quirky craft beers. We left the Sainsbury's car park and drove the short distance to another parking space, just around the corner from the pub. We were lucky to grab an empty table, and everyone ordered a beer, except me. I was still full from lunch and couldn't face another drink!

The pub was very quirky and had row upon row of both soft drinks and craft beers with colourful designs.

We sat and chatted, but the time was getting on, so we left and drove back to Abbie and Mike's house before saying goodbye and having one last cuddle with the cats.

We had a good journey back and decided to stop at The Red Lion at Thornby for one last drink before going home. I pulled off the M1 at junction 20, and we wound our way through beautiful countryside to the charming pub on the main road. There was a jovial atmosphere inside, and we took our seats by the window after ordering drinks. Keith and I used to come here a lot when the landlord had a huge Great Dane dog called Lulu.

We sat and chatted, and the pub emptied out. It appeared that a lot of locals use the pub, which was good news. We only had one drink and left to go home, driving through our stunning countryside. In the distance, we could see Hollowell Reservoir and all the tents for the Hollowell Steam Rally that was taking place.

Back home, it was time to relax and watch a little television before bed!

Trepidation!

I was a little bit apprehensive about going to work this morning as I didn't know what reaction I'd get to my resignation on Wednesday. Sara is now off until the 13th, but Nicola is in as normal, and I was anticipating a barrage of questions from her.

Kathy already knew, and when Nicola came in, she was very pleasant and wished me good luck, as Kathy had done. I think that both Sara and Nicola knew I was going for the job, as one of my colleagues had seen me at my old workplace and had tittletattled! 

The shift passed pleasantly, and it didn't feel too hot today. However, when I got into my car to drive home, the temperature was registering as 29.5c! Phew! Not as hot as France, but warmer than I had expected!

Sophie and I went with Keith to the pub tonight, to see John and give him a bottle of Gin for helping out with Keith while we were in France. We were grateful to him for giving Keith a lift to the pub and down to the VW garage. The men drank pints while Sophie and I had an Aperol Spritz that was more soda water than anything else and was not pleasant!

We left them to chat and went home to have our own version of the drink (far more delicious!) and to watch the second episode of the French Netflix drama about the L'Oréal heiress who had befriended a photographer and had lavished him with money and gifts. The financial matters then evolved into possible tax evasion, including top politicians at the time.

Keith returned home, and we had dinner of cold meats and salad. I didn't fancy the Netflix documentary anymore, so we had a real treat and watched The Cure at the Isle of Wight festival for the rest of the evening. It was fabulous!

A little mooch!

Keith went to Tesco this morning, while I stayed at home and caught up with housework. When he returned, I suggested driving to Market Harborough to wash the VW, which was dusty and dirty after the trip to France.

The weather continues to be beautiful, warm and sunny at the moment, with no sign of any rain. Our garden needs some serious work, but this will have to wait until it cools down a bit. We had the car washed, and they did a fabulous job, as usual. I wondered how much the car wash machine cost, since it uses a conveyor system where you sit in the car and it moves along the track through different washes. The end bit, where long furry arms dry it, is especially good! I should think it was a significant investment, but the car wash is always busy.

After the car was restored to a gleaming state, Keith suggested we drive to Sutton Bassett to see if a pub we used to go to had reopened. The Queen's Head was always a favourite place to go for a drink or a meal and had stunning views over the Leicestershire countryside. We passed by in 2017, and it was firmly closed, but when we drove past today, it had gone altogether! In its place was a new house!

How it used to look

It was a shock, to be honest! We drove on to Weston-by-Welland and made sure that The Wheel and Compass pub was still open! We weren't out for drinks today, but it was lovely to mooch about the countryside and enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Before going home, we passed through the village of Braybrooke and noted that The Swan was still doing business. Maybe on a Wednesday in the future, Keith and I will revisit our old haunts!

I went to see my Mum in the afternoon and sat with her for a good while. One of the carers was in the room when I arrived and said she'd been taking part in more activities, which was good news. The chocolates I'd taken in last week had all gone! I was looking forward to having one!

In the evening, when Sophie arrived home, we booked our train tickets and a taxi for next Wednesday, when we have tickets for the Quarter-finals at Wimbledon. An anytime return ticket from Kettering was £100! We don't know when we'll be returning in the evening, so we couldn't book advance timed tickets. In the end, we booked tickets from Northampton to Euston for £43. It was crazy that two train tickets from Northampton were less than one from Kettering or Wellingborough!

Bargains galore!

Keith and I had an appointment with a solicitor this morning to discuss financial matters, and I had been quoted £350 plus VAT for a half-hour appointment. We arrived just in time (the road to the A43 from Holcot was closed, and I'd forgotten) and had a very helpful chat with a lady called Emma. She gave us advice, and when we left, and I asked about paying, she said the short meeting was free! I was expecting a hefty bill for a fifteen-minute session, so that was a true bonus, and most appreciated!

From the solicitors, we drove to Dobbies Garden Centre, and Keith treated himself to a new pair of summer shoes and a lightweight jacket. Even here, he was charged less than the ticket price, so we were on a roll!

We returned home, and I pootled about in the house until my appointment with Gabriel at The Back & Body Clinic at 3:30pm. I told him that while in France, I'd somehow jolted my heel again when getting into the pool, and the shockwave therapy was especially painful today. He really found the tender spot, but I felt it was doing me good!

Back home, it was great to look forward to tomorrow off as well, as I have now given up Thursdays. I can't work from 8:00am until 2:00pm anymore, so I have stopped. In my new job, I will be working from 8:00am until 4:00pm, and will enjoy the next four weeks of a three-day working week!

Keith watched the football at 5:00pm, and despite saying he wasn't interested in the competition, he did a fair amount of shouting at the screen during the match! We managed to get through by the skin of our teeth and now face Mexico in the early hours of next Monday morning. Apparently, pubs are going to stay open and televise the important match. Me? I will be tucked up asleep!

News!

It's the last day of June... where has this month gone? This year has zoomed past, but that's no wonder as we have been away so much! Work was uneventful again, and I had cleared all the emails by about 3:00pm this afternoon, so I made a start on the Moan report! 

I have a confession to make now... I have a new job and will be starting it on the 3rd of August. I'm going back to my old place of work and working for the enemy! I found out tonight, after I had an interview on Monday and will be working for an old colleague with whom I get on very well! I am excited but a little bit nervous at the same time! He called me this evening, so I will need to give notice tomorrow. I haven't been happy at our new place of work since we moved there, and my work has changed with me back on the phones, but still expected to do all the background admin as well, and the customer service emails. The new job will be purely admin, so I'm looking forward to starting.

We opened a bottle of sparkling Vouvray this evening to celebrate, but I found it a bit dry and switched to a G&T! Dinner tonight was a good old sausage and mash, served with lots of vegetables. I love salad, but I've missed a heap of veggies on my plate!

 

Our TV choice tonight was Panda... I miss France!

Ah! Memories!

 Here is a selection of photos from our trip, all taken by Sophie (in no particular order):

Dinner by the pool -chicken burgers and salad

Cards by the pool

Saint-Emilion in Saint-Emilion

Sniffing game

My kind of heaven!

Pasta in Houlgate

Creme brulée Monbazillac

Lunch Monbazillac

Cheers!

The day of reckoning

When I arrived in the car park this morning, Sara's car wasn't there, which surprised me. She normally texts me if she's off, but I received an email from her explaining that she'd taken an impromptu day's holiday.

Our office felt warm, but when Kathy arrived, she said it had been terrible last week in the heat. She had actually felt ill and had had to leave the office for 10 minutes to try to cool down. This was bad news; I could see we had new fans delivered, but all they do is move warm air around. There has been no mention of getting aircon installed, even a small unit to cool things down.

 

My shift passed uneventfully, and I managed to catch up with all the emails before I left. When Sophie arrived home in the evening, we sat down and worked out our expenses from the holiday. The total wasn't as bad as I'd thought and included lots and lots of wine, beer and little mementoes. We have nothing planned now until January, but we're hoping we may have a sneaky trip to Belgium perhaps in October. We'll see. I think both Sophie and I were suffering from a bout of the post-holiday blues!

Dinner tonight was leftover Chinese takeaway, and Keith and I watched the first episode of Best Medicine after we'd eaten. It's the US equivalent of Doc Martin and was almost word-for-word the same. We stuck it out, but I'm not sure we were totally enthralled!

Our wine and beer haul!

Craving a roast!

I had a wonderful night's sleep and woke feeling refreshed. I didn't think we'd have loads of laundry, but somehow we did! It was a perfect drying day, though, with a lovely breeze and plenty of sunshine, so it wasn't an ordeal to work through the piles!

Sophie and I went to see Mum this morning, and gave her a huge box of chocolates we'd bought in Duty Free yesterday. She was pleased to see us, and we sat with her for a while and talked about the holiday. We then popped to Tesco so Sophie could buy some little gifts for her work friend, whose grandfather had died while we were away.

Back home, we mooched about until it was time to go to the pub for our lunchtime booking. We were all craving a roast, so that's what we had! Sophie and I shared a bottle of Chenin Blanc, and we ordered halloumi fries and hummus with flatbread to start.

For mains, Keith enjoyed leg of lamb, while Sophie and I had chicken. It was lovely to have a roast dinner after so long, and we polished off the food! Sophie and I found room for dessert - I had a very sweet tropical Eton Mess, while Sophie indulged in a white and milk chocolate mousse. The pub was pleasantly busy, and it was lovely to relax and linger over the meal.

Back home, it was definitely time to do very little (except more laundry!), and I lolled about and snoozed for a few hours, which was bliss. I'm obviously still catching up on my lost sleep from Friday night!

Girls' Road Trip - Bergerac, France 12th-27th of June, 2026

An unexpected visitor!

Sophie and I had retired for the night shortly after we got back from Houlgate. We closed the living room windows but left our bedroom windows open wide to get some air. Neither of our bedroom doors closed properly, so it was a good job we were a mother and daughter staying and not two couples!

Outside, I could see flashes of lightning, but I must have dropped off, as I awoke and felt really hot. The windows, which had previously been open, were now closed. I went to find Sophie, who was still awake, and she explained that as she'd been falling asleep, she'd heard little footsteps on the roof, and a cat had jumped onto the windowsill to come into her room! The cat had seen her and then jumped back out again! She wasn't happy about the windows being open anyway, so she'd crept in and closed mine!

I then spent ages trying to get back to sleep, and all the while, bright flashes of lightning lit up the sky outside. The thunder began, and we had two enormous claps which sent shivers down my spine! Sleep was impossible!

In the end, at about 4:00am, I opened my windows again as I couldn't stand the heat and felt like I was suffocating. My bed looked like a battlefield with one pillow tossed onto the floor, the sheet all wrinkled, and the duvet pulled back. We had both put the hand towels under the cold tap and wrung them out before draping them over us. They had kept us cool for a while until they dried out! It was a terrible night, and we really should have asked for fans to help circulate some air. The storm and heavy rain did nothing to alleviate the heat, and it was a huge relief when we could get up, have showers, and leave. Florence met us outside, we handed her the keys and fled!

As soon as we drove onto the ferry, we bought four pains au chocolat in the café and made our way to our cabin on Deck 9. We had an outside, four-berth cabin, with two beds, a sofa (which converted into a bed), a small table and chairs, television, free mini bar and en-suite shower and loo. A steward knocked on the door and said we had breakfast included, and asked if we wanted to eat in our cabin. We wished we hadn't bought the pastries now!

He brought it on a tray, and we had more pastries, little bread rolls with jam and butter, coffee and orange juice. It was lovely!

After breakfast, I had a long nap to make up for the sleep I lost last night. Sophie also managed an hour, so we felt a little more refreshed! After exploring the ferry (Mont-Saint-Michel), we returned to the cabin and watched Saturday Morning Kitchen in its entirety! What a treat!

The crossing passed very pleasantly again. I had another nap, and we went up to the café again for a toasted sandwich. In the distance, we could see land, and by 1:00 pm, we were being asked to vacate our lovely cabin and then return to the car.

Homeward bound

It took us ages to leave the ferry and get through passport control, with several cars being searched again. We think it was down to a man hiding in the roofbox of a car a short while ago, so perhaps the authorities were being more vigilant.

We had a good journey home, and I told Sophie to ignore Jeeves if he suggested wiping off any minutes from the time! We stuck with the M3, the M27, the A34, the M40 and then our very own A43. The traffic was light, and it was a beautiful sunny day. It was also warm! We had thought we'd left the hot weather behind!

Keith was pleased to see us, and we even managed a cuddle with Mooney! The house looked lovely, but it was so hot! We could tell that the UK had been suffering high temperatures as well, as the garden looked dry and dusty.

Sophie was even more overjoyed to see Gomez, and we unpacked the car. Keith was astounded by the wine and beer we'd brought home with us! It will keep us going for a few weeks!

Dinner tonight was a Chinese takeaway, and then I have to confess it was a cool shower and a very early bedtime for me. I was shattered!

Girls' Road Trip - Bergerac, France 12th-27th of June, 2026

To the north!

We were both up, showered, dressed and ready to go by 7:45am this morning, and before taking to the road, we deposited all of the recycling in the bins opposite the school. Our route back to Caen would be slightly different to the route down; I wasn't keen on the long drive on the A10 or the roads around Bordeaux, Nantes and Rennes. Instead, we used the D709 (our road!) and then the D708 from Riberac. We would then follow a succession of D roads to Angoulême before joining the N10 to Poitiers. From Poitiers, we would take the A10 for a short while to Tours and then the A28, passing Le Mans, followed by the A88 and the N158 up to Caen, where we were staying overnight. We estimated it would take us about eight hours, factoring in stops on the way.

The road from Mussidan to Riberac was quiet, but I had a "Convoi Exceptionnel" lorry in front of us. He was travelling at a fair pace, though, so there was no need to try and overtake! We lost him in the small town of Riberac, and from then onwards, almost to Angoulême, we had the road to ourselves. It truly was French driving at its very best, with long straight roads, which cut through fields of sunflowers, and quiet little villages. At one point, we could see for a fair few miles in the distance, and there was nothing on the road at all!

We'd decided to stop for coffee and pastries once we'd driven past Angoulême, and we pulled off at a Village Étape called Mansle. First of all, we missed the signs for parking as I spotted a squirrel crossing the road using a pedestrian crossing, and was quite understandably distracted! Sophie was not amused!

We retraced our route and ended up parking outside an Aldi, where we had a much-needed coffee and ate the two pastries we'd cooked last night. There were no toilets in Aldi, so we had to use the satnav to find public toilets. I was directed off the main road in Mansle onto a tiny residential street where the local cats thought it was a good idea to sit in front of the car and not move...!

We abandoned finding the toilets, and we both vowed never to use the Village Étapes again, as they are just villages and the search for parking, toilets and cafés is solely down to the driver and passengers. The locals seem to think it's fun to hide all the important signs, and they are definitely not clearly marked! We rejoined the N10 and stopped to use the loos at the next aire, which was a much better decision!

Pushing our luck?

As we neared Tours, a little idea popped into my mind... Amboise was close by. Why not make a detour and have a drink in the town? I suggested this to Sophie as going straight to Caen would see us arriving at about 2:00pm. She agreed (although to this day I don't think she was really into it) and put in directions for Amboise.

As we approached the town, we could see huge thunder clouds in the distance, and we saw lightning several times. I imagined arriving in Amboise in the middle of a violent thunderstorm! It was about 32c now and not as cool as we'd hoped, despite being further north.

The route into the town was not an easy one. We had to navigate several sections of the road where oncoming traffic had the right of way, and I managed to severely annoy a convoy of French cars when I abruptly stopped just as the road narrowed. I was going to go, but then I saw a car approach, so I stopped. Talk about being dramatic! Grown men (for they were all men) gingerly inched past me as if they were driving juggernauts instead of normal cars, and the only driver who had any sense was a woman who waved me into a driveway to ease the congestion. It was not pleasant!

We parked on the outskirts of the town and had a hot walk to the centre, where we'd had a drink in previous years. We sat at the first restaurant we came to, which we initially thought was just a bar. It was an Italian restaurant, and when we asked for just drinks, the waitress snatched the cutlery and napkins off the table in a huff! Whose idea was it to visit the town? Was the grumpiness due to the heat?

We ordered a glass of wine each and didn't specify which one, so we ended up with two unpleasant drinks that cost us 14 euros. We couldn't wait to finish them and go!

Very nice in Vouvray

Before walking back to the car, we popped into a Carrefour City, and I bought two bottles of sparkling Montlouis wine - the wine that Keith and I had at our wedding. I've never seen it in the UK, so the French must keep it all to themselves! How we had it 34 years ago is beyond me!

I said to Sophie that we'd stop in Vouvray before heading back on the road, as I wanted to try and squeeze some enjoyment out of our impromptu stop! We pulled into the car park of the wine merchant we'd stopped at in 2023 when it was closed, but it was very much open today. Hooray!

I suddenly thought about buying a Vouvray from 1996, so I asked the very helpful man serving if he had one. He had a good look, but no, he had no wine from that vintage. He was lovely and chatty and spoke excellent English, so we were able to explain why we loved the wine, and we tasted two bottles, both on the sweeter side. I told him about the 1970 and 1971 Vouvrays that Keith and I had bought in the 1990s, before the children came along. 

We had a wonderful chat with the man who looked like Jamali Maddix, so this was another man for Sophie to flirt with over wine! He mentioned that the locals in Amboise hate tourists, so this might have explained the hostility we encountered. I think it'll be a long time before we go back! We tore ourselves away after buying two bottles (24 euros) and joined the A10 north of Tours for a couple of miles, before taking the A28.

The A28 was beautifully quiet, and we made good progress up to Le Mans, stopping at a baking hot aire to eat our sandwiches, drink lots of water and use the loos, which Sophie said were disgusting. From the A28, we took the A88 towards Caen, following the N158 for the last part of our journey.

Hot and bothered!

I had been dreading the last section of our journey to the Airbnb on the outskirts of Caen, but it was surprisingly easy, and Sophie expertly navigated me to the house on a quiet residential street. Our host had insisted on meeting us, which we hate, as the last thing we want to do after a day's travelling is try to make small talk (in French) with our host while they show us where the spoons are and how the light switches work.

Florence met us, spoke French rapidly to us as we followed her around the tiny Airbnb and made no mention of fans to alleviate the heat in the house. I had expected this, but the reality was terrible. The house was baking, so once Florence had gone, we threw open all the windows to try and cool the rooms down a little.

I managed to bring the car around to the front door of the house so we could unpack what we needed. By now, we were hot and sweating and not looking forward to a night in the house! To make it worse, there were still furry throws on the beds, and an itchy blanket on the sofa. Ugh!

The first of the three ejections... read Saturday's entry for the third!

As we were putting things away, Sophie screamed and then managed to trap a huge spider which had been lurking in her bedroom! The open windows then attracted a monster cricket, which seemed intent on staying in the house despite my efforts to eject it! I had no idea they were so huge!

No, this isn't AI-generated!

As the days led up to our stay in this Airbnb, we had toyed with the idea of going to one of our favourite towns on the Normandy coast for dinner. We hadn't shopped for anything to eat tonight, and the prospect of staying in the swelteringly hot house did not appeal in the slightest! We decided to head for Houlgate, perhaps our favourite town of all (and where we're staying next January) and have dinner there. There were two problems: it was June, not January, and we were fully expecting to find it difficult to park and get a table.

We both had cool showers, and I ironed a pair of light trousers and Sophie's dress. We then shut the windows and, before going to the car, had a look at the other three little houses next to us, as it was obvious that they too were Airbnbs owned by Florence and George. There was a lock on the entrance gate, and we wondered if we'd have any neighbours when we returned.

To get to Houlgate, I had to briefly use the hated péripherique but then we joined the A13 to the coast, reminding ourselves to pay the Sanef free-flow toll tomorrow when we arrived home. We stopped for petrol in Dives-sur-Mer, and then carried on along the coast to Houlgate. It was certainly different from the freezing cold days of January, but there were still parking spaces along the coast road.

Once in Houlgate, though, the spaces were all taken along the road, but we found a large car park near a beautiful church. We made a note of this for January! We took a short walk to the town centre and chose the first restaurant we came to, an Italian called La Dolce Vita. 

They were happy to welcome us and sat us on the terrace overlooking the street, where we could watch a continuous procession of people looking for somewhere to eat, or going back to their accommodation after time spent on the beach.

Tonight, for some reason, I felt homesick. Whether it was because I was tired and hot, I don't know. We ordered a bottle of Sicilian Nero D'Avola, a large bottle of water and a platter of meats and cheeses for a starter. I followed Sophie's lead, and we both chose pasta carbonara for a main course.

The restaurant was pleasantly busy, and the staff were lovely. The food was delicious, and the carbonara was just as it should be, with the egg making the sauce lovely and creamy. We managed to find room for dessert and ordered panna cotta topped with a red fruit coulis, which I think took us over the edge! Phew! It was certainly cooler here, though, with a lovely breeze blowing.

We paid the bill - 96 euros, the most expensive of the holiday - and set off for the car. On the way back to Caen, we parked at our usual little car park so Sophie could dip her toes in the sea. A lot of people were still on the beach, playing ball games or just soaking up the cool night air. It was still light, as the sun wasn't due to set until after 10:00pm. In the distance, dark storm clouds had gathered, and we saw several lightning flashes.

Beautiful church 

Storm clouds gather

It took us less than half an hour to get back to Caen, and the roads were very quiet. We parked right outside the house again, and the heat inside took our breath away. I had a feeling we were in for a bad night...

To be continued!