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!
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