Not quite the end of the working week...

As I'd dealt with a lot of emails yesterday, I was able to get some other admin jobs completed today, which was great as the half-term bookings open in nine days!

The shift passed quickly and it was great to leave at 4pm. However, I'm back in tomorrow so not a normal Friday night feeling of relaxation!

Sophie and I opened a bottle of Cotes du Rhone white this evening and it was deliciously fruity. After a good chat about our working days, we watched an episode of Grand Designs which started in 2019... always a bad sign if it has taken five years to complete a build!

Keith went to the pub to see John but there must have been a breakdown in communication as he wasn't there. Keith had been looking forward to having a chat with him about the wine regions we'd visited as John is definitely an oenophile! He returned early and put the finishing touches to a delicious curry he'd prepared earlier. We hadn't had one for a while and it was lovely and spicy!

I see the light(s)!

Today has been busy, and I walked into about 70 emails to tackle through my shorter shift. At 2pm, Keith collected me, and I dropped him off at home before picking up Mum for her nail appointment. She decided on a beautiful blue today, which matched the scarf she was wearing!

By the time I arrived home, it was 5pm, but Keith and I were cooking scampi and chips tonight for dinner, so no preparation was needed (Keith had earlier sliced up the potatoes). Sophie was already home and was heading out for dinner with Laura to Yardley Hastings.

I was still suffering from the post-holiday blues, so I watched an episode of Michel Roux in Provence to cheer myself up! He spoke about his love for butter and slathered it onto a baguette before stuffing it into his mouth! 

Our dinner tonight was simple and I used my new thermometer to ensure the oil was at the correct temperature. I'm always wary of deep-frying so I didn't take my eyes off the bubbling oil at all. Dinner was lovely and made a change as we hardly ever eat scampi or fry chips!

Sophie arrived home at about 10pm, and after a quick chat, it was time for bed. I went to sleep but woke up at about midnight with an itchy foot. I peered out of the curtains and was astonished to see the Aurora lighting up the night sky!

I could even detect the different colours without using the camera on my phone. One part of the sky was green, and there was a large swathe of a pinky/reddy hue right in front of me. It was fabulous!

Earlier in the evening, neighbours had been posting so I knew there was a chance of seeing them tonight. I'm just so glad I woke up!

Looking back

This morning, I found a photograph album of our 1993 visit to France, and I confirmed that Le Vendangerot was indeed the hotel Keith and I stayed in. I had kept receipts, and we noticed that the name was used on the bill when we checked out!

It seems strange to see the bill in francs, not euros!

Hotel du Commerce, not Commercial as we'd thought!

We also bought a case of Rully to take home:

It was great to look back at a holiday we took over 30 years ago and reminisce! It's a lot easier now with just the euro, rather than all the different currencies we had to deal with back then!

I spent the morning pootling about and trying to persuade Mooney NOT to bring in live rodents! A poor little shrew-type thing escaped his claws and went running about in the conservatory, chased by Keith with a net. It eventually found its way under the sofa and stayed there, but when it emerged later on, Mooney caught it again! The poor little mite must have been terrified!

I sat and had lunch with Sophie - the leftover pasta from last night, which was delicious - and then went to see Mum and Dad in the afternoon. I tried my hardest to get Netflix back on their television, but there was a problem with their internet connection which was beyond my control. When I left, I spoke with the receptionist and said I would email someone to help. My parents miss the films available on Netflix and they're paying every month for the service!

Back home, I made the porridges and Keith and I did the shopping list for the rest of the week. Back to the daily grind! I certainly didn't miss this!

Tonight, for the first time in ages, I cooked liver and bacon with onions. Keith could only get pigs' liver, but it was still delicious if a little stronger in taste than our usual lambs' liver. It was a real treat and we both enjoyed the meal, but Sophie chose one of her pasta dishes to eat. She's very adventurous with food, but draws the line, for some reason, with liver!

A dose of the holiday blues!

To my dismay, the A43 was still closed this morning, so the traffic was heavy on the way to work. I later found out that two men had sadly died on Monday afternoon, and this just confirms the loathing I have for this section of the road. It needs to be widened into a dual carriageway, but I can't see that happening for many years.

I had fewer emails to deal with today, and I was able to put most of the swim camps on for the October half-term, which is rapidly approaching! I did have a dose of the holiday blues, though! Outside, it was raining, and I kept thinking of the Provencal sunshine and the fields of beautiful vines!

Unbelievably, the A43 was still closed, so I decided to go home via Brixworth. When I arrived, Sophie was looking stressed after another day of training and dealing with Mooney-cat, who was constantly asking for attention, and in and out all the time. I think she was longing to go back to her office with no distractions and interruptions!

When she finished work, she prepared a pasta dish, and we opened a bottle of Italian red wine to accompany the meal. Keith and I played cards while she pootled about chopping vegetables and preparing the meal. We put the heating on in the kitchen as it was a chilly night!

Back to reality!

It was back to normality today and work for both Sophie and me, although my daughter was working from home and taking part in an online management training course.

Keith ran me to work as he had to go to Tesco again and I had a busy shift, catching up with Sara and  Sheila and dealing with as many emails as possible. I was amazed to see Sara's desk laden with chocolates and sweets when I arrived, so I've kept my contribution back for a week! 

At 4pm, Keith picked me up and we had an awful journey home, due to a bad accident on the A43. He had seen ambulances and a fire engine go past on the way to collect me and looking back, it would have made more sense to go another way home. We crawled from the A43 roundabout down to Holcot because of the new chicane, parked cars and the part where the road narrows. The small village just couldn't cope with the volume of traffic.

Sophie was tired from her training and having to deal with Mooney who was in and out of the conservatory all day. He is bringing small rodents in on a daily basis now, either dead or alive, and I dread to think what will happen when we have the cat flap fitted. We'll have to keep the double doors into the kitchen firmly closed or the house will be overrun with furry creatures!

Keith cooked a delicious chilli for dinner and afterwards, it was time to exercise our brains with the fiendishly difficult Only Connect, and then University Challenge, which I thought posed hard questions this evening!

De-catifying the house!

I had a great night's sleep but Sophie suffered overnight with a tight chest that kept her awake. She had let the cats into her room while we were away, and she said the bed and carpet were covered in cat hairs. I wanted to get rid of the catty smell that pervaded the house after they'd been kept inside for over a week with all the windows tightly closed. We all hoped that the catflap would be fitted before our trip to Berlin in November.

I was awake at 7am and had put the first of many washes into the machine. I then sorted out the rest of the laundry and Sophie said she was going to wash her entire bedding, even the mattress protector! Most of our luggage was still in the car so we emptied that out, and I removed the headlight convertors that had stayed put! Normally, one of them drops off!

Keith went to Tesco to buy ingredients for a chicken casserole this evening and Sophie and I unpacked the large suitcase and put the clean clothes away. I opened all of the windows and the back door in an effort to freshen the house up!

We had a busy morning but by lunchtime, the unpacking had been done, and the wines were standing proudly on the worktop in the kitchen (we had used up the spare slots in the wine rack!). Our wine fridge was full and Keith had prepared the vegetables for tonight's dinner. Vegetables! He prepared broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and green beans, and we added carrots and onions to the casserole! We missed our veg!

Sophie and I had sold some clothes on eBay so we packaged them up and popped to Mawsley to send them off. The weather has been disappointing today with heavy grey clouds and a chilly wind. It didn't stop me from opening the windows wide, though, and the catty smell has now gone! It helped that we'd removed the litter trays and I'd vacuumed the house and mopped the conservatory and kitchen floors!

I made up Sophie's bed with fresh bedding and we continued to do the washing all afternoon and into the evening. Poor Keith will tackle the ironing while we're both at work.

Dinner tonight was delicious and it was great to have vegetables again! I made dumplings to pop into the casserole and as the evening wore on we put on the heating to make the house cosy. The cats seemed to appreciate the warmth!

After dinner, Sophie and I caught up with Fake or Fortune, which was a great episode and kept us guessing right until the end!

Provence 28th of September - 5th of October 24

Saturday 5th of October

A long journey...

I didn't have the best of sleep last night, unfortunately, and was dreading the long journey home today. For some reason, I just couldn't get to sleep and I was still awake at midnight! I woke up this morning at 6.30am and was very grouchy! Poor Sophie made me a coffee and did all the packing for us, bless her! She was a tremendous help and I did apologise for being such a misery!

We were facing a journey of over 300 miles to get to the town of Arras, where we'd booked a table for a late lunch. Sophie had booked Le Petit Rat Porteur, a restaurant we'd visited before, and she was looking forward to a beef casserole, even though they served one of her favourite dishes, a Welsh!

Our plan was to leave at 8am as it was going to take us a good five hours to get to Northern France, taking into account stops for petrol and to use the facilities at the aires. Isabelle said she would meet us to take back the keys, and we messaged her asking if she could make it earlier as we were ready by 7.30am.

It was a lovely morning, but chilly and I was so glad the roads were quiet as it was quite confusing to get back onto the autoroute. I have a dread of going the wrong way down a street and meeting oncoming traffic, so we did a few diversions down deserted roads until we saw signs for the motorway!

Once on the autoroute, we saw the 300-odd miles diminish and the road was quiet, which meant it was a little boring! Keith looked out for buzzards and saw many sitting on the fence overlooking the autoroute. Some of them were splendid-looking with white chests and beautiful plumage. I also spotted my mistletoe balls, so we were both happy!

Burgundy must be a large region of France because it took us almost two hours to get to Troyes, where we'd turned off the autoroute last Saturday! Once past Reims, we began to look forward to getting to Arras for a much-needed break and lunch! 

Horse, anyone?

Trish expertly took us into Arras and we were lucky to find a parking space near the centre. There was a market going on and the place was heaving with people sitting outside at bars and restaurants and enjoying beer and wine. The weather was beautiful with warm sunshine and blue skies.

We arrived at the restaurant almost an hour earlier than we'd planned so I asked if we could eat early. We had booked a table in the cellar restaurant and luckily, it was free. We sat and perused the menu and I noticed horse steak listed as one of the dishes. Definitely not a choice for us!

We chose the 30 euro set menu - Keith chose poached eggs with a local cheese, I had goat's cheese salad and Sophie opted for the salad served with camembert. Sophie and I both chose the "flammande de boeuf" for our main course while Keith opted for the chicken.

The place was very busy with a big party next to us celebrating a birthday. Sophie and Keith were fascinated by a toddler who was wandering around annoying other diners while his parents ignored him and stuffed themselves with their lunch!

Our food arrived and my salad was delicious. The goat's cheese was presented on little toasts and I had smoky bacon mixed in with the salad leaves. Both Keith and Sophie enjoyed their starters as well, and looking back this would have satisfied me, along with a dessert!

Sophie and I didn't honestly enjoy our beef stew. There was a bitter aftertaste to it, and Sophie could detect cinnamon in the dish. It was served with more salad and French fries but we couldn't put our finger on what the bitter taste was, unless it was Flemish beer?

We had already ordered our desserts - profiteroles for Keith, Tiramisu for Sophie and a waffle for me, and by the time we'd finished, the restaurant had emptied out. One of the women at the large birthday party said we'd have peace now as she walked up the stairs and grinned at me. We have met such friendly people on this holiday, and they have all been lovely and understanding with my schoolgirl French!

After paying the bill (Sophie's treat) we waddled off back to the car, stopping at a chemist on the way so Sophie could stock up on her favourite French perfume and skin care. We then popped into a Carrefour where I bought some more chocolates for my Mum and for work, but no Cracksters. I think we have enough!

Homeward bound

The last leg of the journey up to Calais was easy and the roads were empty. Just as we were about to get close to the Shuttle terminal, we encountered a traffic jam, the first for 1,600 miles! I suspected it was because the A16 to Dunkerque was closed, but the delay only held us up for about twenty minutes, and soon we were checking in and choosing an earlier train.

We had a look in Duty-Free but decided we had enough wine to last us! We were called to board and while we waited I drifted off, waking with a start when Keith said our line was driving onto the train! Once on board, I put my seat right back, asked Sophie to hand me one of my pillows and slept for the entire crossing! I felt much better when I woke up and was more than ready to face the journey back home.

We arrived back in Britain at about 5.30pm and the journey home, along the M20, M25, M11 and A14 was smooth and easy. Our house was cold and smelt very catty! They were happy to see us but a bit wary at first, almost as if they had forgotten us! Isla had left us a note and the cats looked sleek and glossy. Gomez even looked a little fatter!

We left most of the stuff in the car, Keith made me a G&T and we sat and watched television until it was time for bed. I knew we had a mammoth job tomorrow, unpacking and sorting out the washing, but I was looking forward to a good night's sleep in my bed! Bliss!