An early start.

I had texted Sara last night saying that we'd been delayed on the ferry and had asked if it was OK to go in a bit later, but I was up at 7am and into work at the normal time. Sara was glad I'd gone in as we were very busy with phone calls and I had to do the box office returns as well! The time flew by! By the end of my shift I felt very tired indeed!

I dashed home, very glad I didn't have to go to school today! After a quick change Sophie, Keith and I went to see my Mum and Dad and took them a bottle of wine and some chocolates. The wine was from a village called Saint Pourcain and they had stayed at a little auberge there for many a time while visiting France, so it held special memories for them both.

On the way home we called into the local shop and Sophie bought us an ice-cream. The sun was out and it was lovely to sit in the car and enjoy our treat!

In the evening we were all very tired! Our long day yesterday had really caught up with us! Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

The beautiful Opal Coast

We awoke to another grey, foggy and murky day. Outside our bedroom window the traffic was streaming into the port and it looked like an endless row of lorries. We quickly showered and told Soph and Mike we were going down for breakfast as we were getting a little worried we'd be late for our 9.30am ferry.

Fortunately, the breakfast staff were a lot friendlier and more efficient than the crew on last night in the restaurant, and while we waited for the children to arrive we enjoyed good coffee, cereals, fruit and toast.

Sophie and Mike appeared and we made them choose their cooked breakfast really quickly, poor things! Our choices arrived about 15 minutes later and we all tucked in to eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns and baked beans. It certainly set us up for the day!

After we'd eaten we dashed back to our rooms, gathered up all our belongings and checked out. While I packed the car with the help of the children, Keith had a word with the receptionist about last night's fiasco so at least they're warned I'll be mentioning the situation when they send me their survey!

Luckily, the traffic had died down a bit but by the time we reached the P&O check in point we were told to board straight away. I had to drive up a steep corrugated ramp which was a bit hairy (I was terrified I'd stall the engine) but soon we were parked and heading up to find some seats.

Outside we couldn't see a thing...

Once the ferry left the port we went and bought a pack of playing cards and sat in the restaurant with a coffee playing our favourite game, which was very pleasant. I actually felt like I was on holiday! We'd had a meander around the Duty Free shop but nothing caught our eye - some of the prices were more expensive than Tesco!

After about an hour and a half we arrived in Calais and we were really pleased to see the sun come out. Hooray! We drove onto the A16 and headed towards Boulogne, hoping to see a sign for the D940, the coast road that runs almost parallel to the motorway. We didn't so we took a chance and came off the A16, heading into Calais. We were delighted to see a sign for Sangatte and realised we'd picked up the road we wanted.

This road wound its way along the coast through some pretty villages and dramatic countryside. At one point we were climbing really high and when the road opened out we had tremendous views of the cliffs and rolling fields. Unfortunately, the fog still lingered, especially over the sea, so we couldn't see as much as we'd liked. We passed Cap Blanc Nez (Cape White Nose) and drove on to Cap Gris Nez (Cape Grey Nose) which juts out into the sea and from where, on a clear day, you can see the white cliffs of Dover. We'd passed some lovely villages on the way - Escalles, Wissant and Tardinghen - and I'd love to come back and explore some more one day.

We took the road to Cap Gris Nez and parked in the quiet car park. We were able to follow several paths to the viewing point and although we couldn't see much of the sea, the area had a lovely, quiet feel to it which we loved.

There were a few other people about and we could see a lighthouse in the distance. This area has a lot of history from the first and second world wars and the information boards were very good at telling us what had happened here as well as describing the local flora and fauna.

I wanted to go to the lighthouse but we realised we didn't have a great deal of time so we returned to the car and pushed on to the gorgeous seaside town of Wimereux. We managed to park on the main street and walked down to the front where we found a beautiful esplanade adorned with bars, hotels and beach huts. The weather had improved dramatically and we saw blue sky and sunshine. It was lovely!

We stood and gazed out to sea and thought we saw seals but later we discovered they were rocks! It was very pleasant and it was wonderful to see the sun shining after the morning's fog.

The sea came right up to the promenade but the tide was going out.

I loved this large house, but it needs some tlc!

The quality of light here was beautiful.

We meandered along the promenade and came to a slip leading straight into the sea so Sophie and I had a paddle. The water was freezing cold!

A couple of children were playing on the rocks next to the slip and were collecting sea water in a little bucket. There was a lovely atmosphere to the quaint little town and no doubt it gets very busy in the high season. We saw a smart hotel on the front called the Hotel Atlantic and looked at the price of the rooms - from about 180 euros!

By now it was quite warm and we fancied a sit down and a drink so we wandered back the way we'd come and went a bit further. There were two bars near to where we'd first arrived on the promenade, but I wanted to explore a bit more! However there was only a bridge with a river running underneath it and an ice-cream and waffle stall at the end of the promenade, so after visiting the public loos (no toilet seats!), we went back to the first bar we'd seen.

It was called Les Oyats (beachgrasses, I think) and we sat and enjoyed a beer in the gorgeous sunshine. We picked a beer called La Chouffe which was similar to Leffe but lighter and more floral. It was very pleasant indeed sitting in the sun and soaking up the warmth and ambience. I hope one day we'll be able to go back for longer.

As it was now about 3pm we returned to the car and set off back to Calais, deciding to take the A16 half way along so we could gain a bit of time. After a quick, but very embarrassing detour to the freight terminal for the Euro Tunnel, we finally found the entrance to Cite Europe and parked the car among a sea of British number plates. Our first stop was Carrefour where we bought beer, wine, chocolates and smoked sausage and after taking all our shopping back to the car we headed for the restaurant quarter. The place we normally visit was empty but The Black Bull pub opposite was busy with people eating and waiters dashing to and fro. The menu looked OK so we sat down and ordered some beers and made our choices.

Sophie and I went for the chicken breast in a mushroom sauce served with frites and salad. Keith went for half a chicken while Mike opted for the safe spaghetti bolognese. We enjoyed garlic bread to start and the food was very good. We liked the addition of a bread basket to go with our mains!

Sophie and I also indulged in a dessert of crepes with cream and chocolate so we waddled back to the car! Getting back to the ferry terminal at Calais took a bit longer than we'd anticipated and when we arrived at the check-in we were told there was an hour's delay because of the fog, which was still, like a bad smell, hanging about!

We parked in our designated line and waited for an age to board. As we waited the fog became even thicker and I dreaded it being the same in Kent. However, after a noisy crossing when I tried in vain to have a nap, the weather was clear but we did encounter some foggy spots on the way home. I'm just glad it wasn't too bad!

We arrived home at 1am, three hours after we drove off the ferry in Dover. It had been a very enjoyable day and I'm really hoping that one day we visit this beautiful area of France again!

Down to Dover!

I was at work at 7.30am this morning and hoping to get all my box office returns done so I could leave a bit earlier than I'd hoped.

By 11am I was all done and looking forward to a day and a half off! I sped home to find Sophie working through all the jobs she had to do and about to hoover the house. I finished packing for our day in France and found the map we needed, plus the breathalyser and headlight converters we'd bought back in December, the last time we visited.

I was a bit disappointed with the weather, to be honest. For some reason I'd just assumed we would be enjoying sunshine and blue skies but it was grey and overcast, with heavy showers forecast. By 1pm we were all ready to go, with the car packed (my pillows were in) and then we had a malfunction with the tumble dryer door. It just wouldn't close. Keith tinkered with it and managed to get it going but I was worried it wouldn't turn off. The plan had been to go to the doctor's with him for his 1.30pm appointment and then hit the road straight from there, but I suggested we go back and check that the machine hadn't overheated and blown up. Looking back we could all have stayed at home while Keith went on his own but for some reason this never occurred to us until we'd left...

Keith went for the results of his blood tests and everything was good, which was a relief. We sped back home, emptied the tumble dryer, dumped it all on a chair in the living room and left for good this time! Our journey down the M1 was slow and hampered by the weather, which was stormy. We saw lightning and heard thunder in the distance. Not really what I'd imagined!

We crawled along the M25 and decided to take the M20 to Dover as we'd heard reports of flooding on the M2. Radio 2 said that the weather was terrible and we couldn't believe that all the sunny days we'd enjoyed had disappeared!

At Dartford, we sped on and saw huge jams leading onto the M2 and going the other way on the M25 - it turned out that there was a gas leak in the town and also one of the tunnels had been closed. Not a good day!

Luckily, the M20 was fine and although we had some really heavy rain as we neared Dover, we made it to the port by 6pm. By now it was misty and murky and more like a November day than a May one! We checked in to the Premier Inn and dealt with a very friendly man on Reception before dumping our bags and heading out to St Margaret's at Cliff, a village we'd visited before.

We wound our way down a steep and narrow road to the bay and parked in the car park of The Coastguard pub. A man greeted us and asked us if we were eating but we'd booked the special meal deal at the hotel for tonight and tomorrow's breakfast. We waited at the bar to be served and even though there were several staff about, it took them a good ten minutes to serve us, which really annoyed Keith!

Eventually we managed to order, and two beers, two glasses of wine and two packets of crisps came to almost £19! No wonder so many pubs are going out of business! It infuriates me that it costs us more for a glass of wine than it does for a decent bottle of Pinot Gris in Aldi!

We stayed at the bar and chatted but the weather didn't improve at all. In fact, I think it got worse! We left after one drink and went to The Smugglers pub on the High Street of the village. The other pub we'd been in to some years back was all boarded up, which was a shame as it was a quirky little place and we'd liked to have gone back. Keith ordered at the bar and I had an orange juice while Sophie was given a glass of Chardonnay, which she hates! Unfortunately, Keith's and Mike's beers were sour and smelt like vinegar so they had to be poured away and they had to settle for another choice, which didn't go down well! I don't think we'll be coming back to this village again!

This was all very disappointing as the only reason I'd booked the ferry was so we could go back to this area but we certainly won't be back! Perhaps next time we'll stay near Folkestone and explore the pubs there!

We left The Smugglers and made our way through the thick fog to Dover. We were all a bit hungry by now so I asked if we could move our table reservation forward, which was fine. We were seated at a shabby banquette seat and we noticed crumbs and bits of the leather all over the seats. Not a great start!

Keith and Mike came over and a waiter came to take our order. We said we'd taken advantage of the meal deal which included a pint of beer or lager, or a glass of wine with the meal. Sophie and I ordered a glass of Pinot Gris and the waiter said that would incur a charge of 50p each as we were only entitled to a glass of house wine. I said that was fine, we'd have the house wine but then he said they didn't have any and we'd have to choose off the normal menu and pay the extra!

At this point I started to get annoyed and asked why they hadn't any house wine (unbelievable!) and why should we be expected to pay extra for something when it wasn't our fault? He asked if I'd like to talk to the manager and I said definitely!

To cut a long and tedious story short, we had a brief argument about the wine and I said that we shouldn't be penalised for something he had got wrong, i.e. not ordering enough bog standard wine, which I find hard to believe. It's not like I had requested a glass of Chablis or anything! He gave in, but very reluctantly, and it left a real sour taste in our mouths. We then waited an age for our starters to arrive and another 45 minutes for our main courses to appear. Was it deliberate? We all thought it was. The food looked like it had been cooked and left on the hot plate for ages so none of us really enjoyed the meal and it was late by the time we'd finished.

On the way back up to our rooms the man on reception came into his own and gave Keith a bottle of water and a glass with ice - there's good service for you! It's a shame his colleagues in the restaurant didn't follow his example!

More painting!

Sophie was working today so we dropped her off as I wanted to get my car washed. The weather's been disappointingly overcast and grey which is typical seeing as I worked the last Bank Holiday and it was lovely!

As soon as we returned home I made a start on glossing the woodwork in Sophie's room. I really didn't want to do it as I hate glossing and I was terrified I was going to get paint on her new quilt or curtains! However, I listened to Radio 2 and soon I was almost finished. I just left the section of skirting board by her shelving unit until she decides what she's going to do with the furniture.

When I'd finished I went and had a shower and then Keith and I went to the tip with her old bedding and the packaging from her headboard. As expected it was busy and by now the sun had made an appearance and the weather had improved dramatically. We popped in to see Mum and Dad and take them a newspaper and stayed for a cold drink as it was getting quite warm!

From Mum's we drove to pick up Sophie and returned home to play cards in the conservatory and enjoy a drink in the sunshine. We had a simple dinner of soup and crusty bread and then it was time to relax before bed. Just as we decided to retire for the night I suggested we hang Sophie's new curtains and they looked fab!

A mammoth day!

I was woken at 3am by bright flashes of light - it was like cameras going off outside the window! I then heard the rumblings of thunder and saw that there was a light on downstairs. It was Sophie, who'd brought Monty in. The rain then started and we were treated to an almighty thunderstorm with almost constant lightning and nearby claps of thunder. It rivalled anything Florida had to offer!

We stayed downstairs for a while and watched the spectacle from the front window before going back to bed. It took me a while to go back to sleep as the storm moved off elsewhere.

I was up again at 7am and planning the day as we had a lot to get done! When Sophie woke up we listed all the jobs we needed to do and first thing, Keith and I went to get some diesel for my car and picked up the Sunday papers. We dropped one into Mum and Dad's and checked they were OK after the storm. My Mum had slept through it but Dad had woken up and agreed it was a good one!

Back home Sophie and I made breakfast of poached eggs on English muffins and then it was time to tackle her room once more. She put a second coat of emulsion on the walls while I painted the very tops and then helped put a second coat on the patchy bits. Keith started to assemble her new headboard which looked very complicated! While Sophie and I painted we listened to the Florida playlist on her phone and it certainly made things a lot easier. Outside it was gorgeous, with blue skies, fluffy white clouds and a cooling breeze. Perfect for painting!

Keith brought the headboard up and had almost assembled it. I'd removed her old one and we moved the bed out so he could fix it to the wall. We then stripped her bed of her old bedding and made it up again with all her new pillows, quilt and sheet. It looked fantastic! I even found a replacement valance in my bedding drawer and ironed that for her so it all looked lovely! She was very pleased!

Keith finished the headboard and Sophie arranged all her books and trinkets on it as it has great storage shelves on either side. He then put up two pictures and a shelf for her so it's all starting to come together. We had achieved far more than we thought today!

By now it was almost 3pm so we had a break, although I was still sorting washing out. We're going to put the black curtains from Sophie's room into Mike's bedroom and I had washed them and hung them on the line to dry. Mike had cleaned his room and hoovered it. Wonders will never cease!

We did re-consider dinner today of homemade beef burgers and baps but we decided to go ahead. The recipe for the baps called for an egg but we'd used them all at breakfast so we had to go without! We assembled all the ingredients and I kneaded the dough for ten minutes before adding softened butter. It was a bit icky! I then had to knead it for another ten minutes! Hard work! We then put the dough into a bowl and put it in the airing cupboard to prove while we made the burgers. We used a Mary Berry recipe and mixed the ground beef with salt, parsley, grated onions and a hot sauce. After shaping them into burger-like rounds we put them in the fridge to chill.

By now I was a bit weary so I went and had a bath and peered at the dough which had doubled in size. I took it downstairs and we divided it into eight baps and left them to rise again for an hour. Sophie had cut up potatoes to make wedges so these went into the oven followed by the baps. We'd brushed them with milk and scattered sesame seeds over the top. They looked OK, but not very round!

We took the baps out and left them to cool and then grilled the burgers. Towards the end of the cooking the grill suddenly went off and we think some of the foil had touched the heating element. Keith was not very happy but the burgers were done so we all sat down to eat.

We agreed that the baps tasted lovely but they weren't soft like the ones we buy in the supermarket! However, the burgers were delicious and we'll definitely make them again! After dinner we collapsed on the sofa and did very little. Outside, the thunder and lightning rumbled away again and we'd heard there'd been flash floods in Northampton and that several homes were under water!

A spot of painting

Keith and I went over to Mum and Dad's house this morning and tidied up their front garden which was a mess. The grass was long and there were some monster weeds in their front verge so it was way overdue a good seeing to.

Keith strimmed the small areas of grass and then mowed them while I pulled out all the weeds and turned over the soil. Luckily they have bark down so that keeps some of the weeds at bay but there were a few huge ones!

Keith then mowed the back lawn and I swept everything up - we nearly filled the garden wheelie bin! Mum and Dad were really pleased and looked relieved that it had all been done. We left at 11.30am, sped home to have a late breakfast and then made a start on Sophie's bedroom.

She'd been painting all week so I cleaned her window and sanded down the sill ready for glossing. I did that and then managed to paint quite a bit of her wall. Keith tidied up the tops of the walls so we were really pleased we'd made some progress. Tomorrow we plan to finish the emulsion and get Keith to make up her new headboard for her bed. I'm leaving all the skirting boards and the door until Monday!

As well as doing that I'd changed my bed so a bath was very welcome. I wallowed in the lovely hot soapy water while Keith tried to fix the light in the bathroom which had stopped working. Replacing it was very difficult but when Keith eventually managed to fit a new one it wouldn't work either! What a pain!

We went to get Sophie from work and then it was home for a well-earned drink while Keith prepared the dinner. After we'd eaten he watched the Champions League Final while I dozed on the sofa. It had been a busy day!

A dearth of children!

We awoke to a horrible grey day and the weather didn't improve at all. By lunchtime it was misty and murky!

Work was OK but I was glad to speed home and have a quick chat with Keith. My Dad had phoned to say that my Mum wasn't feeling well (side effects of her medication, I think) so I said that I'd go and see them if we didn't have any children attend the after-school club. Lisa had texted me to say we had no-one booked in earlier in the day, the first time in three years!

I arrived to find Lisa hoovering the hall so I mopped the floor and by the time I'd finished the final bell had rung. We waited in case any parents were running late but by 3.30pm it was clear our services weren't needed so we were free to go!

I drove over to see Mum and Dad and spent two hours with them having a good chat. I think my Mum is exhausted at the moment looking after Dad and that she misses being able to go out and do some shopping and enjoy a coffee with her friends, Garry and Gloria. Garry is also ill at the moment as he had a stroke about two months ago so it's a bad time for all of them.

I left my parents and 5.30pm and drove to pick up Sophie who was at work. She was due to finish at 6pm but had to carry on until 6.30pm as they'd been so busy and four people had called in sick! We finally arrived home at almost 7pm, much later than I'd been expecting!

We hastily finished off the dinner of spaghetti bolognese and dashed off to collect Keith and Mike who gone for a drink as well. It was heaven to get home and look forward to three days off!