It’s difficult ….

It’s difficult to write an interesting diary when days are spent doing puzzles and watching TV …. unless it happens to be a hospital day ….

Such a day was April 9th. And it meant that my birthday was spent ‘fasting’ and taking quantities of ‘medicine’, necessitating staying close to a loo. Still it was lovely to have a visit from Chris and family after school, and thanks to everyone who sent or delivered cards:

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Thanks, too, to Michelle for transport to the hospital early on Saturday morning, and to Rachel and Shannon who retrieved me from there some hours later, and stayed with me overnight, on doctor’s orders, to make sure I didn’t drive or drink – alcohol, that is.

I was also not supposed to look after children unassisted. If this counts, we broke the rules:

post bath baby

Rules or not, it was fun to have a bit of bathtime play!

On Sunday (10th) Sean came over to meet us at Lowdens, the caravan and motorhome centre just ten minutes away. I was invited to look over the caravan (!) they were planning to buy and (someone said) stop them from buying it! Grosse chance, mate! So we went and had a post-birthday lunch at the nearest pub. Before leaving, they put my bike in the Mondeo and took it away when they went; it’s been ‘living’ at the foot of the stairs and there’s no immediate prospect of riding it, so I’ve regained the space, which will be needed if I get a stair lift fitted.

Today (Tuesday 13th) has been another hospital day! Two visits, actually, so two times £2.50 for the carpark! This was for a bone scan, to make sure the cancer hasn’t got into the bones, which would affect plans for hip replacement. Before the first visit, I actually did get on to the Radio 5 Live phone-in – too much excitement in one day! It was about driving and whether old folk should give up … you can probably find it on the iplayer if you really wanted too – just before 10 am. I might write about that on ‘Daddy Says ..’, but as far as I can tell, no-one’s looking at that, so it would just be for my own amusement ….

Oh, btw, I lied about the sun never shining on my doorstep. Well, not really, – surely it’s only a lie if you know what you say is untrue, otherwise it’s just a mistake. Fact is, I’d never s e e n the sun on the doorstep, but at about 4pm this afternoon it found a gap in the houses. The little daffodils are blooming:

Summer Time!

Wow! There had been nothing in weather forecasts that I had seen or heard which had led me to anticipate t h a t when I came through to the kitchen at 6am this morning (Easter Monday, 28/03/16); big, heavy, ‘Christmassy’ snowflakes falling straight down. However, two hours later, after I’d taken my coffee back to bed and half slept and dreamt through the ‘Today’ programme which seemed to be being broadcast from a performance of ‘Patience’ in Penrith(?!), the snow at this level has turned to drizzle, though there’s a good covering on the Moor.

‘Summer Time’ started yesterday, of course, which was also Easter Day, a coincidence which can’t crop up all that often. I played ‘Father Easter’ to both families, popping down first to Linthwaite with choccy-thingies for the children, a little b-day pressy for Chris and a bottle of Vouvray for him and Michelle to share; then later on we went over to Sharlston with another sackful of goodies for big girls and a little one, not to mention more bottles for grown-ups, who provided a more than ample Easter Sunday lunch, or dinner as I think I’m supposed to say in Yorkshire ….

Aye, tha should – we don’t know this ‘lunch’ word round ere. Tha’ll stick out like a sore thumb if tha carries on talking funny. …

Thanks for that, Franky. Did you enjoy your wash last week?

Aye, ta very much; tha got round to it in th’end.

How about yesterday’s journeys?

They were OK; no hold-ups, but comin back ome were a bit tough, eh? Fust it chucked heavy rain at us, then we was goin straight west into bright sunlight, reflected ont wet roads.

Yes – a bit hard, that. No plans today (though as a fan of Rupert Davies as Maigret in the early sixties, I’m looking forward to seeing how Rowan Atkinson plays the part this evening), a house viewing tomorrow and a consultation with an oncologist on Thursday. That’s in Bradford, after babysitting in Sharlston on Wednesday evening.

Tough Drives!

Now then, Franky, lad – we’ve had a couple of difficult drives these last two days, eh?

Aye, we av an all.

Do you want to tell folk about them?

Aye, appen I could. Fust up, we ad to get from ome to Wharfedale, Bolton Abbey – it’s grand up yon! – but there’s no good way to get there, like, is there? It’s all stop, start, crawl, roundabouts, traffic lights – hardly any open road along whole o’ t’way.

You’re right – SatNav said an hour and a half to do 40 miles, so I allowed two hours, and we needed it! But we got there just on time to find Philip and family already installed in the ‘Devonshire Arms’, where we had a very tasty lunch. (No photos – again, if GPT wants to send some, I’ll add them – they should include Judi, who wasn’t there at the brunch on Monday.)

Aye, well; after that, we ad to get down to Wakefield in time for tea – but tha took us a long way round, like, eh?

I did, yes. Carol and I had done Wharfedale (Grassington) to Wakefield once before in Harry, and I’d said ‘never again!’ because the route was much the same as from Huddersfield. So we headed for Harrogate and Wetherby to get on the motorway. It was a nice scenic start, but slow through Harrogate.

Who’s Harry?

You know – my motorhome where I sleep when I’ve been babysitting in Wakefield.

Oh – im! E talks funny, dunt e?

Well, he’s French made and spent his first year in Germany. Why, anyway?

Well, tha went off in that little black car, wi thi lass an t’babby. So we had a chat, sort off.

What about?

Thee, mainly.

Oh, yes?

Aye, e says I’d best be careful, or tha’ll bash me up.

Did he, indeed. Anyway, yes – Rachel and I did go out to lunch yesterday (Thurs 17th) with Shannon. We went to the garden centre and I bought a little planted trough for my doorstep.

Aye – and tha’d best get it out from t’footwell where tha left it!

I know – I was tired.

Well, happen it needs fettlin’.

Fettlin?

Tekkin care of – looking after.

OK! What about the next drive?

Ee – that were a bad un! Should’ve ad plenty time to get from Rachel’s to Chris’s, leaving at 4 o’clock.

(We were on taxi service to get N. to ‘Rainbows’)

BUT! Motorway signs said ’30 mins delay’, so we left motorway an followed the A62 – talk about CRAWLIN’ !- it wor wuss than t’day before. Took till 6 o’clock, nearly! But we got little lass to er club on time.

We did! “We got her to the church on time!” (“Wiv a little bit o luck!”)

Hips or Cancer?

Monday 14th March 2016 Saw the orthopaedi … orthopedia …. the hippy man. Yes, both hips are knack …. er – worn out! Which is worse? was the question he kept asking and I couldn’t answer because it varies from day to day. Certainly with more walking in Manchester on Sunday than I had bargained for, I’d have said ‘the right one’. Anyway, he sent me for a further x-ray there and then and confirmed from that, and from manipulation, that the right one (which was treated in France!) was in greater need of replacement. But prostate cancer can move into the bones, apparently, so a bone scan is the next step. But after that there are still issues – hip replacement and radiotherapy do not go well together, even with a ‘decent’ interval between, and brachytherapy doesn’t suit someone on Tamsulosin …. I’m going to have to decide what to have treated first, indeed, whether to treat the cancer at all ! My current preference goes against the general opinion of those who’ve expressed one!

Tuesday 15th March ‘New’ bed delivered! Chris was here to help move stuff around and assemble it, but a call from N’s school led to a change of plan and we went together to pick her up and take her home – nothing serious, in the end, I think. Back at the flat, two men brought the bed up the stairs, but it wasn’t their job to put it together. I tried, but it was a bit challenging (to the hips), and anyway I found I needed an allen key which I didn’t have. So later in the day we went down to collect Chris – and a key – again and came back to do the job. Let’s hope it’s comfortable ….

Family Brunch – and I buy a bed!

Friday 11 March 2016 , Philip, my brother, Christine and elder daughter, Carol, were travelling from Ashton Under Lyne to York and suggested they should stop somewhere near here for a late breakfast, or brunch. I proposed Bolsher Moor Farm Shop & Cafe, close to the motorway. Rachel came over with Shannon and I picked Chris up on the way through Linthwaite –

Eh-up! What dost tha mean – tha picked im up? I picked im up!

That’s all we need! An interrupting, pedantic, Yorkshire car! OK … Franky and I picked Chris up in Linthwaite on the way, so we had a good family gathering:

DSCN3350a DSCN3351 A variety of breakfasts were enjoyed, then the party transferred to the Golgar Lily to enjoy a drink in quieter surroundings. Mind you, with a group of 7, six of whom could be called ‘Thompson by nature’ , ‘quiet’ is a relative concept – but at the ‘Lily’ there was no-one competing!

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[Others may have better, or different, photos – send them and I’ll add or substitute.]

Once those heading for York had moved on, we took Chris home, and then Rachel (and Shannon!) came with me to the BHF shop in Huddersfield to help me choose a bed – I’ve been sleeping on a guest bed on loan from Rachel, but it’s not really long enough, even for me! We also called at the Oxfam shop, where Rachel bought some clothes for Shannon and I bought a vegetable or casserole dish, and a room scenter.

Rachel decided to come back to the flat for tea; Shannon was sound asleep in the car when we got here – so we left her there, keeping an eye on her through the window till she moved!

What about my wash, then, Boss? – You promised me a wash!

No, I didn’t! – It was a ‘maybe’.

I’ll believe in that wash when I get it ….

Hospital and Haircut

Tuesday 8th March 2016: Yesterday was a fine, bright day, blue skies making the most of the snow on the moor …. but I didn’t make very good use of it; just a bit of shopping.

Today has been my first ‘Facebook-free’ day! I don’t know whether the two are really linked, but I like to think that whereas I might have spent time this morning, wondering whether to react to someting or other, and if so how, and trying not to get angry about something, but just hide it, I actually spent time sorting out some long-overdue paperwork, filled in a couple of forms, arranged to have my pre-payment gas and electricity meters changed to pay monthly, and so on.

Then this afternoon I had the latest consultation with the urologist at the hospital. I have a choice where the cancer is concerned: zap it or leave it. Treatment (I said ‘zap it’, but he went along with that!) would be radio therapy. A friend has recommended brachytherapy, and Mr. Harney was not averse to the suggestion, but said he thought it was unsuitabale for someone who has been taking tamsulosin for some years as treatment for a twitchy bladder; but he would mention that I had raised it in his letter to the oncologist, who would decide. The ‘leave it’ option would mean leave it alone for several years, but then treatment would be to control, not cure.

So that left the question of the hips – not Mr. Harney’s department – and I’m seeing the ‘Hippy Man’ next week. Mr. H. was sympathetic to the notion that the cancer isn’t actually affecting me, but the hips are, however he recommends cancer treatment first, if I choose to have it at all, as complications could be worse if I had hip replacement first. Of course, I’m assuming hip replacement is ‘on the cards’, which is yet to be confirmed.

Anyway, I left the hospital reasonably cheerfully, having spent very little time there, so passing a barber’s with a parking space outside and only one customer in the chair and none waiting (I could see that from the road, ‘helped’ by slow moving traffic) I stopped and treated myself to a haircut.

This is the chair I bought recently at Oxfam: (it swivels and reclines, and is a great improvement on the camping chair I came with!)

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and this is a selfie with me in it, showing haircut – the least expensive haircut I’ve had for years – so it wasn’t really a treat!:

Next time out, I might ‘treat’ Franky to a wash –

Eee – that’ll be grand!

What? Franky? You’ve found a voice, then?

Aye.

Tha’s a reet Yorkshire lad, then?

Aye, I am that, Pal.

Don’t call me ‘Pal’.

Why’s that, then?

I’m not a Yorkshireman, and I don’t like it much.

Right-o, Boss.

That’s better. ……..

Different time, different place …

It’s been a long time since the last entry to this photo-journal. For obvious reasons, I think. But having ‘escaped’ from Facebook, I thought maybe I would try again. Today, Sunday, 6th March 2016, I came back from a weekend in York to my flat in Meltham, between Huddersfield and Holmfirth, in Yorkshire. The York weekend included a visit to Cousins Chris and Beverley Jaques, to whom thanks for the hospitality, and an Esperanto Group meeting in York itself. Also two nights in Harry – new readers please remain puzzled for a moment or two!

Harry had to be returned to his (temporary?) home on Sean and Rachel’s drive in Sharlston Common, Wakefield, so I was treated to Sunday lunch (“evermore thanks”) before carrying on to Meltham in Franky. (Franky, or Frankie, if you think he’s a ‘she’, is my car!)

But before lunch (I believe as a Yorkshireman, I’m supposed to say ‘dinner’, but I’m not, am I? Someone asked me that yesterday, in Esperanto, – ‘do you feel like a real Yorkshireman now?’ I replied that I thought that took at least 10 years, so in the meantime I remain a Lancashire-born Cumbrian!) where was I? Before lunch, when I arrived at Oakleigh Close, Shannon came to see me in Harry; we did some drawing and played hide-and-seek:

THE ‘MISSING’ MONTHS AND A FLYING VISIT TO UK

Readers with an eye for detail might have noticed (but probably didn’t!) that there were almost two months unaccounted for between Harry’s return from England in March and the Dordogne holiday in May. Here are a few pictures and comments on the missing weeks.

April included a mini heatwave and brought our ancient pear tree into full bloom – we’d missed this last year as we were ‘over there’ in April.

We opened up the pool and were pleased with its general condition. With the water around 22° we got in and scrubbed the tidemark at the water line:

Then we had the year’s first barbecue:

Of course, April 8th saw the start of my 70th year. Carol made me a cake:

There was the traditional ‘Omelette de Pâques’ in the village on Easter Monday. Does Carolyn know what’s going on behind her back?

After the heatwave there were a couple of weeks of fairly persistent drizzle – quite Cumbrian! But April 25th included a fine double rainbow – impossible to get it all in one photo.

Carol decided to use this time to decorate our bedroom. The room was cleared of all except the largest pieces of furniture, and for about two weeks we slept in ‘Patience’, the first guest room.

We like the end result:

But it was nearly time for Judi’s arrival to house-sit. This lot had be removed from ‘Pirates’ so that Carol (Jnr) could use it, arriving while we were away.

Pam and Trevor have now bought a house in Arriège, about 40 minutes away, but at this time had not yet moved in. They were living in a ‘gîte’ nearby. We’d heard of an Esperanto group meeting near Pamiers and, though it wasn’t ideal timing, Trevor and I went and were glad to have done so. Pam kindly helped Carol with the bed-making here. That done, they went for a walk above the village:

After the Dordogne holiday, and just before our next escapade, Nick had a significant birthday:

He and Carolyn invited most of the village to ‘apéro’ on the square in front of ‘Maison Bleue’, and kindly – or rashly – invited me to entertain!

The next day,May 29th, we flew out of Carcassonne heading for Stansted. I really should have taken a picture of the cattle pen which passes for a ‘departure lounge’ at Carcassonne airport, and circulated it widely to illustrate the difference between the myth of Ryanair travel as portrayed by the current TV advert and the reality. It really is a dreadful experience!

At Stansted, more discomfort; we missed the chance to use the loos on the plane before the descent began, so by the time we we in the terminal this was first priority. Once up the steps – STEPS! – and into the corridor, the nearest loos were the ‘wrong’ way – against the flow (of people). Got there – the ladies was queueing, and the gents: closed! Disabled, only choice! Once in, pitch black, no light, no switch! In the end, Carol emerged from the Ladies and stood guard with the door open enough to provide a minimum of light ….

So now we were way behind everyone else, the disgorged contents of two planes. We followed signs. Down two escalators. Into an empty hall with no exit but several automatic doors, which wouldn’t open – and the escalators coming DOWN, but none going UP. There was no signage. We had NO IDEA that this was a shuttle station. I banged on several of the doors with my stick. Carol picked up the emergency phone, then lights began to flash above some of the doors, which then soon opened to give access to the shuttle.

Things did get a bit better. At the main terminal a very nice young lady listened sympathetically to tales of closed and unlit loos and claustrophobic basements with no signs, then once through passport control we set about trying to find our car hire firm. Having said ‘never again’ to Hertz after last year’s experience (you can check back if you really want to!) we’d chosen ‘Firefly’. No evidence of Firefly’s desk …. We phoned them. They’re part of Hertz!! But this worked in our favour, in the end. We asked if they could bring up our previous history and we registered ‘disappointment’ at having had no reply to our feedback; they gave us £24 worth of 2nd driver insurance for free.

We collected our Vauxhall Corsa and headed for Potters Bar where we had a nice meal with Chrys and Jan.

We had gone to England to be at the dedication service for Chris & Michelle’s children. We were saddened to have heard of the death of Martin Horton, an old friend of Carol’s, husband of Cathy. But happily, in one sense, the funeral had been planned for that Saturday, 31st May, so we were able to postpone our drive to Huddersfield in order to attend. Not only that, but Martin’s sister, Mary, wheelchair user, lives not far from Chrys and Jan, so we were able to take her as well.

During the drive north in the evening, the second driver insurance was particularly important since I was hit by the second migraine of the day (or a recurrence of the first) and couldn’t see straight!

We got lucky in Huddersfield as we needed advice to find our hotel, having no satnav or plan. We stopped beside a very helpful taxi driver who said ‘follow me’ and then stopped again a bit later to point out the road we needed.

We were also well served at the Cambridge Hotel the next morning where the receptionist not only copied two sections of town plan for us showing how to get to the (changed) venue for the service, but brought them to our room. Chris’s instructions by text hadn’t arrived at that time.

It’s difficult for us to comment on the service, especially after the sharply contrasting funeral the day before. Contrasting not only because of the nature of the event. The funeral had been High Anglican, with robed clergy, traditional church music, communion, and a Bishop to pronounce the commendation. The dedication was ‘Evengelical / Pentecostal’, casual dress, guitars and drums. Let’s say both events were found to be appropriate and meaningful to those most closely involved.

Respecting the ongoing advice not to show identifiable photos of S & N (a pity since this was ‘their’ day!) here are some of other folk:

She’s a show-stealer; can’t think where she gets it from!

After lunch at the church, a reduced party moved to 730 Manchester Road …..

CHRIS! I think Dan and Fiona gave ‘Funny Faces’ as a present to the children!

Er, yes, well …..

….it was on the chair; I just picked it up. But who took the photo? Either S or N, I can’t remember, but didn’t he/she do well?

At last Daddy (Chris) stopped playing and let his son have a go:

Rachel, Sean and Sannon left before the rest of us shared a take-away meal. Then after bedtime we got the cards out and the remaining foursome (Dan, Fiona and Luke had also left) enjoyed a rubber of bridge.

The drive south on Monday 2nd June was uneventful and we are grateful to Chrys and Jan for another evening’s hospitality and bed for the night. The Stansted experience on Tuesday morning wasn’t too bad:

– though it still doesn’t match the propaganda!

Back at home, on a hot day, we were glad of the pool to jump into!

Since then, the weather has got hotter and hotter; there’s always the threat of thunderstorms, but they haven’t materialised yet. (Do thunderstorms do that?) We’re eating our own-grown lettuce leaves, and lots of strawberries. Tomatoes are just visible. Last Thursday I took part in, and Carol attended, my first ‘Chorale’ concert. (No photos). A new style of performance for me – I’m not used to singing unaccompanied with lots of ‘doo-be-do-wah’s instead!

I think it’s time for a dip ….

FOOTNOTE:

Tuesday 3rd June, 4.30 pm:

Hallo, Lady Lucy! Wo warst du, denn? Where have you been?

A Carcassonne. A l’aéroport. THEY left me there.

THEY? I thought we weren’t to say that any more.

Don’t care! Je suis cuite.

What?

Cooked – fried – what you say? Frazzled.

But it’s not been hot till today.

Tu parles! J’en ai marre! I have had enough of HIM. And HE bashed me up in Carcassonne last week. HE backed me into a fence post. Look!

Those few scratches! That’s nothing. He practically pulled my tail light cluster right off back in Cumbria. I was stuck up with duck tape for months. He doesn’t mean to do it; he’s just a bit too hasty at times …..

Oops! Well, you’ll never get nowhere if you’re too hasty ….. I don’t suppose either of THEM would have come up with that.

Dordogne Holiday

Sunejo,Thursday, 22nd May 2014, c.17.50

Hallo, Lady Lucy!

Ah, Milord Harry, there you are! Where have you been? You did not send me any postcard;

I’ve only been away a week! And you haven’t been lonely, have you? People have been here, and you’ve been out and about.

How you know this?

That.

What?

It’s “How do you know that ”

Hm! Since when are you the expert teacher of the English?

I’m not. But anyway, there was a phone call. That’s how I know you’ve been out.

Je comprends …..So now, racontez – where do you go?

Did.

What?

“Where did you go?” or “Where have you been?”

C’est bizarre, ça!

We went to the Dordogne Valley. We left here at about 12.15 last Thursday –

Ah yes, I remember it well …..

– and travelled 300kms to the north. The weather was very fine and the snow on the Pyrenees is receding:

We crossed the River Lot:

and left the motorway at Souillac, where there is this magnificent railway viaduct, which SKT & CLT have often tried to photograph as we go by on the motorway, but never got a good one:

Then they got lost! Satnav couldn’t recognise the spot and the place we were looking for wasn’t on the signs! But just before 7pm we found ‘Soleil Plage’:and we pitched up on an “emplacement” with this view of the Dordogne just a few steps away:

On Friday they put the awning up beside me, so more space to have, and they went to swim in this pool complex:

And on Saturday they did very little also, but make bookings to do a canoe trip on Sunday and hire a car for Monday and Tuesday. SKT must tell you about these things.

Yes, the canoeing was wonderful. The ‘base de canoë’ was just outside the campsite (at the ‘beach’) and we booked the ‘Parcours Nature’. The man took us to the starting point by minibus (with one other couple) and the canoes on a trailer behind and pushed us out onto the river. We then had all day (if we’d wanted) to go with the flow 10 kms downstream to get back to ‘Soleil Plage’.

We had plenty of time to study the river bank:

the Castle of Montfort:

and the birdlife: this is probably a black kite:

After about an hour we beached the canoe (on the second attempt – the current took us past the first spot we aimed for!) and enjoyed the little picnic we’d taken with us:

Then, after another hour, as we came round the ‘Cingle de Montfort’ (more later) and past the campsite, some friends we’d made, who had a riverside pitch just near Harry, took our photo as we paddled by:

They told us that several people had grounded their canoe in the shallow water to the left at that spot, so we felt a bit chuffed at avoiding that, and steering successfully in to the beach on the first attempt. A highlight of the holiday – the weather had been ideal; unbroken sunshine, but not so hot that we were constantly thirsty, sunburnt or exhausted.

We swam again – in the pool, not the river! – and that evening we treated ourselves to an excellent locally themed meal at the on-site restaurant.

[The arrival of a German party led to an ineresting exchange between them and the waiter which has prompted me to put a little rant on my neighbour blog ‘Daddy Says ….’ Have a look if you like, but be warned – it’s Esperanto propaganda!

THE SCANDAL OF LANGUAGE

]

Monday May 19th: Once we had the hire car we made our way downstream by road to see Beynac and ride in a different sort of boat, a ‘gabarre’, a flat-bottomed boat formerly used as river transport, taking, eg, nuts to Bordeaux and bringing back essentials, eg, wine.

Beynac, ‘un des plus beaux villages de France’, occupies a spectacular site and it’s castle remained in English hands – and loyal to the English kings – during the hundred years war,

whereas this one, on the other side of the river, changed loyalties several times. (It would then have been just the fortress, without the stately home.) It’s now owned by a Texan millionaire, not oil – the inventor of the car crusher, apparently.

The river trip, with effective commentary in French and English, afforded excellent views and interesting historical insights, so we were well pleased with it.

However, we then tried to find some gardens which we had been told were ‘absolument magnifique’. Once again, satnav let us down, we couldn’t find it on the map, and signage was inconsistent. We really were going round in circles, passing one school at least three times! Gardens are Carol’s thing and I was tired, so when we found it, I let her visit on her own. I fear she was disappointed. ‘Keep off the grass’ signs were everywhere and there’s a limit to how much topiary and how many box hedges one can enjoy in one place! Still here are a few of her pictures:

Back at base we swam again and enjoyed a ‘Blanquette de Veau’ that we’d bought earlier – tinned, but tasty. Then we invited the neighbours, Mike and Sandra – that’s them in the water with Carol – to coffee and what would have been in ‘the library’ if we’d brought it with us!

Meanwhile, Harry chatted up the little white car – sorry, Lucy!

Ca m’est égal. He can ‘chat up’ , as you say, who he want.

Hmmm ……

Tuesday 20th May 2014: Having the car for a second day, we set off for Rocamadour. However, our first stop was quite close by at the ‘Cingle de Montfort’. The information panel was missing from the rough parking area beside the road, but we later found out that ‘Cingle’ is a local word referring to a meander. It’s some bend! We took far too many photos of the river, saying “we’ve been down there”, and a few of the castle. Then I realised that the cliff behind us was perhaps even more interesting:

We picnicked overlooking an artificial lake at Gourdon, and made our way across country to Rocamadour, wondering whether SATNAV was choosing the best route (we decided later that she wasn’t). Rocamadour is certainly spectacular, but that said, both it and the ‘Grotte des Merveilles’ (no photos allowed) were disappointing. The road train ride from the car park at the bottom to the village added nothing either by way of views or information, for there was no commentary, and the narrow street was very ‘Mont St Michel’.

The visit to the cave (the ‘grotte’) took 80 minutes instead of the supposed 40 because, out of consideration for members of the group who spoke no French, the guide said everything twice!

We made our own route to get back to Soleil Plage, and were quite sure it was quicker, and more scenic, than SATNAV’s. We decided to go for a meal at a Pizza restaurant in the last village before Montfort, and just as we parked up the weather broke (we’d seen it coming) and we dodged the the first drops of what developed into a terrific storm.

The meal was good, but back chez Harry we found him surrounded by a sea of mud and began to wonder how we were going to dismantle and stow the awning (‘Harriette’!) and whether, indeed, we’d be able to drive off the pitch without slipping and sinking …..

Things were better in the morning, and Harriette was dry by the afternoon, thunderstorms were forecast so we bustled about and got everything packed up much more successfully than we had feared. As we emptied the tent of ‘stuff’ we found this gentleman lurking in a corner, and very reluctant to leave!:

We were just finishing puting the bikes on the rack (they would have been quite useful on site but one of the pedals seized up on mine which made riding it a bit tricky), when the first raindrops fell, at exactly 5.30pm. Within seconds we were experiencing the most terrific thunderstorm, torrential rain hammering on Harry’s roof, prolonged streaks of lightning and tremendous thunderclaps. I’d really liked to have seen more of it and tried some photos, but there was no suitable viewpoint without getting soaked! However, we still had that little white car with us; I’d waited half an our for the man on the car park, but he still hadn’t come for it! So when the rain eased off a bit we darted out and DROVE (!) up to the swimming pool to use the covered area. (There were three sections, covered and heated, outdoor and heated, outdoor unheated.) While we were there the hammering started again ….

We had a ‘three tin meal’ during which Mike came round to say the mud wasn’t too bad and we could get to their caravan after supper, if we didn’t mind taking footwear off in the awning before stepping in! We did that and played a closely contended rubber of bridge over a bottle of red wine. They won from game all, 90 all, for those who know what that means. It’s a bit like 2 sets each and 4 all final set in tennis.

The rain had stopped and when we stepped out of the caravan the stars were absolutely brilliant! However, that didn’t last, and in the small hours the flashes, crashes and hammering started again.

The morning was something else! All was calm and surprisingly dry. Grey, low cloud at first, but within minutes of sun-up, it had all burnt off. These photos couldn’t have been taken five minutes later, honest!

We’d packed everything except the picnic table and we’d ordered pastries, so we settled down to outdoor breakfast, together with the usual visitors:

The great tit was very tame and had perched from time to time on the ketchup bottle and the thermos as well as the seats and the table. We also had visits from, or saw, sparrows, a robin, blackbird, goldfinches, greenfinches and, we think, goldcrests.

But it was time to go. Harry moved off pitch without problems and we left the little car on the car park and the key at reception, which neither we nor the staff were very pleased about, but the man didn’t seem to think there was any issue.

Harry?

Ja?

Do you want to narrate the journey home?

There’s nothing to tell, really. You’ve gone on long enough. We stopped at Aire Jardin for lunch and the view of the Piebald Pyrenees was much clearer than sometimes and seen sooner – before Toulouse. And here we are – Lady? ….. She’s gone to sleep! I said you’d gone on too long.

……….

Maybe, but we have to say it was nice to swim in our own pool before enjoying a salmon and couscous supper that Judy and Carol prepared for us. Next day, Sunejo let the minders go:

and on the way to the airport we had lunch in Limoux – outdoors till another heavy shower drove us indoors for dessert:

(Lucy has actually woken up and told Harry about what happened at Sunejo while we were away. You can see that here:

http://carolthompson73.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/house-sitting/

We’re very grateful to Judi & Carol for coming over and looking after the house, the plants and the pool. It’s good that both we and they were lucky with the weather. So, who’s next?

HARRY COMES HOME

Sunejo, Thursday, March 27th 2014, 17.23:

Hallo, Lady Lucy!

Bonjour, Milord. How are you?

Ich bin müde, tired – fatigué.

Ah – you have voyaged, er – travelled much?

1,000 miles in four days!

Miles?

Er, 1,600 kilometres.

Oh, là! Racontez!

OK; Monday morning, we went into Wakefield to pick up HIS brother. –

Excusez-moi – whose brother?

HIS – M’sieur’s.

M’sieur S’s? Why you call HIM?

I’ve always called HIM ‘HIM’.

Well stop it, c’est peu gentil; how you say, not nice.

(Bossy as well as posh!) OK – I’ll use his initials; he likes that. We went to pick up SKT’s brother outside the hotel where he’d been staying, then we headed for the A1 –

L’autoroute?

Mmm, no – in England ‘Autoroutes’ are ‘Motorways’, so they are M1, M2 etc. ‘A’ roads are main roads, like your Routes Nationales. So we made for the A1 because the M1 is covered with road works – ‘travaux’ – and slow moving traffic. On the way south, they filled up with turkey salad (which Florence had insisted they should take with them after providing lunch on Friday) and SKT filled me up with diesel at Tesco’s near Welwyn.

(I didn’t ‘fill up’ actually; I tried to judge how much we needed to get to Calais.)

The M25 was free-flowing (‘fluide’ en français) so the journey round London to Surbiton didn’t take too long and at Porton Court Philip’s car had been placed on the visitor’s space near the gate to ‘keep’ it for me:

You can’t see it clearly, but that’s the first picture of my new skylight! (The big one above the hab. door.)

Once again the Thompsons resident at Porton Court knew how to give us a good end-of-stay – remember the trip on the river last time? A table had been booked at ‘The Grove’ and the meal was delicious, and British! The only drawback was that someone assured us it was only a short walk from Porton Court*; BOTH my hips objected to that! Yes, the left one has started playing up as well!

*Try saying “a short walk from Porton Court” out loud; then say it several times in front of a mirror – and try not to laugh!

But, SKT, you’ve driven me for most of 5,000 kms without once moving your leg by hand, so your right hip is better, isn’t it?

Yes, it is; but the consultant said to avoid long walks. But let’s not go on about whether or not the walk was long or short, the meal was excellent, and I didn’t ask anyone to fetch a car to go backwards after.

Hein? Il est fou, ce M’sieur S.!

That wasn’t me – it was the computer, it skipped…… ‘to go back afterwards’.

Tuesday 25th March: On the road at about 9.15 and a fairly easy run to Dover, with one stop, and switching over to the M2 / A2 to drop directly onto the harbour and avoid the slow finish through Dover town. Easy check-in and on to a very lightly-loaded car deck. I understand they had a final taste of English food on board – Cumberland Sausage and Cornish Pasty were mentioned – so at Calais it was a quick exit onto the ‘autoroute’, but we pulled off at J 31 to fill up with diesel – SKT had judged very well how much to put in at Welwyn, as we were nearly empty! I met a ‘friend’ on the car park when SKT went into the Hypermarché:

We were there first – the other driver must have thought ‘If they can take four spaces, so can we!’ We stopped twice more on the way to Rouen, once at an ‘aire’ with a viewpoint over the Channel. –

LA MANCHE!

If you like:

But it was cold:

and the sculpture and display were all about wind, different names for winds and the noises they make:

And the other stop was at the old favourite, Baie de Somme – cold, wet and windy, but good shopping and nice coffee and cookies! We found the good way round Rouen – under the white cliffs – and so got to Ymare, where Daniel lives, soon after 7pm. Daniel provided me with electricity and THEM – sorry! SK & CLT – with a nice meal. The electricity was important because of the food in my fridge and because it froze during the night.

The food froze?

No! Not the food! the weather, le temps, la température.

Oh, pardon, je comprends maintenant.

Wednesday 26th March. Daniel had to leave for work before SK & CLT were ready, but that was OK as he had placed his car in front of me, so as to leave first. We left at 10 o’clock and stopped for elevenses –

For what?

Zweites Frühstück.

This doesn’t help.

Well, it’s very English, really; it’s a cup of tea or coffee or something that they drink halfway between breakfast and lunch.

C’est bizarre, ça! Elevenses ……

Well, anyway, they stopped for coffee and pastries –

Ah! Café et viennoiseries! You should have said.

They stopped at the aire just beyond St Rémy, then an hour or so later, after joining the motorway north of Orléans, they had lunch at the Aire du Héron Cendré:

You see this sculpture as you pull in; SKT had to get out and have a fit of silliness. At Boismandé we found an adequate motorhome service point and let the grey water go, and we turned off the motorway at J31, just south of Limoges to fill up with diesel. Soon after that we were at Aire Porte de Corrèze and parked up for the night. SKT warmed up the Irish Stew kept in my ice-box since the visit to Florence (but taken out to thaw earlier in the day). Then he indulged in another fit of silliness – bananes flambées.

Why was this silliness, as you call?

Mensch! You didn’t see where the flames went!

(Fortunately, neither did Carol!)

We had driven 500 kms that day and were glad of a quiet night.

Thursday 27th March

This is not a bad view to wake up to – many a hotel guest has a less good one, or none at all!

After breakfast (café-criossant), we decided to take the scenic route to the building, to use the facilities and browse the shop. Down past the little lake:

Alongside the copse with the wood anemones in flower:

Over the little bridge: And up the steps.

One or two legs protested about this and to return to Harry we took the more direct, level route (round the car park).

So on the road again – at 11.15! But only 350 kms to go so the late start didn’t matter much. Elevenses at Aire Jardin des Causses du Lot, even after 12 o’clock, and lunch at about 1.30. The first view of the Pyrenées was welcome but difficult to photograph as the white of the mountain-tops merged with the pale grey of the sky:

A stop in Mirepoix for a bit of shopping and here we are.

……..

We are indeed – well done, Harry! A round trip of 5331 kms (3331 miles), of which 3147 kms (1966 miles) within England. That’s quite a lot of zig-zagging up and down the country! Sunejo was cold as we’d left the heat on anti-frost only, so we were very grateful to get a call from Nick and Carolyn Chez Maison Bleue with an invitation to supper. When we got back the house was noticeably warmer.

Two days later, while Carol was trying to deal with the 35-50 molehills which need to be removed before I can cut the grass, which in any case is too soggy to run the ‘tracteur’ over, we had another invitation, this one from Pam and Trevor who have found a property and signed the ‘Compromis de Vente’. So we went to their temporary home – the Gîte at Limbrassac – and enjoyed a scenic drive to view their home-to-be from the outside, followed by a lovely meal at the Gîte. Now we’ve lost another hour with the arrival of ‘summer’ time! That’s two ‘missing’ hours in one week! How time flies!

SHANNON VICTORIA MARYSE-COYLE. DEDICATION 23RD MARCH 2014

It’s difficult to know how to write this up – I think I’ll just put up the best of our pictures with the briefest of comments.

Godmother-to-be Cathy ‘Bird’ arrives at Oakleigh Close and takes charge of the baby, all dressed up and ready to go:

At Destiny Church, Wakefield, prayers are offered for the family and supporting friends (Godmothers) Vik and Cathy:

[Before this, there had been an outstanding moment when Shannon joined in the applause for herself! Unfortunately, neither Carol nor I managed to capture this in a photo! If anybody did, PLEASE sen a copy!}

The opportunity was taken to formalise the Godmother – Goddaughter relationship between Rachel and Scout (Vik’s daughter), seated: the pastor charges Rachel to do all those things for Scout, that he’d just charged Vik and Cathy to do For Shannon!

Rosie gets stuck into the refreshments!

Or not, in fact – not really sure what’s happening there!

At the pub, Shannon gets served early. Lucky little lady – others had to wait a while ….

Megan is a little over-faced by the size of her meal!

Grandad is happy with a sherry:

Later the Baby gets passed around:

To Paul:

To Megan:

And finally, back to Mummy:

Harry to Lucy (2). S.K.T. fills in the details.

Liebe Lucy / Milady,

I continue to TRAVEL (not voyage!) a lot! And I have met people I also have not seen before, but first we went to Newcastle to visit Florence Kirkby, whom I have seen previously. THEY had lunch with her, which HE had cooked the night before and taken up the A1 (that’s a road) in a pot in my sink!

Then we went even further north and made our way to The Lee, near Longframlington, where lives an old friend of M’sieur S’s (as you name him). Steve and Louise Bray have this house at the top of a hill – some challenging bits on the way there! – with wonderful views to the front:

and behind:

[Steve was Head of Music at Boothville Middle School, Northampton, when I was Head of French there; we became good friends and have kept in touch over the 32 years since I left Boothville and the 29 years since I left Northampton.]

Steve and Louise had prepared a room for us (although we had said we would sleep in Harry), which was very kind and welcome as it was a cold night. But electricity was provided so Harry didn’t freeze (schön!), and that evening they took us down to Morpeth for a super supper at an Italian restaurant – NOT a mistaika to maika! Back at the house on the hill we showed photos and indulged in reminiscing till around midnight.

Goodnight, then. ….

Saturday 22nd March: HE had full English breakfast, SHE had café-croissant. Then I took them all out for the day.

(Not the cat!) We drove to Alnwick where I got left in a car park for a few hours – M’sieur S can tell you what THEY did – then later we went back over the hills to this place:

where THEY had a drink and admired the views. We took the friends back to The Lee, going through Rothbury on the way:

We could see The Lee across the valley some time before we got there:

Then I had to drive through this shallow ford and up a very steep, bendy hill to get to the houses:

We said goodbye (Au revoir) to the friends straightaway and drove back to Wakefield, with several stops on the way, including a sandwich-stop for THEM at Leeming Bar. Es war ein schöner Tag! – Une journée magnifique.

Danke, Harry; I’ll fill in some details. At Alnwick we visited the Castle Gardens. As we went in we noticed the tree house, which has a restaurant inside, and thought we would have lunch there:

However, we were disappointed to find it was fully booked for the day!

An outstanding feature of the gardens is the cascade and fountains:

We walked up beside the pool and through the arch at the top. On the way down we stopped to admire the garden’s oldest tree:

In the end we had lunch at the ‘Pavillion’, and it was very nice, but lacked the atmosphere of the tree house. We tried to get a view of the castle, but couldn’t really get to a good spot because this section of the garden was closed till next week:

We made our way back to Harry after a visit to the gift shop:

and got a better view of the castle (used as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films) from the road as we drove round the town:

To travel in Harry, the ladies sat at the table, with Steve in the passenger seat:

After leaving Steve & Louise at their home, there was a pleasant farewell to this area as we crossed the river (The Coquet) in the evening light:

Harry had a ‘day off’ on Sunday 23rd March, which was a very special day and deserves a diary entry all of its own. Watch this space.

Postcards to Lucy 4th-20th March 2014

Hey, Harry!

Ja?

Why don’t you send Lucy a postcard or two?

Lady Lucy? Why should I do that?

Well, she might be lonely – you know what it’s like.

But she never talks to me; what language should I use?

Well, she is French, but I guess she’ll cope with English. Just add a few comments to some recent photos.

Na, gut.

Hallo, Lucy. This is me parked outside Chrys and Jan’s at Potter’s Bar, just after THEY paid for me to have a complete handwash on the car park at Tesco’s in Welwyn. Don’t I look white?

While staying at Potters Bar, I took THEM to Baldock to visit Hilde, who had also invited Kathy to lunch. THEY gave me a fill up, too!

Monday 10th March: We moved on to Surbiton to stay with HIS brother and Sister-In-Law, though THEY sleep in (Niece) Carol’s flat, which is just across the corridor.

Next day, Brother Philip lent THEM his BRAND NEW car to go to Peckham to visit Vik, Scout and Rosie! He hadn’t even driven it himself except back from the dealer’s!

Many thanks to GPT for that, and a big plus to LV who added us both to the insurance with no fuss and a very modest fee. We had a lovely few hours with Vik, who, along with Scout and Rosie, enjoyed looking at photos of previous encounters:

The stay at Surbiton finished with a meal at the Café Rouge with Philip and Carol Junior:

Thursday 13th March: We moved down to Bransgore, near Christchurch. It was fine and warm when we arrived and THEY enjoyed a cup of tea and an Eccles Cake (you don’t know what that is, Lucy, eh?) in the sunshine:

That evening THEY went down to Mudeford to have Abendessen (tea / dinner / supper – evening meal; what you call it varies not only with how big a meal it is, but also where you are. Here in Yorkshire it’s always ‘tea’) with Martyn and Jasmine at the pub on the quay.

THEY’ve both been coughing too much since Huddersfield, and with sore throat and eyes as well HE got the bike off my back on Friday morning and went to see a doctor. HE came back with a prescription for antibiotics, and instructions to have steam inhalations first. It was a pity to be unwell because the weather was fine and I could have taken them somewhere nice if THEY’d felt like going out. THEY also changed the plans for next week so as not to get to Wakefield while still possibly infectious – baby, you know!

Saturday 15th March: This afternoon THEY went to see how the work was progressing at Martyn & Jasmine’s new house in Mudeford. …. It’s progressing, in spite of ongoing problems with planning permission. There was quite a nice sunset that evening – though you get better ones in Sonnac, occasionally.

Sunday 16th March: We moved north again and parked up at Poynton, but straight away went on to Stockport to have dinner (Cheshire!) with Daniel. Back at Poynton, the night was quiet till the geese started cackling!

The final choice, after debate, for the next two nights, was to visit Wharfedale and stay on the Club site near Grassington. That was a fairly easy move, and the location is beautiful. But the rain started overnight and this was the ‘view’ through my front window on Tuesday morning:

Not much better through the side:

But I took them down to Skipton to visit Malcolm and Barbara Jones. HE and Malcolm go back many years as fellow Esperanto speakers (and actors). That evening they all went to a concert by a really international chamber orchestra. I sat in the car park and people seemed very happy as they came out afterwards.

Wednesday 19th March:Much better weather today:

Some people in a nearby caravan had set up a bird feeding station, which had attracted a big male pheasant in his ‘come-and-get-me’ colours and his lady friend, not to mention a pigeon:

We went down into Grassington and paid for two hours parking. In the village HE was playing the Grumpy Old Man:

That is, until after visiting the nearby retail outlet:

THEY had lunch before leaving the car park – good views – then we shopped at Morrison’s in Skipton and set off for what should have been just over an hour’s drive to Sharlston – it took nearly two hours! An absolutely dreadful stop-start route round Bradford. Really hard work for HIM and me. Never again, we hope!

But we got there just in time for Carol to prepare a nice fish pie for TEA, while I entertained Shannon – or was it the other way round? Anyway here she is after breakfast this morning:

HARRY’S BACK! (ON THE ROAD)

What happened to February? Not a lot, really. The weather remained very variable with only occasional days suitable for eating outdoors and although the grass is growing, there was no chance to cut it as the garden is more like a marsh than a lawn; final (we hope) visits were paid to hip and nose consultants and Carol continued to feed the hens at the Maison Bleue. Late in the month Pam and Trevor arrived to start house hunting and we we able to offer them breakfast on their first morning and next day we enjoyed lunch at the Gite they are renting for the next few months. Then Nick and Carolyn returned after their three and a half month absence and we prepared a meal for their first evening after travelling – and handed over responsibility for the hens. Oh, and Carol fell off her bike! It didn’t seem too serious at first, but after a week of ribs getting worse rather than better we went to see the doctor. As expected, he diagnosed bruised or maybe even cracked ribs for which there is no treatment other than time. We hoped the discomfort wouldn’t affect travelling and subsequent activities too much. Here’s Harry:

Ja, hallo! I’ve been stood outside ‘Sunejo’ for a long time now, doing nothing except one trip to Carcassonne, and trying to set up a relationship with Lady Lucy, that new car, but she doesn’t say much, so I just watch traffic. However, things began to happen mid-month; I got taken to the big supermarket at Laroque D’Holmes and filled up with diesel. HE checked oil and tyres and topped up the screen wash; then on Thursday Feb 20th SHE made up the bed and HE re-organised my garage. That day was quite fine and I think THEY had lunch on the terrace. There was a bit of a sunset, but nothing special:

Not like this one from earlier in the month:

More STUFF was brought out on Friday morning, when the weather had turned grey and drizzly, with a north wind which was stinging and cold, and finally, at about 12.30, which is late even for THEM, we got on the road, leaving Sunejo in the care of Lady Lucy; – and Nick and Carolyn.

Why ‘Lady’ Lucy?

Because she’s posh and doesn’t talk to me – not like Sally, who was cheeky but fun.

Hmmm ….

There were no snow-capped Pyrenees in sight to wave to or photograph – it was probably actually snowing up there – and the first stop was the Motorhome place in Pamiers; when Carol pulled the bike cover out of the shed THEY found the mice had nibbled it – one tear just got worse even before we’d gone very far, so we made a little detour to get a new one. After that, and a lunch break at the first toll station, it was brm-brm to the ‘usual’ service area just south of Limoges, arriving about 8.30 and THEY had a pre-cooked meal of duck legs in orange sauce. We did stop once on the way and a robin was perched in the bushes, watching the car park:

Another late start on Saturday, and a long pause at J.37, not just for fuel, but for HER to buy some trainers, then onwards through the rain and the wind. No photos – the weather wasn’t helpful and THEY’ve photo’d most of the rivers and so on before. Finding the preferred route through Rouen without either going through the city centre, or following the long signed detour to the west, was a relief, so we parked at Bosc Mesnil services at about 7.45. not a favourite area, but it’s there in the right place.

Next morning THEY heard the shipping forecast; warnings of gales in all areas except Dover, Wight and Portland! Phew! We paused at Baie de Somme, as usual, and took the opportunity to charge the computer while checking e-mails. THEY let me get very short of fuel, but got to the supermarket near J. 31 just in time (not the same motorway as J. 37 near Limoges!) At Calais THEY had a quick lunch on the quayside and then we boarded the ferry. I was parked right at the front in the open air, which was good for a quick exit at Dover, but I got several showerings of salty water from the waves during the crossing. Could have done without that!

What is it about coffee these days? Even on the ferry that big firm with the high cost a coffee has taken over! I never know what to ask for, and none of it is worth the price. I asked for a small latte – it was huge; I got Carol an espresso – it was about a thimble-full! I should have settled for the Cognac on its own!

The choppiness of the crossing – the least smooth we’ve had for some time, but it wasn’t a problem – is best seen on this picture of the waves as we came in to Dover harbour:

After Dover we made good progress to the M25 and stopped at the services after the Dartford crossing.

We do like French food, but Steak and Ale Pie and Fish n Chips went down very well!

At least you two weren’t running on empty!

Nor were you!

Nearly ….. After that, we went on to the Caravan Club site at Welwyn Garden City, arriving just in time for the (theoretical) deadline of 8pm.

Monday 24th Feb: Water jobs in the morning before getting on the road and taking a wrong turning, so getting to the M1 by a cross-country route took longer than it should have, then the journey North was very slow, with long sections of road works and 50mph speed limits. But we got to Huddersfield in time for THEM to enjoy a meal with the family at their new home in Linthwaite. Later, we moved to the Manse in Golcar so that I could be parked round the back and get electricity from the garage.

The removal from Golgar to Linthwaite – across the valley – was ongoing. Most of the big furniture had already been moved, but there was a lot of packing and transporting still to do. For the next two days it seemed best that we could help by taking the Grandchildren, S & N, out for the day. Meals in Harry were a treat and on day 1 we visited Castle Hill:

An impressive site with lots of space and splendid views:

Any doubts about the efficacy of the treatment to my hip should have been dispelled when I dealt with these steps:

and that after driving Harry for most of four days without once needing to lift my right leg manually to get it to move from the gas to the brake (which I was doing before!). I even did some running around one day, chasing the children round the Chapel car park for a few minutes. So it is obviously greatly improved, but some days it feels ‘heavy’ and a bit sore, so it’s not perfect! And in any case, the consultant says I should still avoid long walks, which is a bit of a pity.

We called at the garden centre on the way back, where N showed promise, again, as a photographer; how’s this for a four year old? –

Not the fish! – the age of the child who took the photo!

Day 2 found us at Greenhead Park, a huge area with many attractions, of which the tower with its rope walk approach and slide off was the favourite:

On Thursday (27th) Carol, Chris and I (and Harry) had a complete change of scene and activity. Before leaving home we’d heard the sad news that my Cousin Norman had died, aged 92. Norman and Marjorie had been part of my life forever and were regular visitors to various homes, including Garth View. So I was pleased to be nearby at the time of the funeral, which was in Leeds. The ceremony was wonderfully presented by the family themselves, with moving tributes from Chris (Norman’s son) and Paul (Grandson) and Louise (Granddaughter) while Martin (Grandson) introduced and led the service. It was good to see the family again, together with David (Sparkes) and Dottie, and we enjoyed tea and cake at Dyneley House where Norman lived for the last six years.

The next days – right through to Sunday morning – were spent clearing and cleaning the Manse and ferrying everything to Linthwaite. Harry was very useful –

Ho! Danke schön.

Non – c’est nous! You are French again, you know.

Wirklich? Ich hatte vergessen ….

Very useful, carrying stuff from one house to the other, some of which was too big to go into Chris & Michelle’s little car.

That’s Harry outside the new home – the one with the fence. From the back of the house, which can be accessed down this ginnel:

[A bit of architectural history; these terraces were originally back to back houses. Built on a steep hill the back house, with no road access, comprised the lower ground floor and the back part of the ground floor; the front house, opening on to the road, had the front of the ground floor and the whole of the first floor. Most of them have now been combined into single houses, but nos. 726 and 732 are still separate homes, hence the arrow to 726 above the ginnel, seen on the photo.]

….. there’s a splendid view across the valley to Golgar, seen both from the house’s windows and the little garden, from where the ground drops steeply to the river and the canal:

The large, many-windowed building in the centre of the photo is Golgar Baptist Chapel, with the Manse hidden behind it:

Carol worked stoically on the cleaning (she’s come away with a nasty cough, but the ribs seem better!) and the job was finally completed (I think) at about midday on Sunday, when Harry and the little Jazz took the final items, including the vacuum cleaners, round (not ‘across’!) to Linthwaite, after the family had taken a last look through the Manse to say goodbye to it, quite a ‘wrench’ for all of them, but we wish them well and feel they’ll soon settle into the new home.

We unloaded those final items then left for a special Pub Lunch at the Bulls Head (further up the hill!)

After that we said goodbye on the carpark and followed ‘Snooper’s directions to join the M1 near Sheffield. Harry?

That was dreadful! Not so much the cross-country route to the motorway, but the weather, the traffic and the road works from then on. We had plenty of time – in theory – to get to Welwyn, but once again we arrived on the last minute.

Next morning – here’s a surprise – we were up at 6.30 and road ready, without breakfast, but having done water jobs, soon after 8.30. The reason was that we both had appointments at Specsavers in Welwyn with Carol first at 9. (We’ve been told that even if we have to pay everything, specs are still less expensive in the UK than in France.) We both need new ones and we expect them to be ready on our next return from Yorkshire in a few weeks’ time.

After that, we had time on our hands and looked for a full English breakfast. First we tried Tesco’s but we were disappointed as the café was one of those pretentious coffee places where the choice bewilders me and none of it is what I want. But we did some shopping and meanwhile Harry got a complete hand wash (for £20!) and he now looks brighter and whiter than since he joined us in 2010!

Ja! Wunderschön! Merveilleux! Brilbrile!

Coo – Esperanto as well! He must be happy. We went on to South Mimms where we did get that breakfast. Yummies!

Was ist denn dass? What sort of language is that?

Me-talk. We still had time to spare, so we sat over coffee (in Harry) and did a puzzle. Then we came on to Chrys and Jan’s in Potters Bar. We had a lovely roast chicken dinner and today, apart from Carol getting her hair cut, we’ve just ‘chilled out’.

Here are some pictures to finish:

N looks out on the view after scrambled egg in Harry at the foot of Castle Hill:

Grandad doing what Grandads do:

And two key players in the narrative; Carol and Harry:

‘Key player’? Schlüsselspieler? Clé joueur? I don’t get it ……

SUNEJO DIARY JANUARY 2014

We saw the New Year in at the village ‘Réveillon’, a shared meal attended by 20+ local folk.

Starting soon after 6.30pm with ‘apéro’ – drinks and nibbles – a 5-course meal was accompanied by unlimited red, white or rosé wine, not to mention a locally distilled plum liqueur at some stage.

I didn’t mention the plum liqueur in the first account of the evening on Facebook, because I hardly noticed it, in that I was singing at the time, which I was invited to do both before the meal and between courses!

At midnight there was a lot of ’embracing’ (kiss-kissing) and exchanging of ‘Meilleurs Voeux’ (best wishes) which more people said than ‘Bonne Année’, and continued to say for a couple of weeks to people they hadn’t met yet this year. I made the mistake of saying ‘Meileurs Voeux’ about two weeks later to someone who’d been at the réveillon and got an exaggerated Gallic shrug with the words ‘Mais on s’est déjà vu!’ (We’ve met already!) She might as well have lifted her eyes heavenward and said ‘Ils sont fous, les Anglais!’

The weather was quite good at the start of the month and on the 2nd we were able to eat lunch on the terrace:

I’d made a New Year’s resolution to cut back on the alcohol a bit, so the photo above shows long glasses with water or cordial. The intention is to drink wine only once a day, unless visiting or entertaining, and to limit stronger drinks – sherry, whisky, liqueurs and so on – to once a week. So far we’ve stuck to it!

As a result of the singing at the réveillon, I was encouraged to join the local ‘chorale’ which rehearses on Friday afternoons in Chalabre. It consists mainly of senior citizens (who sometimes go and entertain the old folk at the retirement home!) and an 85 year old neighbour, Guy, insists on driving me to rehearsals! That’s an exciting ride!

I was due to have the injection into my hip on the 14th, so we decided to have a day out in Harry on the 12th. We thought we’d head for Carcassonne and find the lake known as ‘Carcassonne Plage’. Unfortunately, a big bank of rain bearing cloud was lying to the east, whereas to the south and west were blue skies and sunshine. But we went ahead anyway and picnicked in Harry in the drizzle which then held off long enough for us to walk down to the water and a little way along the shore.

This was a cold, grey, drizzly Sunday, but there were still plenty of people there, some of them feeding the ducks – so we could tell this will be a very popular spot on a hot summer’s day, both for locals and tourists

The walk was very pleasant, but unfortunately the car park is some height above the lake and getting back to Harry wasn’t too comfortable, but we hoped all that would be resolved soon ….

We hoped it would be resolved! …… This would surprise any enthusiast for the French health system who came across it, and they’d have difficulty explaining it; we left home in good time, travelled the hour to Castelnaudary, arrived in good time, did the paper work at reception, and waited …… for an hour and a half …. the doctor didn’t turn up! At 1pm a couple of other consultants noticed we were still there (during lunch time!!) and asked questions on our behalf. A secretary telephoned the doctor’s surgery (in a different building) but only got an anwserphone; like I said it was lunch time, what else would you get? Since ‘my’ doctor had no-one else to see at the hospital that day, they said they ‘didn’t know what to say’, but the implication was ‘don’t hang around’. We didn’t hand around. Confession time: we had lunch at McDonald’s! Didn’t even need the wi-fi! But at least we didn’t drink! We had to make another appointment, of course, and also of course, that couldn’t be done at the hospital; no, no, no; that could only be done by phoning the surgery.

One week later and we tried again; the snow-topped Pyrenees were superbly displayed as we set off mid-morning:

However, that was the last we saw of the sun for over a week, more of that later …. This time the doctor was there and the procedure went ahead with nothing at all said about last week! As for the procedure itself, I don’t think anyone wants to read about it (if they do, they can ask!). Carol drove home and we were back by 2pm. The hip was stiff and sore, but that wore off with rest and painkillers.

Then the rains came! When you see the weather maps on UK TV, you sometimes get a wide view which include northern Spain, the Pyrenees and part of the Med. On those maps you may notice that we are often affected by the southern end of the same fronts as hit the UK; so it’s been WET for nearly a fortnight now, and although the sun is shining today another week of rain is due to start tomorrow. The River which gives the village its name (Sonnac Sur L’HERS) isn’t usually visible from ‘Sunejo’, but by January 25 it was clearly visible:

Not only that, but the field between us and the river was seriously waterlogged. In November I put up a photo of the river in spate under the bridge, but find the bridge on this one:

Yes, the bridge is under the water this time and the water in the foreground is the track leading o the bridge. It’s only a short walk, but this was just 4 days after the injection and the hip didn’t like it! Maybe it was too soon. Still, later the same day we went shopping and just beyond Camon we found the road had been blocked by an ‘éboulement’, a mudslide. In fact, the workers had just finished clearing the road and were moving the barriers; they said it was OK to go through, but we met some friends in the supermarket who had had to follow a considerable diversion on narrow, windy, hilly roads! This is what that site looked like a few days later (and still does):

On January 29th, which was a fine day between wet nights, Carol discovered that although the water had gone down a lot, an accumulation of fallen trees was now blocking the bridge so that it was still unusable by wheeled vehicles:

To photograph this we went down BY BIKE! (Thinking it might be better for the hip.)

After that, since it was a fine and warm day, and although we might have sunk into the marsh if we’d sat on the grass, we had lunch out on the terrace. So in spite of the excess of rain, that’s three outdoor lunches in January!

So we’re in to February. February 2nd is Candlemas / Le Chandeleur, not much celebrated in England, but an excuse for a pancake fest in France. So we invited our neighbour, Marthe, who was one of the first local people to speak to us and invite us to knock on her door if we needed anything, to join us on Sunday evening and served a seafood pancake followed by a sweet one. This was the first time Marthe has actually come in, in spite of numerous invitations to share a drink or a brew. She’s 80 + and passes the gate regularly when out for her ‘constitutional’. Once again, no photo of pancake tossing! At about 11pm we offered to go along the road with Marthe to her place (it’s about 200 metres, but there”s no street lighting outside the village). She protested a bit but accepted in the end so long as we would go in for a ‘nightcap’. That turned out to be half a tumbler of whisky (for me); we told her to stop, but she just said ‘might as well empty the bottle’! Didn’t notice the hip on the way back!

Actually, I”m seeing the hip doctor again tomorrow (if he can be bothered!), and I think I can say it’s getting better. We’ve been out for a walk by Lake Montbel this afternoon, and there are no uncomfortable after-effects – yet! Here are some pictures to finish with:

SUNEJO CHRISTMAS

There’ll never be another Christmas like it! Because although Christmas does come once a year, Baby’s first Christmas comes once and once only, and we’ve been very privileged to have been part of it. Thanks to Sean, Rachel, Megan and Becky for travelling all this way to be with us – we think it wasn’t easy!

What follows is a few (?!) of the photos taken by anyone with a camera, accompanied by, I hope, the briefest of comments – if I can stop myself ‘going on’! (and on …)

First meal together, and a new game is invented; Grandad and Shannon play ‘Boum! Boum!’ Everybody gets the giggles!

The game involves taking the wrapper from the baguette, making a ‘truncheon’ of it and batting the side of the high chair with it saying “Boum! Boum!”. And if once or twice Baby’s head or cheek, got in the way, well, ….

We played it many times, in fact a wrapper had to be preserved for the purpose, and it always got a smile and frequently a laugh.

The SKT tradition of the Christmas Eve pancake-fest at tea time was respected and seemed to be well received. No-one photoed it, though. I suppose they were too busy eating and I was too busy tossing ……

In France le Père Noël looks for slippers under the Christmas tree; we compromised with a couple of slipper-socks, but they worked!

Contrary to every forecast we had seen, Christmas day was sunny and warm. Some spent much of the morning on the terrace, where we also enjoyed the pre-lunch blanquette / apéro.As for Christmas lunch, I’ve never been better pleased with my efforts at turkey roasting. Using a French recipe which I’ve had for years but never used before, with chestnut stuffing (French) one end and sage and onion (English) the other, slow roasted on the rack over a good quantity of stock and well basted with butter, it came out looking good, and was moist and easy to carve:

Carol’s Christmas pudding got flambé-d, of course:

Presents were exchanged after lunch, and as anyone with experience would expect, Shannon’s interest was greater in crinkly wrappings than in the content of parcels. What we didn’t anticipate was that an empty green cracker would become a favourite for the rest of the week! Ignoring a whole chain of teething rings, she kept licking it! Well, no harm in an early start in eating your greens …

Christmas Day tea was fairly traditional (English) with cake and candlelight. Rachel took some lovely pictures:

Megan and Becky, Sean’s older daughters, are both very good at entertaining Baby when needed:

Boxing Day brought the expected rain, but we ventured forth to see Carcassonne:

OK, bin there, done that. Did anyone buy a T-shirt?

We’d been watching the weather situation very carefully in order to try to choose the best day to visit Andorra. We did well. Fresh snow had fallen up there while it was raining here and in Carcassonne, but Friday was superbly blue and sunny. Rachel chose to stay at ‘home’ with baby, which was disappointing but probably sensible.

The rest of us piled into the big, black hired car – yes, GPT & Family, the same one you had! – and climbed up to the big snow:

The ski slopes were very busy

and after lunch – and the first bit of shopping – we found a lay-by where some silly play was possible:

Then, drive on for a cable car ride:

and at the top, where in summer there’s a golf course and mountain biking, skiing and snow boarding were in progress, although it was late in the day now:

In the last of the daylight, another shop-stop:

Mean while, back at the ranch, Rachel took Shannon in the buggy down to the river:Compare and contrast the next photo with the first one in the last posting – taken from the same spot!

Saturday was wet n orrible, but no matter; we had boyle deggs for breakfast – from our hens (sorry! Nick and Carolyn’s hens) – croque-monsieur for lunch and parmentier de dinde (left-over turkey made into a cottage pie – turkey farmers pie? Matthews’Pie? – bootiful!) for dinner. We even introduced the family to Cluedo – to help the Coyles unwind ….. No photo.

And so to Carcassonne airport on Sunday (in two cars), where we had lunch in the restaurant, and thanks to a friendly waiter who is good at this, we have an excellent photo of (nearly) all of us:

He did take another with Baby in, but it’s not such a good photo, and anyway, Shannon’s asleep; so here’s a Festive Farewell from a wide-awake Christmas Baby:

and Bye-Bye from Baby in a big hat:

And an Au Revoir from Shannon:

And its “Boum! Boum!” from her:

And it’s “Boum! Boum!” from me – Boum! Boum!

November ….. December ……

November continued to be cold, windy and wet. The river Hers overtopped the little bridge for the second time this year, though locals say it hasn’t done so for the last thirty years!Halfway through the month we even had a couple of days of snow. This didn’t stop the hens from laying, however!Recovery from the surgery on the nose seemed to take longer than expected, but breathing does seem to be getting easier and there’s no sore throat most mornings. However, the surgeon isn’t ready to sign me off and feels a bit more radio / laser treatment may still be helpful. That would be under local anesthetic.

After that grim November, December, by contrast, has until now been beautiful with blue skies and warm sunshine after frosty nights. Unfortunately this is due to break on Christmas day! We combined one of our visits to the clinic at Colombiers with taking Harry to the Motorhome centre at Narbonne where, FINALLY!, he got his new skylight! Hurrah! While waiting for the job to be finished wo took the opportunity to go down to Narbonne Plage in the last of the daylight:

Not the best photo ever! The sculpure represents a wave and the old man was caught by surprise with his leg hurting! That’s another issue due to be resolved, or at least treated, by injection, in January; it’s been a long wait!

Lucy has to have jobs done in the other direction, but the drive to Foix is very pleasant, and on the last occasion we went into the town for the first time and found a shop specialising in British goods and produce; there will be pudding on Christmas day! Foix is dominated by it’s castle, but we haven’t visited it yet:

There was another fish & chip night at the Mad Hatter in Mirepoix on the 13th. In response to an invitation on their website, I offered to add some Christmas music – in several languages – to the evening. It seemed to go well and be well received: DSCF1844 Most of the music was to the guitar, but I did play the melodeon in public for the first time as well.

A lot of time has been spent – mainly by Carol – getting the attic room above the garage ready for use as a bedroom. Sorting out this lot was just part of it!: DSCN0862 So today – 22nd Dec. – the family arrived at Carcassonne airport, to be greeted by bright sunshine and snow on the mountains, oh – and me with the big, black hired Nissan Qashkai. Big? Not really big enough for five folk, plus baby and luggage. The journey home was not really comfortable, though some slept through it and we arrived safely. We’re looking forward to a Happy Christmas; more of that next time …… DSCF1862

left to right: Megan, Becky, Sean, Shannon.

Autumn sets in; we’re on chicken-watch; Stephen gets a nose job and Lucy gets a flat tyre (on the same day!)

In the last post I mentioned how the sunflower fields turned black before being harvested. Didn’t have a photo of that just then. Here’s one now: Nick and Carolyn have gone away (to England!) for a couple of months, so we, or rather, Carol, is on chicken watch. A daily stroll into the village to top up the feeder and collect the eggs. But they are laying five or six a day! We’ve given away what we can, but we’re struggling to keep up with extra-sized omelettes and scrambled eggs! Eggs are appearing in the salads more frequently than before, too ….

There are six of them, but they won’t stand still and in shot to be photographed!

Autumn colours still don’t predominate, though one group of trees across the road is turning:However, the weather has changed significantly. We’ve had several windy days, so the pear tree has lost its leaves before they changed colour. We’ve also had a couple of days and nights of really serious rain, including yesterday which was a right soggy Sunday!

I’ve had a chance to compare out-patient treatment in the French and English systems. There’s no clear winner, contrary to some of what you hear about French health care being outstanding. To begin with, the clinic where I had to go on Friday for minor surgery on my nose (septoplasty – google it if you feel the need!) is a good 2 hours away. Our plan was to go on Thursday in Harry and be on the spot for first thing Friday morning. But Harry hasn’t had his skylight repaired yet and we didn’t dare risk it, so Lucy had to serve. Up at 5 and on the road soon after 6. OK, we managed that. Paperwork in order at the hospital, including results of blood tests and ECG which I had to be responsible for myself, and so to a 2-person room to change into disposable operating garb. I don’t know whether it was because I was English, or whether it’s just the way it’s done, but explanation of the anaesthetising procedure was missing compared with the NHS so I was ‘under’ almost before I knew it was happening.

Late afternoon, it was time to leave. Here’s the big difference – payment to be made! Not only that, but separate payments at different desks on different floors! Just what you need! (I expect to get most of it back, but that’s not the point!). At the second desk the receptionist saw that I was still bleeding and wouldn’t sign me out till the consultant had seen me again! This delayed us by about 45 minutes. Then Carol was about to drive off the car park when we spotted a note on Lucy’s windscreen: “Take care – back right tyre flat”. (In French). I was NOT up for changing a wheel in the dark! We rang the roadside assistance number on our insurance certificate and the man with the tools came very quickly. But Lucy’s spare wheel is a small, emergency only wheel, so the return journey had to be made at well below normal speed and took 2 hours 45 minutes.

I’ve spent most of the weekend in bed but things are a bit better today (Monday). Not looking forward to next Monday when I have to go back and have some ‘splints’ removed. Don’t know how that’s done – probably not comfortable. Will it have been worth it? Well, if eventually I can breathe more easily and sleep with my mouth shut and so not have a sore throat in the morning, maybe!

That’s all a bit grim! So let’s backtrack to the end-of-month barbecue with Nick and Carolyn before they went away. (Friends on Facebook stop here, ‘cos you’ve seen these!) 8am: Sunshine on the hill over the river, but not on the terrace yet:11am: Blue skies and things are warming up, though there’s a slight ‘nip’ in the air: DSCN0849 1pm: Sticky chicken wings get us going while the salmon fillets are on the Cadac: DSCN0851 Time to consult the library?Wild Turkey, Man!

October at Sunejo.

At the start of the last post, I said we’d ‘seen the year round’. Of course that was the case only in that Sunejo has been our home for a year. We didn’t ‘see’ October last year because we were busy with a wedding, a birthday, and meeting Grandchildren in England and Wales! We’ve had a beautiful month with very little rain, and autumn has really only just arrived. Sonnac’s only real ‘industry’ is the orchards and harvesting the apples has been a major activity, with trailer loads of fruit passing the house (behind tractors!) almost every day. That’s although most of the orchards are on the village side of ‘Sunejo’, so we wouldn’t be aware of activity there.

The field on three sides of the house has been harvested, ploughed, harrowed, treated and possibly sown, we’re not quite sure. What has surprised us is how much of that work has been carried out late at night – as late as 1 in the morning the night the clocks changed! Maybe work in the orchards has to take priority in daylight whereas the tractor’s lights are adequate for working the field.

The sunflower fields turned black before being harvested, which has just taken place, but most of the maize is still standing. The swallows have gone, but the wagtails and redstarts are active and today (October 30th) we saw the robin for the first time since spring. As it happens, today was also the first day when, travelling home from Limoux, I noticed there had been a significant snowfall on the High Pyrenees. Maybe autumn is here. Nevertheless, as late as this Monday – the day the storm hit the UK – our poolside thermometer showed 35° in the sunshine and the water was holding up at 23 / 24. There has been a significant drop in temperature since then, so maybe swimming is over and we must learn about winterising the pool. Still, we’re hoping to entertain Nick and Carolyn to a lunch-time barbecue tomorrow – earlier this month they entertained us to a lovely evening with apéro on the square in front of ‘Chez Maison Bleue’ and dinner inside.

A few days later Nick came round with his rotovator to make a start on my planned vegetable patch. Before: DSCN0815

During: DSCN0818

After: DSCN0823

That really was a great start, and I’ve done a bit of digging since to break up the soil so that the frost can get at it over the winter. Just a bit at a time so as not to aggravate the hip; I haven’t done it all yet.

As for that hip, the consultant thinks it’s too soon to do a replacement, so he’s going to see what an injection can do. I can only hope he’s giving good advice! Before that, another consultant is going to operate on my nose! Not really a ‘nose job’ but an attempt to help me breathe more easily and sleep with my mouth closed, so not waking with a sore throat every morning. That’s set for next Friday.

Now here’s a thing! When we were in Mirepoix with Trevor and Pam (see last post) we noticed that the ‘Mad Hatter’ restaurant was having a Fish and Chips night! Orders were to be placed via the internet – a visiting Fish and Chip Man (English) came and took over the kitchen for the evening. Everything was as authentically English as it could be (except the wine!); the frying, the bread and butter, the paper, the mushy peas:

DSCF1762

Someone seems less than happy with the (small) quantity of wine! DSCF1763

but it still put a smile on his face! DSCF1764

We found that this event was part of Mirepoix’ “Fête de la Pomme”. Evidently the region, including Sonnac, though strictly speaking we’re in a different county, produces such an excess of pommes that a novel use must be found for them: DSCF1772

Hundreds of apples, individually secured by elastic bands to metal frames on the square represented all types of means of transport. We just had to go back next day and have another look. After parking the car, as we got near the square we heard sounds of Country and Western music, then we found a troupe of (French) line dancers performing to an ever-faster version of ‘Pick a Bale o’Cotton’: DSCN0826

Had to take a closer look at the ‘Apple Steamer’:

DSCN0828

‘The Sirens of the Hers’ Hmmm …….. Is that Carol and Carolyn? DSCN0829

On yer bike, Carol! DSCN0830

Apple decorations were everywhere, while the market place was full of stalls selling (mainly) apples and apple-related produce. DSCN0833

Time to take off:

Stop chatting up the pilot! (And give me my stick back!) DSCN0840

We’ve been disappointed by the lack of progress in getting Harry’s skylight repaired. The place we went to in Pamiers – two months ago! – haven’t even given us a price and ordered the part yet. So we’ve given them the elbow and turned to the very well reputed motorhome centre in Narbonne. It was a longer drive and there’s still a wait, but at least the replacement skylight is on order now.

At home, time to relax and enjoy the sunshine – and the pool! DSCN0766

Finally, a view of the Square in Sonnac Sur L’Hers – as we left Chez Maison Bleue (and Nick tidying up) after that delicious dinner earlier in the month. DSCN0810

YEAR 2 BEGINS AT SUNEJO; we get a new car, our first visitor returns and new ones arrive.

So we’ve seen the year round!

For those who might be interested, and haven’t found them already, I’ve put an album of representative pictures on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006348009110 – don’t know whether that works; someone can try it and tell us. (OK! I tried and it does.)

The second year began as did the first – with a visit from (Cousin) Mark, by motorbike:

He had better weather than last year and we were free to entertain (no removal men!) so we fitted in a trip to Andorra where a mountain biking event was taking place below the cable car;

and one to Puivert Castle:

Though a heavy shower opened up just before Mark and Carol got back to the car where I was waiting for them – warm and dry!

Ah, car; yes. We set about finding a replacement for Sally as soon as we got back from England. We found this Citroën C3 in ‘Lucifer Red’, and she’s a former driving school car, which appealed in a quirky sort of way:

I said that with that colour description, it was as well the number plate was 777, not 666! We toyed with calling her ‘Cerise’, but on the way home Carol suggested ‘Lucy’ and so she is. She’s not as excitable as Sally, who used to squawk if you set off with your belt not fastened, even for a short manoeuvre on a car-park. Lucy just jingles politely; and she’s very good at drawing attention to open doors, or key left in the ignition – she even tells us how many kms we can go before we have to fill up.

We have less good news of Harry; the place we called at in Pamiers haven’t got us a new skylight yet and we’re worried about wet weather approaching. We also didn’t dare use him for excursions with the next visitors, which was a bit disappointing.

The day after Mark left we welcomed Trevor and Pam – we stayed with Trevor for three weeks last year while Harry was having that major repair, then in January we went to their wedding. Even without Harry, we enjoyed the ‘usual’ excursions, with trips to Mirepoix on Market Day:

The Church in the Rock at Vals:

A look at the castles of Montségur and Roquefixade:

Carcassonne, on a drizzly day, when Harry would have been really useful (for eating in):

A picnic by the Aude:

followed by a ride on the Train Rouge:

and a drive up – and down Galamus Gorge:

followed by an eve-of-birthday dinner for Pam at Mike’s (Café du Fleuve in Quillan) – Pam & Trevor’s invitation, thank you!

More eating and another willing waiter (to take the photo) next day during Pam’s birthday trip to Andorra; this is at our now ‘usual’ eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet restaurant:

We were a bit disappointed that the cable cars weren’t running – possibly due to insufficient custom between seasons – but since T & P were visiting by car they made the most of the shopping opportunities, contributing adequately to the Principality’s economy. As for photography, cows and horses beside, or even on, the road seemed to be the main ‘focus’ of attention:

During stay-at-home days, Pam & Trevor enjoyed the pool, and were the first of our visitors to do so. Trevor even had a pre-breakfast dip a couple of times, which I haven’t done yet! No photos of any of that, but there’s a nice stay-at-home one to close with: (Peace, Pedants! John Humphreys says prepositions at the end of sentences don’t matter; who am I to argue?!)

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Stephen's space

SKT's photo-journal, for family and friends

It’s difficult ….

Summer Time!

Tough Drives!

Hips or Cancer?

Family Brunch – and I buy a bed!

Hospital and Haircut

Different time, different place …

THE ‘MISSING’ MONTHS AND A FLYING VISIT TO UK

Dordogne Holiday

HARRY COMES HOME

SHANNON VICTORIA MARYSE-COYLE. DEDICATION 23RD MARCH 2014

Harry to Lucy (2). S.K.T. fills in the details.

Postcards to Lucy 4th-20th March 2014

HARRY’S BACK! (ON THE ROAD)

SUNEJO DIARY JANUARY 2014

SUNEJO CHRISTMAS

November ….. December ……

Autumn sets in; we’re on chicken-watch; Stephen gets a nose job and Lucy gets a flat tyre (on the same day!)

October at Sunejo.

YEAR 2 BEGINS AT SUNEJO; we get a new car, our first visitor returns and new ones arrive.