Thursday, May 25, 2006
As usual, time flies, so thought I’d better write a new post before the end of May!! Now, what have I been up to since the end of March? This could be a mammoth blog!
Shagging
Well, the Shag workshop was fun, but exhausting – fast music, and lots of hopping around!! Have got the hang of the basics though, and fairly easy to do a bit during freestyle dancing…
Feet problems
My feet were hurting a lot at the end of March – I couldn’t actually last an evening at dance without being in pain, so decided to go and see a podiatrist – that’s a man who knows a lot about feet – and a word I never knew before! And the cause of my foot pain: pronation! I don’t have much of an arch, which doesn’t help, but basically when you stand in bare feet, your feet will lean inwards (or if you’re really weird, outwards!) and this is pronating. Normal people have about 2° of pronation – I’m not normal though (no comments!!) and mine pronate by approx 11°!!! The podiatrist said that anything over 4° could cause problems, so he was amazed I wasn’t suffering more!! So now I have footbeds to put in shoes to raise the arch and correct this. Unfortunately these footbeds can’t go in all shoes – e.g. my dance shoes, or sandals or pretty high heel girly shoes, so I’ve been wearing trainers and “sensible” shoes a lot lately – but it has made a difference and I can once again dance pain-free!
Visit to Suzanne
Claire & I had a lovely visit up to Harrogate to see Suzanne, Mia and Chris - Chris managed to escape for the weekend though, on a boy’s night out, and left us girls to lunch out, then dine in. It was a rather cold weekend, with a bitter wind, but we did make it outside for a couple of walks! And Claire did an excellent job of entertaining Mia!
More skiing
After a quiet Easter weekend, I went on a brief work jolly to France – 1 day travelling, 1 day skiing in La Rosiere, 1 day skiing in La Plagne, then home the next day. It was a great trip as the snow was fabulous, and so nice to go back to La Plagne again – it still feels like home!
Hen party on the loose!
The 29th April was a hen weekend for Clare (my boss from Delta) who’s finally getting married to Jon on the 23rd June – after over 10 years together, and with 2 boys to show for it! We had a nice day in the spa, including a fab massage, then a fantastic meal in the hotel restaurant before hitting the town – and the 80s club!!
Camber Sands
For my birthday weekend, Claire & I headed off to the jive weekend at Camber Sands – it was a great weekend, and we did loads of classes during the day. My poor feet could only last til 1am before the pain set in, but considering the problems I was having, that was pretty good! And as I’d taken Monday off work it was great to stop for lunch with Claire near Tunbridge Wells, before taking a leisurely drive cross county back to Chi.
Birthday lunch
Kate, Dunc & Megan made the trip down to Chi on Tuesday 9th and we all went out for lunch with Laura – so an extension to my birthday weekend, and fab to take a 2 hour lunch break! Had to be v good and limit myself to just 1 glass of wine!! And then in the afternoon the office spoiled me by getting a chocolate cake!!! Oh dear, the diet must start tomorrow!!!
More dancing – Balboa
I did a Balboa workshop the next weekend, which is rather difficult to describe, but is a good dance for quicker music, in which you slide your feet across the floor rather than taking steps (to cut down on the effort required!). However the man’s lead is a very subtle movement in his upper torso/shoulders so the guys weren’t finding it easy to pick up, and the girls really had to concentrate to feel it!! Must practice this!
Relatives day
Sat 20th turned into a bit of a relatives day: You all know I met Jeremy through dancing, and we’ve been going out for a while now. His niece (Laura) was in an Amateur Dramatics performance of High Society in Camberley, and as her mum (J’s sister) was on holiday, other family members were attending to support her. So I went with Jeremy, and met his mum Janet, her partner George and J’s aunt & uncle, Gill & Mike. Everyone was very nice and I was actually fairly relaxed about meeting them! Then, as my folks had just returned from 4 weeks on the boat, J & I went to Addlestone for dinner, before popping round to see Kate & Dunc – and Megan, who was still up, despite it being gone 8pm! – and watch a bit of Eurovision – well done Finland by the way!! Everything went fine and Jeremy seemed to survive the experience!!
Dance Marathon
So that brings me up-to-date, and I can end by telling you about the dance marathon I’m doing on Sat. The Swing dance company is holding 4 workshops on Sat, which Jeremy is teaching: blues, dips & tricks, then 2 lots of double trouble (1 man dances with 2 girls). I’m attending the dips & tricks workshop, and then helping Jeremy demonstrate the double-trouble in the afternoon. And then in the evening there is a proper dance!!! Good job it’s a bank holiday – will need a couple of days to rest my feet!!
Shagging
Well, the Shag workshop was fun, but exhausting – fast music, and lots of hopping around!! Have got the hang of the basics though, and fairly easy to do a bit during freestyle dancing…
Feet problems
My feet were hurting a lot at the end of March – I couldn’t actually last an evening at dance without being in pain, so decided to go and see a podiatrist – that’s a man who knows a lot about feet – and a word I never knew before! And the cause of my foot pain: pronation! I don’t have much of an arch, which doesn’t help, but basically when you stand in bare feet, your feet will lean inwards (or if you’re really weird, outwards!) and this is pronating. Normal people have about 2° of pronation – I’m not normal though (no comments!!) and mine pronate by approx 11°!!! The podiatrist said that anything over 4° could cause problems, so he was amazed I wasn’t suffering more!! So now I have footbeds to put in shoes to raise the arch and correct this. Unfortunately these footbeds can’t go in all shoes – e.g. my dance shoes, or sandals or pretty high heel girly shoes, so I’ve been wearing trainers and “sensible” shoes a lot lately – but it has made a difference and I can once again dance pain-free!
Visit to Suzanne
Claire & I had a lovely visit up to Harrogate to see Suzanne, Mia and Chris - Chris managed to escape for the weekend though, on a boy’s night out, and left us girls to lunch out, then dine in. It was a rather cold weekend, with a bitter wind, but we did make it outside for a couple of walks! And Claire did an excellent job of entertaining Mia!
More skiing
After a quiet Easter weekend, I went on a brief work jolly to France – 1 day travelling, 1 day skiing in La Rosiere, 1 day skiing in La Plagne, then home the next day. It was a great trip as the snow was fabulous, and so nice to go back to La Plagne again – it still feels like home!
Hen party on the loose!
The 29th April was a hen weekend for Clare (my boss from Delta) who’s finally getting married to Jon on the 23rd June – after over 10 years together, and with 2 boys to show for it! We had a nice day in the spa, including a fab massage, then a fantastic meal in the hotel restaurant before hitting the town – and the 80s club!!
Camber Sands
For my birthday weekend, Claire & I headed off to the jive weekend at Camber Sands – it was a great weekend, and we did loads of classes during the day. My poor feet could only last til 1am before the pain set in, but considering the problems I was having, that was pretty good! And as I’d taken Monday off work it was great to stop for lunch with Claire near Tunbridge Wells, before taking a leisurely drive cross county back to Chi.
Birthday lunch
Kate, Dunc & Megan made the trip down to Chi on Tuesday 9th and we all went out for lunch with Laura – so an extension to my birthday weekend, and fab to take a 2 hour lunch break! Had to be v good and limit myself to just 1 glass of wine!! And then in the afternoon the office spoiled me by getting a chocolate cake!!! Oh dear, the diet must start tomorrow!!!
More dancing – Balboa
I did a Balboa workshop the next weekend, which is rather difficult to describe, but is a good dance for quicker music, in which you slide your feet across the floor rather than taking steps (to cut down on the effort required!). However the man’s lead is a very subtle movement in his upper torso/shoulders so the guys weren’t finding it easy to pick up, and the girls really had to concentrate to feel it!! Must practice this!
Relatives day
Sat 20th turned into a bit of a relatives day: You all know I met Jeremy through dancing, and we’ve been going out for a while now. His niece (Laura) was in an Amateur Dramatics performance of High Society in Camberley, and as her mum (J’s sister) was on holiday, other family members were attending to support her. So I went with Jeremy, and met his mum Janet, her partner George and J’s aunt & uncle, Gill & Mike. Everyone was very nice and I was actually fairly relaxed about meeting them! Then, as my folks had just returned from 4 weeks on the boat, J & I went to Addlestone for dinner, before popping round to see Kate & Dunc – and Megan, who was still up, despite it being gone 8pm! – and watch a bit of Eurovision – well done Finland by the way!! Everything went fine and Jeremy seemed to survive the experience!!
Dance Marathon
So that brings me up-to-date, and I can end by telling you about the dance marathon I’m doing on Sat. The Swing dance company is holding 4 workshops on Sat, which Jeremy is teaching: blues, dips & tricks, then 2 lots of double trouble (1 man dances with 2 girls). I’m attending the dips & tricks workshop, and then helping Jeremy demonstrate the double-trouble in the afternoon. And then in the evening there is a proper dance!!! Good job it’s a bank holiday – will need a couple of days to rest my feet!!
Friday, March 24, 2006
Ooh - everyone else is blogging!!
Well it's a quiet afternoon (that'll set the phones ringing now!!) so I was just having a look at the other blogs and am feeling like the worst blogger! Both the Claire's have current postings, as does Kate....so the guilt is enough for me to write a post myself!
Time is whizzing by as ever, helped by the fact that I spend at least 3 nights a week dancing, so am always busy!
I'm enjoying work still, although things are getting quieter for this season, but starting to book people in for next season!!
I'm loving my dancing - doing Lindy and swing jive, and mixing this with modern jive - makes it interesting to have a bit of variation!! Am quite jealous of Claire and her ballroom antics though - it would be good to have a taster session of those. Next week, I'm doing a 2 hour introduction to shagging - the dance!!! Someone did a demo at a dance a few weeks back and it looks very good.
There's been lots of DIY going on at the flat, although mostly by mum, dad & laura... it's looking very good now. The lounge still needs doing, which is going to be a big job, but there's no rush!
I went to see Miss Saigon at Southampton last night - that was very good. Also went to see an Am Dram performance of Copacobana in Fareham - that was good too, but at a different standard and quite funny at the obviously amateur bits!! Musn't knock it though - I'm sure they all worked very hard, and still kept up the day job!!
Well, that will have to do you for the time being - will attempt another update some time in April!!!
Well it's a quiet afternoon (that'll set the phones ringing now!!) so I was just having a look at the other blogs and am feeling like the worst blogger! Both the Claire's have current postings, as does Kate....so the guilt is enough for me to write a post myself!
Time is whizzing by as ever, helped by the fact that I spend at least 3 nights a week dancing, so am always busy!
I'm enjoying work still, although things are getting quieter for this season, but starting to book people in for next season!!
I'm loving my dancing - doing Lindy and swing jive, and mixing this with modern jive - makes it interesting to have a bit of variation!! Am quite jealous of Claire and her ballroom antics though - it would be good to have a taster session of those. Next week, I'm doing a 2 hour introduction to shagging - the dance!!! Someone did a demo at a dance a few weeks back and it looks very good.
There's been lots of DIY going on at the flat, although mostly by mum, dad & laura... it's looking very good now. The lounge still needs doing, which is going to be a big job, but there's no rush!
I went to see Miss Saigon at Southampton last night - that was very good. Also went to see an Am Dram performance of Copacobana in Fareham - that was good too, but at a different standard and quite funny at the obviously amateur bits!! Musn't knock it though - I'm sure they all worked very hard, and still kept up the day job!!
Well, that will have to do you for the time being - will attempt another update some time in April!!!
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Happy 2006!
Well it's February already, so I thought I'd better post an update....I'm now starting to get settled into Chichester (or Chi as us locals call it!), and more importantly am in the flat with Laura! Eric finally left at 5pm on Thursday 5th Feb and I just had time to move my bags in before heading off to Val D'Isere for a week's skiing on the Friday... whilst I was away mum, dad & laura worked wonders, repainting my room, and getting a carpet ordered and fitted, and having placed a rushed order on the Thursday night for a bed, chair & bookcase, these also arrived before I got back from skiing!!
Things in the flat are starting to fall into place, and this coming week mum & dad are back to help Laura re-decorate her room - I will try to help, but will be at work, so will probably provide more moral support and cups of tea!!
Tonight, Laura's new computer table arrived courtesy of Argos - it's quite a funky glass desk! Laura and I are getting quite good at putting flat packed stuff together!!
I've started a Lindy Hop class on Tuesday's - this is fun, but really challenging: as I joined the group late I have to be a leader (ie the man!), so not only am I trying to learn new moves (footwork & counting required) but also having to lead and think about what move comes next... am really starting to empathise with the blokes - it's not that easy!! I've also found a few places for Modern & Swing Jive so that usually occupies my Wed & Fri evenings.
And as I have the luxury of a 2 minute walk to work, combined with a 9-5 job, I have even started going for the occasional jog first thing!!
I've got really excited about The Wheel of the Year Photo project. Basically, you chose 12 things to photograph: yourself, a plant, your street, your dinner, the newspaper - and you take a picture of each of these 12 things on the 1st day of each month for a year - and then at the end you will have a record of the changes! There is a direct link to my photos on my blog....
Well it's February already, so I thought I'd better post an update....I'm now starting to get settled into Chichester (or Chi as us locals call it!), and more importantly am in the flat with Laura! Eric finally left at 5pm on Thursday 5th Feb and I just had time to move my bags in before heading off to Val D'Isere for a week's skiing on the Friday... whilst I was away mum, dad & laura worked wonders, repainting my room, and getting a carpet ordered and fitted, and having placed a rushed order on the Thursday night for a bed, chair & bookcase, these also arrived before I got back from skiing!!
Things in the flat are starting to fall into place, and this coming week mum & dad are back to help Laura re-decorate her room - I will try to help, but will be at work, so will probably provide more moral support and cups of tea!!
Tonight, Laura's new computer table arrived courtesy of Argos - it's quite a funky glass desk! Laura and I are getting quite good at putting flat packed stuff together!!
I've started a Lindy Hop class on Tuesday's - this is fun, but really challenging: as I joined the group late I have to be a leader (ie the man!), so not only am I trying to learn new moves (footwork & counting required) but also having to lead and think about what move comes next... am really starting to empathise with the blokes - it's not that easy!! I've also found a few places for Modern & Swing Jive so that usually occupies my Wed & Fri evenings.
And as I have the luxury of a 2 minute walk to work, combined with a 9-5 job, I have even started going for the occasional jog first thing!!
I've got really excited about The Wheel of the Year Photo project. Basically, you chose 12 things to photograph: yourself, a plant, your street, your dinner, the newspaper - and you take a picture of each of these 12 things on the 1st day of each month for a year - and then at the end you will have a record of the changes! There is a direct link to my photos on my blog....
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Autumn Update
Well, I've been back in the UK for a whole 7 weeks now, and there's been plenty going on! The first big event was the birth of my neice, Megan, on 1st October. Then came the decision to end my Adventures in France: Life always seems greener on the other side of the fence, and whilst I had a fantastic time during the past 2 years, it gets a bit disheartening to live out of a suitcase a move on to a new place every 6 months, and rarely being able to see good friends, or losing the new ones you make as they too move on! So I made the decision to give life in the UK another go. But what to do? Well, firstly I just needed something to stave off the boredom and put a few pennies in my pocket, so I've been temping in New Haw which is convenient. And with a few words to a few people, before I know it I've got a permanent job - get this - for a ski company!! So as of Monday 21st November I will be living and working in Chichester for Ski Beat. There's the usual apprehensions about a new job and moving to a place I don't really know, but I'm quite excited too!! In the New Year, I'm going to move in with Laura, but temporarily I've had to get myself somewhere else to stay: I was getting slightly worried as it wasn't as easy as I thought, but last weekend I contacted someone through a web add and went to see the place. That was a bit scary as my mind went into overdrive and I started wondering what on earth these people would be like (ie potential psycho's!!) but as it turned out they are 2 really nice, perfectly normal human beings !! Phew!! And other than that I've been catching up with friends before I head south, and getting Claire back into dancing - we've just started doing Cha Cha Cha classes too! I've already checked out where I can jive in and around Chichester so that I won't get withdrawl symptoms!!!
Well, I've been back in the UK for a whole 7 weeks now, and there's been plenty going on! The first big event was the birth of my neice, Megan, on 1st October. Then came the decision to end my Adventures in France: Life always seems greener on the other side of the fence, and whilst I had a fantastic time during the past 2 years, it gets a bit disheartening to live out of a suitcase a move on to a new place every 6 months, and rarely being able to see good friends, or losing the new ones you make as they too move on! So I made the decision to give life in the UK another go. But what to do? Well, firstly I just needed something to stave off the boredom and put a few pennies in my pocket, so I've been temping in New Haw which is convenient. And with a few words to a few people, before I know it I've got a permanent job - get this - for a ski company!! So as of Monday 21st November I will be living and working in Chichester for Ski Beat. There's the usual apprehensions about a new job and moving to a place I don't really know, but I'm quite excited too!! In the New Year, I'm going to move in with Laura, but temporarily I've had to get myself somewhere else to stay: I was getting slightly worried as it wasn't as easy as I thought, but last weekend I contacted someone through a web add and went to see the place. That was a bit scary as my mind went into overdrive and I started wondering what on earth these people would be like (ie potential psycho's!!) but as it turned out they are 2 really nice, perfectly normal human beings !! Phew!! And other than that I've been catching up with friends before I head south, and getting Claire back into dancing - we've just started doing Cha Cha Cha classes too! I've already checked out where I can jive in and around Chichester so that I won't get withdrawl symptoms!!!
Friday, September 23, 2005
My last blog from the Loire…
Well, can you believe it? My time here is almost over, so this will be my last blog from Chisseaux, Loire.
September has been a pretty busy month. We’ve had lots of guests, and a visit from Gerwyn’s mum, who came out for the weekend at the start of the month. She taught me how to bake Welsh cakes, so I now have yet another scrummy cake to add to my repertoire of recipies!! They are quite like rock cakes, but you make them flat and cook them on a griddle rather than in the oven.
I have made an attempt to take up jogging. I absolutely hate it, but decided I needed to take drastic measures to get fit/lose weight, and as the daylight hours reduce, it’s easier to find 20 mins for a jog rather than 1.5 hours for a bike ride! I can manage a 20 minutes circuit through Chisseaux and back along side the river, which is quite pleasant – the view, not the jogging!! But I’m never going to become a “convert” and run the London marathon, that’s for sure!!
We finally got the authorisation for the van’s service from the lease company, and it had to go in for 2 days, but as we’re so busy we needed another vehicle. I spoke nicely to the lady at the garage who agreed to lend us a car for free…so we got this old Renault 21, with a huge crack across the windscreen, drivers window that didn’t go down, rear passenger window that wound down, but not up, etc, etc!!! Despite all of that, it was mechanically sound and actually drove pretty well!! We had to book taxis to do a couple of client transfers as there was no way we were taking them in the car, so that just meant we had a couple of bags runs to do – a lot more tricky when you’ve got an average sized saloon boot (on a 1987 car) rather than the back of a van!! But we made it, and had a good laugh with all the hoteliers when they admired our replacement vehicle!
Mum, Dad and Carol arrived on Monday 12th to start the 8 day cycling tour. There was another couple called Linda and Colin, from Kent, who also started on the same day. They all had a great time, and G and I met up with them on 3 evenings for dinner, as well as catching up with them a couple of times on their cycling days to see how they were doing.
A couple of Aussie ladies who were on the walking tour had a “premonition” dream about getting strangled in the woods (nice!!) and that I shouldn’t go out on my own – they phoned at 8am the next morning to ask for a lift to the next hotel, as they didn’t want to walk through the woods, and I happened to be out on my own jogging at the time – so Gerwyn got this bizarre phone call, and of course felt a bit edgy until I got back. I’m happy to say I’ve had no problems since (not that I jog through the woods anyway), nor have we heard reports of stranglers in the area, so perhaps the Aussie ladies had too much cheese and wine….. but I do now carry the personal alarm with me when I go jogging (until now it’s been gathering dust in the cupboard!!)
We have managed to escape from the Loire for 22 hours this week, but on a work related expedition! Now, most of you probably have not heard of the Berry region – I certainly hadn’t before working for Headwater, but that’s where we went! The original rep had to leave at the beginning of September, to go on an air-force training course to fly helicopters, and the temporary rep Jo, who’s been doing a sterling job all summer of going round and helping out or filling in whenever and wherever necessary, has had to go on to Italy, where she’s needed for the next month. So we were asked to go to the Berry to move bags between 2 hotels on Wednesday afternoon, and then on Thursday morning take the last remaining guests to the train station. So, on Wed morning I started off our last ever Headwater guests – 4 walkers – then we took their bags to the next hotel, went to move our lasts cyclists’ luggage to their final hotel, passing them en route to say our goodbyes (luckily they had their own car so didn’t need a lift to the train station on Thursday), then we drove 2 hours south to the Berry. We stayed in the Rep house in St Savin, east of Poitiers. They have a fab house – we thought ours was ok, but theirs is fab!! The ground floor of a 3 story old building, that has been tastefully decorated: no flowery wallpaper in sight!! It was a bit of an early start on Thursday as we had to pick up the guests at 8.30am, but before that get all of our overnight stuff together, tidy up any mess we’d made, and get the keys back to the owner! But we made it, and now we’re back “home” again.
The next few days will consists of paying final bills, packing, cleaning the house, moving bikes, tools and panniers from our double garage into a storeroom at the hotel (next year’s reps can’t use this house, and Grandson and family are moving in, so the rep will live on the hotel grounds). Our walkers finish on Sunday night, then after I’ve taken them to the station on Monday morning we will pack the van and head straight to Chamonix, so that will mean a long day in the van! But our flights are booked for Tuesday, so we should be back in Addlestone early afternoon…..
Well, can you believe it? My time here is almost over, so this will be my last blog from Chisseaux, Loire.
September has been a pretty busy month. We’ve had lots of guests, and a visit from Gerwyn’s mum, who came out for the weekend at the start of the month. She taught me how to bake Welsh cakes, so I now have yet another scrummy cake to add to my repertoire of recipies!! They are quite like rock cakes, but you make them flat and cook them on a griddle rather than in the oven.
I have made an attempt to take up jogging. I absolutely hate it, but decided I needed to take drastic measures to get fit/lose weight, and as the daylight hours reduce, it’s easier to find 20 mins for a jog rather than 1.5 hours for a bike ride! I can manage a 20 minutes circuit through Chisseaux and back along side the river, which is quite pleasant – the view, not the jogging!! But I’m never going to become a “convert” and run the London marathon, that’s for sure!!
We finally got the authorisation for the van’s service from the lease company, and it had to go in for 2 days, but as we’re so busy we needed another vehicle. I spoke nicely to the lady at the garage who agreed to lend us a car for free…so we got this old Renault 21, with a huge crack across the windscreen, drivers window that didn’t go down, rear passenger window that wound down, but not up, etc, etc!!! Despite all of that, it was mechanically sound and actually drove pretty well!! We had to book taxis to do a couple of client transfers as there was no way we were taking them in the car, so that just meant we had a couple of bags runs to do – a lot more tricky when you’ve got an average sized saloon boot (on a 1987 car) rather than the back of a van!! But we made it, and had a good laugh with all the hoteliers when they admired our replacement vehicle!
Mum, Dad and Carol arrived on Monday 12th to start the 8 day cycling tour. There was another couple called Linda and Colin, from Kent, who also started on the same day. They all had a great time, and G and I met up with them on 3 evenings for dinner, as well as catching up with them a couple of times on their cycling days to see how they were doing.
A couple of Aussie ladies who were on the walking tour had a “premonition” dream about getting strangled in the woods (nice!!) and that I shouldn’t go out on my own – they phoned at 8am the next morning to ask for a lift to the next hotel, as they didn’t want to walk through the woods, and I happened to be out on my own jogging at the time – so Gerwyn got this bizarre phone call, and of course felt a bit edgy until I got back. I’m happy to say I’ve had no problems since (not that I jog through the woods anyway), nor have we heard reports of stranglers in the area, so perhaps the Aussie ladies had too much cheese and wine….. but I do now carry the personal alarm with me when I go jogging (until now it’s been gathering dust in the cupboard!!)
We have managed to escape from the Loire for 22 hours this week, but on a work related expedition! Now, most of you probably have not heard of the Berry region – I certainly hadn’t before working for Headwater, but that’s where we went! The original rep had to leave at the beginning of September, to go on an air-force training course to fly helicopters, and the temporary rep Jo, who’s been doing a sterling job all summer of going round and helping out or filling in whenever and wherever necessary, has had to go on to Italy, where she’s needed for the next month. So we were asked to go to the Berry to move bags between 2 hotels on Wednesday afternoon, and then on Thursday morning take the last remaining guests to the train station. So, on Wed morning I started off our last ever Headwater guests – 4 walkers – then we took their bags to the next hotel, went to move our lasts cyclists’ luggage to their final hotel, passing them en route to say our goodbyes (luckily they had their own car so didn’t need a lift to the train station on Thursday), then we drove 2 hours south to the Berry. We stayed in the Rep house in St Savin, east of Poitiers. They have a fab house – we thought ours was ok, but theirs is fab!! The ground floor of a 3 story old building, that has been tastefully decorated: no flowery wallpaper in sight!! It was a bit of an early start on Thursday as we had to pick up the guests at 8.30am, but before that get all of our overnight stuff together, tidy up any mess we’d made, and get the keys back to the owner! But we made it, and now we’re back “home” again.
The next few days will consists of paying final bills, packing, cleaning the house, moving bikes, tools and panniers from our double garage into a storeroom at the hotel (next year’s reps can’t use this house, and Grandson and family are moving in, so the rep will live on the hotel grounds). Our walkers finish on Sunday night, then after I’ve taken them to the station on Monday morning we will pack the van and head straight to Chamonix, so that will mean a long day in the van! But our flights are booked for Tuesday, so we should be back in Addlestone early afternoon…..
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Happy Birthday Laura!
Yes, it’s 30th August already, which means my not so little sister is now officially in her late 20’s!! Happy Birthday Laura!!
Yet again it’s been ages since I wrote, so here’s what I’ve been up to:
I got prickly heat in the middle of August – and pity anyone who gets it – as it drives you mad! You get a nettle like rash appearing randomly, and insanely itchy. This latter effect really tests your patience, as you must not itch, otherwise after the 5 seconds relief and pleasure of itching an itch, it then gets a billion times worse!!! You learn that very quickly!! Luckily the weather has changed, and the prickly heat has gone…
We’ve done quite a bit of cycling since I last wrote, and are venturing out a bit further as we’ve had a bit more time. On Tuesday 23rd we took the van to the garage for a service, and headed off on our bikes – and ended up cycling 70km that day! However the garage hadn’t been able to do the service as the lease company said the lease had expired and they needed to get authorisation! So we had to leave the van for a second day – we did a much shorter ride (about 30km) but treated ourselves to a superb lunch in Blere. The restaurant has 3 “chimneys” – hotels get star ratings, and restaurants that are part of the “Logis de France” chain, get chimney ratings, 3 being the best!! And it really was one of the best meals I have ever eaten!
We finally got the van back at 6pm and set off on the first part of our “holiday”. Now, I know many of you think that we’re on permanent holiday here, but that isn’t entirely true, and we have been needing a break. We still had a couple of guests in region, so we stayed close, and headed north east towards Orleans. We spent the night in a pretty little riverside village called Beaugency in a charming little guest house, then the next morning headed into Orleans. At this point it was chucking it down – the worst rain we’ve seen all summer! Luckily Orleans is a good place to window shop! We stayed in a basic but cheap hotel, which was essentially a room above a bar! The weather brightened and we ambled round the streets just soaking up the atmosphere. Friday morning we headed back to work to deal with our guests and their luggage.
On Saturday, our proper holiday began. We dropped our guests at the station to make their way home, and headed off on a road trip: west along the Loire, via Azay le Rideau, Chinon and Saumur, taking in the scenery from the van, then stopping in at a Neolithic monument (the best in France) in a pub garden (!!), some 16th century cave sculptures, and a troglodyte village. We then headed for the motorway, and the beach: St Gilles Croix de Vie. We found this place by pure chance, doing a search on the “Logis de France” website for hotels with last minute availability, as we couldn’t book til Friday. Only 1 hotel located by the sea had any rooms, so it was here or nothing!! As it turned out, St Gilles is a pleasant little fishing and pleasure port, so a smaller version of Brighton, or Scarborough. There are a few high rise apartment blocks, but it hasn’t been totally ruined, although the English have found out about it – there were lots of families, presumably staying in a campsite just outside town. The weather finally brightened up on Sunday evening, and we dipped our toes in the very cold Atlantic, and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and the sea, watching the sun set…
Then Monday morning dawned with the clearest of skies, and after a final look at the harbour and beach, we headed back, stopping in Angers for lunch and a quick look at the 11th century 100m long tapestry depicting the Apocalypse…then back to pick up new guests from the station by 4pm.
And so that brings me up to date. Almost into September, which is lining up to be a very busy month, and then back to blighty…
Yes, it’s 30th August already, which means my not so little sister is now officially in her late 20’s!! Happy Birthday Laura!!
Yet again it’s been ages since I wrote, so here’s what I’ve been up to:
I got prickly heat in the middle of August – and pity anyone who gets it – as it drives you mad! You get a nettle like rash appearing randomly, and insanely itchy. This latter effect really tests your patience, as you must not itch, otherwise after the 5 seconds relief and pleasure of itching an itch, it then gets a billion times worse!!! You learn that very quickly!! Luckily the weather has changed, and the prickly heat has gone…
We’ve done quite a bit of cycling since I last wrote, and are venturing out a bit further as we’ve had a bit more time. On Tuesday 23rd we took the van to the garage for a service, and headed off on our bikes – and ended up cycling 70km that day! However the garage hadn’t been able to do the service as the lease company said the lease had expired and they needed to get authorisation! So we had to leave the van for a second day – we did a much shorter ride (about 30km) but treated ourselves to a superb lunch in Blere. The restaurant has 3 “chimneys” – hotels get star ratings, and restaurants that are part of the “Logis de France” chain, get chimney ratings, 3 being the best!! And it really was one of the best meals I have ever eaten!
We finally got the van back at 6pm and set off on the first part of our “holiday”. Now, I know many of you think that we’re on permanent holiday here, but that isn’t entirely true, and we have been needing a break. We still had a couple of guests in region, so we stayed close, and headed north east towards Orleans. We spent the night in a pretty little riverside village called Beaugency in a charming little guest house, then the next morning headed into Orleans. At this point it was chucking it down – the worst rain we’ve seen all summer! Luckily Orleans is a good place to window shop! We stayed in a basic but cheap hotel, which was essentially a room above a bar! The weather brightened and we ambled round the streets just soaking up the atmosphere. Friday morning we headed back to work to deal with our guests and their luggage.
On Saturday, our proper holiday began. We dropped our guests at the station to make their way home, and headed off on a road trip: west along the Loire, via Azay le Rideau, Chinon and Saumur, taking in the scenery from the van, then stopping in at a Neolithic monument (the best in France) in a pub garden (!!), some 16th century cave sculptures, and a troglodyte village. We then headed for the motorway, and the beach: St Gilles Croix de Vie. We found this place by pure chance, doing a search on the “Logis de France” website for hotels with last minute availability, as we couldn’t book til Friday. Only 1 hotel located by the sea had any rooms, so it was here or nothing!! As it turned out, St Gilles is a pleasant little fishing and pleasure port, so a smaller version of Brighton, or Scarborough. There are a few high rise apartment blocks, but it hasn’t been totally ruined, although the English have found out about it – there were lots of families, presumably staying in a campsite just outside town. The weather finally brightened up on Sunday evening, and we dipped our toes in the very cold Atlantic, and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and the sea, watching the sun set…
Then Monday morning dawned with the clearest of skies, and after a final look at the harbour and beach, we headed back, stopping in Angers for lunch and a quick look at the 11th century 100m long tapestry depicting the Apocalypse…then back to pick up new guests from the station by 4pm.
And so that brings me up to date. Almost into September, which is lining up to be a very busy month, and then back to blighty…
Monday, August 15, 2005
A neglected blog!
Yet again it’s been ages since I wrote – no valid excuse, so I won’t bore you with pathetic little ones!! So what have I been up to?
Well, my email problems got sorted: it was just G’s firewall on his laptop being over protective! Was glad about this as I was getting panicky about losing everyone’s addresses!!
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for the 7th time – and now will retire. Hopefully that will give someone else a chance to take the limelight! He actually only won 1 stage over the 2 weeks, but how anyone manages to cycle nearly 200km every day, up vicious hills, with only a couple of rest days is beyond me!
G and I have been checking out some cycling and walking routes for next year, which has given us something to do. We drive the cycle routes and cycle the walking routes, as it’s quicker, but one day we had enough time and actually managed to walk the walking route. Our boss had been out and done it a few weeks earlier, but we needed to check her notes and her pedometer readings, which she was sure were inaccurate – and indeed they were… her estimate of 20km turned out to only be 13km!
We continue to play lots of scrabble – I scored over 300 points on one evening…. Sad that I have to mention this!!
We have been quite busy with guests too, and this also means lots of bike cleaning, eg the other day G cleaned 3 in the morning and then I cleaned 8 that same afternoon!!
G’s dad (Tim) came to visit us 6-13th. He came out and helped move bags between hotels, and then on alternate days we tried to find more interesting things to do!! One day we went to Le Mans – I agreed and encouraged this as G is quite a racing fan, but wasn't really expecting to enjoy it myself, so we drove for 2 hours (longer than we thought!) and had a wander through the town – the old part is lovely, with medieval walls and buildings which are really lovely to just wander around. We found a restaurant called 1930’s and had a delicious lunch – that was a real good find! We then had a wander round the cathedral which was pretty impressive, before heading south of the town to the museum. On the way you can actually drive part of the circuit, as they use public roads…. I managed to get quite a good photo of us just as we were going round one of the few bends that looks like a proper race track bend (Indiannapolis, I think!) So a surprisingly good day out!
We spent some time in St Aignan on another day – one of the towns where guests stay, that we’ve not really explored yet. G and his dad also tested one of the other walking routes on one day, and on another we visited this quaint little chateau which the present owner bought in 1981 and has been attempting to restore, but seems to have started various different projects and not completed any of them!!
The drought is getting so bad that at last hose pipe bans have come into effect, as has stopping the use of car washes. Farmers are still watering away – can’t blame them though! We did have a spot of rain the other morning, but the sun soon came out again…
This weekend is St Mary’s / Ascension festival, and it’s the main weekend for the French to take holiday. G and I went to visit a chateau yesterday which has the “Earth from the sky” photographic exhibition (www.yannarthusbertrand.org) , which does have some amazing photos. And on today, as we had a real quiet day, we took to our bikes and cycled a round trip of over 60km to Montresor and back – one of the prettiest towns in france.
Yet again it’s been ages since I wrote – no valid excuse, so I won’t bore you with pathetic little ones!! So what have I been up to?
Well, my email problems got sorted: it was just G’s firewall on his laptop being over protective! Was glad about this as I was getting panicky about losing everyone’s addresses!!
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France for the 7th time – and now will retire. Hopefully that will give someone else a chance to take the limelight! He actually only won 1 stage over the 2 weeks, but how anyone manages to cycle nearly 200km every day, up vicious hills, with only a couple of rest days is beyond me!
G and I have been checking out some cycling and walking routes for next year, which has given us something to do. We drive the cycle routes and cycle the walking routes, as it’s quicker, but one day we had enough time and actually managed to walk the walking route. Our boss had been out and done it a few weeks earlier, but we needed to check her notes and her pedometer readings, which she was sure were inaccurate – and indeed they were… her estimate of 20km turned out to only be 13km!
We continue to play lots of scrabble – I scored over 300 points on one evening…. Sad that I have to mention this!!
We have been quite busy with guests too, and this also means lots of bike cleaning, eg the other day G cleaned 3 in the morning and then I cleaned 8 that same afternoon!!
G’s dad (Tim) came to visit us 6-13th. He came out and helped move bags between hotels, and then on alternate days we tried to find more interesting things to do!! One day we went to Le Mans – I agreed and encouraged this as G is quite a racing fan, but wasn't really expecting to enjoy it myself, so we drove for 2 hours (longer than we thought!) and had a wander through the town – the old part is lovely, with medieval walls and buildings which are really lovely to just wander around. We found a restaurant called 1930’s and had a delicious lunch – that was a real good find! We then had a wander round the cathedral which was pretty impressive, before heading south of the town to the museum. On the way you can actually drive part of the circuit, as they use public roads…. I managed to get quite a good photo of us just as we were going round one of the few bends that looks like a proper race track bend (Indiannapolis, I think!) So a surprisingly good day out!
We spent some time in St Aignan on another day – one of the towns where guests stay, that we’ve not really explored yet. G and his dad also tested one of the other walking routes on one day, and on another we visited this quaint little chateau which the present owner bought in 1981 and has been attempting to restore, but seems to have started various different projects and not completed any of them!!
The drought is getting so bad that at last hose pipe bans have come into effect, as has stopping the use of car washes. Farmers are still watering away – can’t blame them though! We did have a spot of rain the other morning, but the sun soon came out again…
This weekend is St Mary’s / Ascension festival, and it’s the main weekend for the French to take holiday. G and I went to visit a chateau yesterday which has the “Earth from the sky” photographic exhibition (www.yannarthusbertrand.org) , which does have some amazing photos. And on today, as we had a real quiet day, we took to our bikes and cycled a round trip of over 60km to Montresor and back – one of the prettiest towns in france.
