A memorable Wednesday

Well, today was one that the children will remember.

My wife and I had been discussing where I was to do with the children today.  We had been thinking about me taking them to London, but she did not appear keen.  And with today being a hot one, we decided last night that staying in Colchester might be better.  Anyway, the children did not leave bed until after my wife left for work, so a morning trip to London would have been useless.

After breakfast, we travelled into town, stopping at TESCO to get lunch.  After that, it was a cycle through town to the park which is where the picture was taken.  The kids spent over an hour playing in the park.  At the end of this, my son had an ice-cream, my daughter had a lolly.  We sat elsewhere in the park while my son ate his later and then rode to the boating lake (or rather, pond).  After locking the bikes, the kids went on the boats and loved it.  After this, it was a cycling trip to show them where the skate park was and then lunch.

They loved feeding the ducks later with the crusts that they had not eaten.  Then we rode along the river and across to the Hythe.  And that is when the day crashed.  While cycling along the river, at the back of Brook Street we came across two men almost fighting.  One asked us to call the police as he said he wanted to hit a bearded man who he said had accused him of selling drugs.  While I thought this was an extreme reaction, he then later claimed that this man had put a broken bottle to him.  They came much to close to us while they were discussing this, worrying me and freaking the kids out.  The bearded man had a chance to run to his bike, which we then used to turn round and cycle away.  And I have to say that my daughter can cycle really fast!

The journey back home was meant to be much more relaxed, but due to this, the kids just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.  Later in the day, we did get home, and I have to say, as freaked out as they were, they were amazing both with that and the journey back home.

Our first proper weekend back

Well, it has been a while since we have had a weekend at home with our holiday in France.

At the end of last week, my wife took her mother back to her home and stayed over there.  This meant that on Friday the kids went to Madame Tussaud's.  I have not been there since I was a child, and we had intended to take them there for ages.  But they went without me (sniff) and they had a great time.  When they came back on Saturday, I had been to work and got back to wait for them.  It was great seeing all three of them, absence does make the heart grow fonder.

On Sunday, we went out for a meal, but before then, it was the first bike rides of the holiday.  First, it was my daughter who now is even faster than before.  At the end of the ride with her, I was out of puff, and then, after a rest, took my son out.  And he is getting better at tackling hills as well.  I am determined that they are both to get fitter and cycling is a way that I can do so as well.  Saying that, we have discussed the option to swim as well, but that may come later. The meal was amazing, and once back at home I was finally able to watch the football.

Now on the game against Leicester, Arsenal were fortunate.  There were some decisions that could have gone against us, two penalty ones, and the other was when a second yellow card was not issued.  Saying that though, we look like we are going to be feared once more.  So long as our defence is protected properly.  The Ox was amazing and it is always great to see Ozil play.  And Cazorla almost got a goal from one of his fantastic free kicks.

And now an update on chess.  I have had a fantastic win but sadly have not won the following tournaments.
1st Amateur Arsenal Chess Championship
CCC Less Than 1300 Tourney
Queens Gambit
TSS Head-to-head tournament #3
ICC Division 2
Still I hope to do better in other games.

At home, finally

We have finally returned home.  Properly.  Yesterday we stayed at my in-laws which did mean that we got to visit my mother.  My wife, was knackered after driving so much yesterday so she rested, and if you have read some of the previous posts, you will know just how much she deserved it.

While at my mothers, we played a game of Chinese Chequers, the kids now being more determined to beat me when playing it (my son managed it once when he was winning when we ran out of time, so I said that he won).  They enjoyed it as did my mother, but the downside was that she was late for a meeting.

Anyway, we returned home, unpacked, and got to business as almost usual.  My daughter helped a lot while I rode my bike for the first time in two weeks to get some milk.  The kids have been unwinding and have spent the last hour or so before bed watching James Corden and his carpool's with various people.  It is great to be home, and great to be able to have spent time with the family.  I am truly lucky as I know so many others are not so fortunate.

Which sort of makes the loss of Arsenal today a bit more bearable.  While ironing, the kids and my wife went upstairs to watch Modern Family allowing me to watch the match.  And it all looked so promising.  But we lost, but regained some honour when pulling back the score from 1-4 to 3-4.  A loss, one where we had four goals scored against us, but one where we had a chance to draw.  Yes, we should have won, but the season shows promise and I think that we have a chance to finish in 4th place (I think that Chelski or the Manchester team that rhymes with City will take the top two places and ManUre will get 3rd).  So it was not as bad as it looked it would be.  But, I do think that Arsenal fans should get behind the team and stop booing.

Back in Blighty

Well, that was an interesting day.  At the time of posting this entry, I have yet to upload the post from yesterday, and this will make more sense when that is done.

Waking up with a full belly turned out to be important.  After getting ready, we went downstairs to find that breakfast was being served before we had been told it would.  We met up with the others staying at the B&B a family travelling to a similar area to us, between Bordeaux and Bergerac, they had brought the grandparents (I presume to baby sit).  This was over breakfast, which was in essence, a croissant and a brioche as well as a café au lait.  The setting of the B&B was amazing, but when it comes to value for money, and the stress we had, the Ibis would have been a much better place to stay in.  But hindsight is one thing and on paper, this place did look wonderful.

We left Tours today, to return to the garage and have our wheels replaced.  Having had the chance to look at the maps in the morning and last night, I realised that we had not been taken along the most direct route to our B&B.  A slow trip through Tours took us to the garage and I got us there 30 minutes late, but they were great and if you ever are unfortunate to break down around Tours, visit them.

When on the road, the issue of contacting EuroTunnel was raised.  My wife was driving, so when I was sure that I would not be needed for directions, I made the call to them.  Unfortunately, I did not ask the questions the way she wanted them to be asked, but before I was cut off with poor reception, I found out that we could delay our departure, but that there would be an additional fee to pay.  Again, once past some more navigational hazards, I rang again, but this time was placed on hold and once going through a poor reception area, lost contact with them again.  However she pulled over at a service station, which we had been to earlier this holiday when heading south.  But this time, as it was not when we usually went to them (i.e. before lunch) there was an issue with car parking as well as having to wait in line for food and the toilets.  But my wife got the food while I hunted down a parking space and then found them.  While eating lunch she made the various calls that were needed to delay our departure so that we could actually arrive on time and then we set off in good time.

But then we had decided to fill up with petrol in Rouen.  Which on paper sounded great, but my iPhone, which would direct us to the relevant petrol stations was out of action, and the iPhone of my wife was using Google Maps as a SatNav,  While this is great, it is no competition and due to a few more failings on my part, we wasted a lot of time there searching for petrol that we had hoped would be cheaper than on the motorways, but ended up paying more as well as losing time.  And that was a big issue as now we had little margin for error.  Fortunately, traffic was on our side and we made it with time to spare.  We thought that we would be able to visit Duty Free, as my son had saved his holiday money to buy something there, but were ushered straight to the train.  Cue a nap there, and then on the other side, freedom in England!

I am now at my in-laws house, with still no internet access (I am using the iPhone of my wife for this), and hopefully, if all goes well, it will be a trip to see my mother and then home.

Day Eleven in France - Flat

Just in case I have not said this often enough, my wife is amazing and is our hero.



We left La Batellerie today, our hosts being helpful with our departure. My wife and I had a disagreement about which route we should take to Tours and our next destination but she won. She had hurt her foot yesterday so I did not want her to drive so we went through the French countryside. I had wanted to make for the motorway and return by the route that we had come by, but Google said that it would take longer. A problem with this was that the SatNav, on my now malfunctioning iPhone when we came, had the ETA wrong due to the villages that we would have to drive through.  But, the scenic route it was.  



When we were almost at the dual carriageway, we stopped for lunch, just before a diversion due to roadworks blocking our route.  After this excellent lunch, we took a different route than initially planned and ended up driving near to Châteauneuf, my wife not being allowed to stop though (which was good as it was the wrong one)!  Soon we were on the dual carriageway and then later the motorway but after stopping at a service station we developed a flat tyre.  That was fun. My wife, the French speaker, had to walk to the emergency phone while we waited to be picked up. Our breakdown cover did not allow them to collect us from the motorway and while waiting a motorway service vehicle but some bollards around us and the police stopped to see how we were doing. The kids coped well with this but did love seeing our car being pulled up onto the recovery vehicle once it arrived. They were not going to change the tyre on the hard shoulder and instead took us to a local garage.  Who spoke no English! Fortunately, my wife, finally managed to get through to someone in England who could speak French and a lady there allowed us to use the Google Translation service until a local lady came around who spoke English.  Our tyre was changed and a new one ordered for the morning (hopefully).




Then it was a journey through Tours trying to drive below 80Kph (50mph) which meant avoiding as many dual carriageways as possible and driving close to the Ibis where we had stayed on our journey south. We arrived at our destination, a B&B on the other side of Tours to find no one here and no way in!  A lady came around later to let us in and show us around. We were told (in French as she spoke no English) about a local place to eat which was very close by. With no internet access we walked only to find that they were fully booked and did not have the dinner reservation that my wife had been told had been made for us (my fantastic wife found is out as they spoke no English either).  We walked to a hotel that the local signs said had a restaurant to find it was closed and then walked back home, my son despondent that he might not be fed, and my wife, who had been through a lot, started to show the strains.  How we wished that we had stayed at the Ibis in Tours now!  Fortunately, when we got back, one of the families from the restaurant arrived at the B&B, which meant that we knew that a table was now free. We returned and they took pity on us and let us dine there.

And the food was worth the visit, so long as you like crepes. So now we are back and have a journey back to the garage in the morning, but it should be more direct, and if we are lucky, less stressful and if all goes well, our only issue should be not making the EuroTunnel train that we have booked to travel on.

And while the kids showed admirable resilience during what must have been a scary time for them and deserve heaps of praise, my wife deserves most for dealing with this and keeping things together when everything seemed to be going wrong.

Day Ten in France - up and down again

Today is our last night in this area before we journey back north.  We woke and ate at a local patisserie and then travelled, as planned to Saint-Émilion.  We had heard that it is best to visit the town in the morning, but due to one reason or another, we did not arrive until about 1100 in the morning.  The reason for arriving in the morning is that we had been told that in the afternoon, tour buses containing loads of Chinese and Japanese tourists descend upon the town.

Unforutnately, we just missed some tours, but in a way, this was a good thing.  The town is pretty and certainly worth visiting.  I had the chance to take the children on a 90 minute journey around the town on a tour, but I decided that they would not appreciate this, something when they were told, they agreed with.  They were interested in the ideas of entering the catacombs below, but settled for a journey up the bell tower.  And they loved it there.  We spent over an hour as they enjoyed the view, something I fail to understand that others do not try to experience.  In a town where so many experiences appear to cost so much, this was €5 for the three of us (I think that we were charged for four of us to explore, but my wife decided to learn more about the local wines).  By the time my wife was ready to meet up, the kids were starting to get ready to leave the tower.

After this, it was a trip home, with a detour to buy biscuits for our respective workplaces and then lunch.  We had aimed to take the children to the river beach, but an injury to the toe of my daughter prevented that.  Instead we watched a film and then went out for dinner at the amazing restaurant that we had been to before.

Anyway, packing has commenced and I have to get to bed to finish this with my wife tomorrow morning before we journey north to Tours.

Day Nine In France - An Amazing Meal

Today was another easy day.  I woke late to the smell of bacon.  My wife and kids and woken up earlier, but I was so tired, that I had slept through them getting ready and then leaving and returning with breakfast. 

After this, we went into the town and wandered about.  I wanted to explore some of its history and my wife let me (I will post this to YouTube when back in the UK).  I found her in the central square and completed my quest which had started aided by my son, instead, with my daughter. 

After this, we returned for a light lunch and then a trip to taste some of the local wines.  My ability to do this was limited by my driving and also my reluctance to spit out the wine rather than drink it.  My wife, who was being the passenger, was making the use of her superior knowledge of wine to the benefit of us both. 

After a trip home to relax, we went out to eat later and had an amazing meal.  I feel that this was one of the best that we have had in ages, not just in France this holiday, and neither of use expected it.  They were great with our kids and now we are in bed recovering from a busy day.

Day eight in France - The Cleaning Fairies

Today we have been to Bordeaux and I have to say, what an amazing city.

Our journey was forced due to the illness of my friend, or as others may term it, my iPhone.  I had it fixed last month after a few intermittent issues that it had, and got it back in the last week of July, but when in Bergerac, it sort of died.  Well, that is what I thought at first, but the screen had gone.   It was able to receive calls, and texts, as well as messages on Twitter, but there was no way to use my screen.  I tried the normal advice on a forced reset, but with no message on the screen, and limited internet access here at La Batellerie (I have it for now), there was no way to get it working.  So this morning, we travelled to Bordeaux.  We thought, from searching forums, that the issue would be with a connection to the screen, but on getting it there, we found that this was not going to be the case.  They offered to repair it, and they did try a low cost repair, but alas, this was not possible.

On the bright side we got to see the city of Bordeaux.  I had not expected it to be so pretty and it was great to see some of its sights.  We did not get the chance to explore it as much as I would like, but it would be great to return in a few years time.  My daughter took loads of pictures and did a bit of shopping while my son was patient and spent time with my while his mother and sister had other bits of fun.

Anyway, we are back at La Batellerie and it was great to come back to find that the cleaning fairies had been in.  My wife always said that they did not exist, but I now know otherwise!

Day Seven in France - the Market

Today we went after breakfast to Issigeac, where there was a market being held.  It was different to the market in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande opposite the river from where we were staying and in some ways better.  We did spend more money there, including spending some Euro's on a game of Chinese Chequers.  After this, it was lunch in the town, which I loved (the choice of my wife meant her meal was not as good as mine), and then on the way home we bumped into a place where we could taste some wine.  As I was driving, I did not sample any of the wares, but we did buy.  It was a great place with great service and had catered for children to be entertained allowing adults to spend time appreciating wine!

Once home, the kids were knackered and although I had intended to take them onto the river bank beach, they were not really up to it, and instead we relaxed watching the Simpsons.  After dinner, playing another game of Chinese Chequers (my wife won the game today) it was a trip to the river back with my daughter to feed the fish the bread that we were not going to be able to eat.  Anyway, it is time for me to read to them.

Day six in France - Pistashoberry

Well it has been interesting today.  We went to the market in the morning in town and bought fruit and vegetables for the next few days.  After returning home and having breakfast, it was a trip out, initially, we were thinking of travelling a while, but in the end instead went to Bergerac.  However, once there, my iPhone died.  It had been out for repairs before we came to France, but it may have developed a new fault, or it was not fixed properly.  But, other than that, the day in the town was great.  Lunch was good where my daughter made Pistashoberry ice-cream, a mixture of pistachio and strawberry which I was not allowed to eat.  Following this, it was a walk down to the riverfront and a trip on the Dordogne River with a lesson on some of the history of the river and town.  An ice-cream again and then it was a trip home.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to fix my iPhone, but we did have a great dinner made by my wife and played Chinese Chequers.

Day five in France - All that Jazz

As we start to get ready for bed, we listen to the sounds of Jazz on the quay outside.

Today my daughter and I went to get breakfast only to find the food we had been sent out to get had sold out and I had forgotten to order the giant pan-au-chocolat that they also sell. Before this we had been watching a film together while her mother and brother caught up on much needed sleep.

Later it was a trip to the river beach where my wife and I watched the kids playing in the river and later make a sort of sandcastle. It was altered later when a boy found it unattended and destroyed part of it, but that is another tale.

Come dinner time I attempted to use the barbecue but failed miserably, the charcoal heating up for a short period of time before cooling. Fortunately my wife had food that mostly did not need to be cooked on the BBQ and instead we used the cooker in the cottage.

But, while we did not do much, the kids loved today.

Day four in France - films

Today has been one travelling about in the area.  We had a trip into town to find one of the least helpful Tourist Information centres that we have found and then after that, it was a journey to find another. Luckily our hosts had told us where they could be found and we then found one of the most helpful Tourist information centres ever.  The good thing about the tourist information centre was the museum above it, which while sparse was free and offered information on the basics of the Stone and Bronze Age, which I presume included local finds.

We were fortunate enough to be told more information to augment that which our hosts had given us both today and yesterday.  And armed with this information, due to the day being one with weather reminiscent of England (the stereotyped version) we traveled. We visited a chateau and tried some wine. The kids were great but we felt it would be too unfair on them to take them round looking at furniture when they were hungry so instead we went to a nearby restaurant were we had good food. I always love the idea of fried cheese but the Camembert with breadcrumbs today accompanied by a salad with raspberry vinegar was amazing.

Once back near our temporary home, it was a trip to a local patisserie to reward the children for their patience with a treat for them and a Cafe au lait for us.  At home while my wife slept, the children watched the end of Transformers 2 (as bad as all the other sequels) and then we watched Batman vs Superman which was a far better film.  Anyway they are in bed now, no doubt sleeping about superheroes and the argument we had over dinner as to if Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a superhero (or heroine) or not. For the record, she is one, and an awesome one at that.

And the picture is of a snail is one that we picked up somewhere along our travels today.

Day three in France - civilised

Today has been more relaxed.  Breakfast was relaxed and great. My wife is far better at French than I am and is speaking less Italian now when speaking French.  I am not one to judge however as I am terrible with both, only speaking a few words despite having lessons in both languages in the past.

Lunch occurred after a trip to the local supermarket and then, for the children and I, a walk down the river bank to a beach on the river. I do not think the kids were too happy with this, but they came along anyway but when there, loved it.  There is a park as well as two areas, one to swim in, the other to wade in. We didn't take the appropriate clothes so were not able to stay for as long as we would have liked.

Dinner today was outside our cottage to the sound of music, a delight we were never going to have in Italy.

Day two in France - La Batellerie

Not the best photo but one I intend to improve on. We are at our destination and it is great. The couple that run La Batellerie are as lovely as the place itself. My wife booked it and as with the holiday last year, the place is amazing. Unlike last year it is in the town which makes it much better for exercise. Anyway we are watching Iron Man. Good night all!

Day one of our holiday in France

Knackered, that is the way to describe all of us.

My amazing wife has arranged a holiday for us in France and we are now enjoying the effort she put into this.  The last two days have been busy as I have been finishing off what work I can do before the holiday. Some of this will require me to catch up on e-mails when on holiday but otherwise we will be spending much needed and valued time together.  The big downside of this was when I was late for a lunch invite with some good friends yesterday. I owe them lots for this and will have to find a way to make it up to them.

As for today, the trip down to the Tunnel was essentially uneventful and though there were a lot more security checks than before the journey under the Channel went well. And then it was the long drive.  But the roads in France are great, as are the service areas.  My wife just kept saying how civilised things are in France.  Service areas in the UK are improving but have some way to go to catch up with the standard set in France.

Anyway, we are how resting in our hotel before setting off again tomorrow.  And I hope to be able to update the blog then.