Wow…that was quite a month. Normally when we come to our lovely little flat here in St Aygulf, it is for a month of doing very little, relaxing in the sunshine and re-charging our batteries. However, this month has been quite busy and has seen us doing a lot more things like going out, eating out and generally spending a lot more money than normal! Of course, we have had time to relax a bit and to sit on our balcony and the weather has been a bit “mixed” shall we say, with a fair bit of rain and a pretty consistent chilly wind which has reduced our beach time quite a bit this year, so we have done other things instead…hence the busyness! So, just what have we been up to this month…
I’ll start with the journey out here which all went very well indeed. The train was on time, as was the flight and we spent our usual 1st night in a hotel in Nice. The next day saw us taking the train along to St Raphael & then having made a mistake with the bus times, we opted to take a taxi along to St Aygulf, arriving chez nous just before lunchtime. After sorting out Sylvie car, we drove along to Frejus to stock up on provisions…and as usual were horrified by the bill at the supermarket! Always the same when we start our stay so I should be used to it by now…but after shopping in Aldi in Carlisle, as we normally do, the prices always shock us here! Our first week was spent pretty quietly, in and around St Aygulf, going to the markets and we did get some balcony time, which was nice. We went along to Les Issambres and ate at our favourite bistro there (Bistro d’Antre Potes) and it was as great as always, with Magali and Eric in good form after their pre-season break. Apart from a trip to St Maxine and a couple of mooches around the markets plus a Sunday morning visit to the big vide-grenier at Roquebrune (which I love but Geoff not so much really!) we stayed fairly quiet, getting ready for the arrival of Hazel, Phil and the little one, not to mention Xena the dog, in week 2!
Their trip out had also gone well. Hazel always prepares these trips very well and they had stops in AirBandBs in Calais and Beaune on the way down. They arrived at their camp site in good time on the 7th April and the little one soon found the pool …and the water slide, which were to become daily activities as their holiday progressed! Their lodge was small but good and we spent part of the evening with them, having introduced ourselves to the camp site receptionists, who were to get to know Geoff in particular very well over the next two weeks as he arrived every morning to take Xena for a walk! We saw quite a bit of the family in the next few days, joining them for a BBQ one evening, taking them out for lunch to see Eric & Magali, and having a couple of trips to the beach with them…although our little one declared the sea was too cold to take a dip! She did enjoy watching her Mummy and Papi swim though…Granny sided with her and did not get past the ankles in the water depth! And she loved playing on the sand 
We all had a busy day on the first Saturday of their holiday. We went into Frejus in the morning to the Nature Day, which we have been to before, but not with the family. The little one loved it…lots of animals to pet, face painting, plants to pot up, loads of art and craft activities, a tractor parade and of course coffee and tarte aux fraises…a phrase she had soon mastered in French! In the afternoon there was another fete, this time at the Arts and Craft Village which was also great fun. There was one very tired little girl that evening I can tell you!
The second week of their holiday was not so good weather wise with quite a bit of rain unfortunately making beach trips not so attractive. However, they did go to St Tropez one day, and we joined them on trips too, some days. We all went to Antibes, which Hazel knows very well as she spent several years working for Eurocamp there when she was a student. Antibes is a place we have passed through many times but have not really explored it, so it was great to be taken on a tour of the old town which I loved very much. Geoff also enjoyed going to the Picasso Museum, somewhere he has wanted to visit for a while. It was just a shame it was such a miserable rainy day. However, I think that we will return to explore it further on another occasion. Hazel also took us to Cannes and once again we enjoyed that visit, as we went into the old town away from the harbour and Croisette…we had never done that bit either! We took them to Port Grimaud…somewhere that Hazel had not been before and although that was another rainy day, everyone enjoyed that visit too. Unfortunately, all too soon, their holiday came to an end and after taking Xena to the vets here in St Aygulf, for her going home jabs and checks, and one final visit to the campsite for a BBQ, it was time for them to start their journey home. It had been fantastic having them here though and being able to share their holiday a bit. We especially enjoyed seeing the little one have such a good time on the beach and in the swimming pool at the camp site…and Geoff really enjoyed taking his dog for a walk in new areas around the site too. Their three-day journey home went well and now they (and us) have settled back into normal routines once again.
It was Easter weekend just after they left and as always, we found that there really was very little to do here. Easter in France is a sort of non-event really. When we had the BandB and Gite, we rarely had any visitors over Easter. The schools have a two week “Spring” holiday here and it is staggered across the country, so that some children are not even on holiday at Easter at all! We went to church on Easter Sunday, trying out a new Anglican church in St Raphael, for the first time rather than driving all the way to Cannes as we have done on previous occasions. The service was mostly sung and although it was nice we didn’t really feel able to join in, as we didn’t know the music at all! However, everyone was very friendly and made us welcome, so I think we will go back there again in the future. Easter Monday was a public holiday here but once again, it was pretty dull with no fetes or activities going on at all.
Our last week here has been truly “back to normal”! The weather picked up again thank goodness so we have had a couple of trips down to the beach….and yes, I did manage to swim one day…but not for long as the water is still very cold! Geoff has been able to play pickleball with a small group of like-minded people along at Les Issambres, which he has really enjoyed. Finding these courts and setting up this small group has been a good move as previously he had to go to a club about 45 minutes drive away and now finding this solution only 5 minutes away is great for all concerned We have had a couple of trips along to Port Frejus to eat and were joined on Sunday by our friends Mandy and Carolyn for lunch. It was great to see them again and to catch up with all their recent adventures. We also took a trip up to the Gorges du Verdun one day which was lovely. We took a picnic, put Sylvie car’s lid down and just enjoyed all the spectacular scenery. At one of our stops to admire the views, I was delighted to find many pretty wild flowers growing on the roadside verges…some of them unknown to me…and also a wild fritillary flower which was gorgeous. I’ve never found one of those before growing wild. It quite made my day Another day we drove off through the hills to Mandelieu, and had a walk along one of the rivers there, which we have not been able to locate before! That was lovely and the lunch we ate in one of the riverside cafes was delicious too
As many of you know, we have never had UK TV here in France. We have always found French TV OK, so have never really missed out on anything. However, this time we have struggled some evenings to find anything decent to watch, which has been a bit disappointing. All the usual TV programmes which we have always liked, seem to have disappeared, which is sad. As always though, I have been delighted to be able to catch up on my beloved soap opera Plus Belle la Vie which has pleased me immensely! Having just figured out yet again who all the new characters are and where they fit in, I am about to be bereft yet again as we leave on Wednesday! I wish I could find some way of watching this in the UK…but then I suspect Geoff would not be as enthusiastic about that as I would be!
Domestically, all has once again gone well in our little flat apart from a couple of problems…one of which was sorted easily but the other might prove to be a bit more difficult and also costly. The first disaster was my beloved balcony and garden relaxing chair died on me the first week we were here. It had done good service mind you, as we had inherited it when we first moved to France in 2006! A visit to Gifi saw it replaced very quickly! The second problem we have is with the oven here, which has never given us any trouble before. Every time we put the oven setting on “fan” all the electricity in the flat blows. We can sort this by resetting the fuse on the fuse box, but we are at a loss to know how to fix the underlying problem. For the moment we are coping by not using the fan option for the oven…and everything works fine with that. However, I suspect we will need to sort it out properly when we come back in September 
Now, we are getting sorted out for our return to the UK. The hotel for our last night in Nice is booked, as are the train tickets from Edinburgh to Carlisle. As always, we will be sad to go home, and as always, the weather has decided to be hot and sunny again as we leave! Typical! However, we have really enjoyed our month here and we are looking forward to returning again in September. I will probably post this blog a day earlier than usual as we will be flying home on the 30th. Roll on September I say
A bientot mes amis