We started October still in France, still swimming in the sea, and still enjoying the sunshine. We got the flat sorted out ready for our friends Les and Carol`s arrival and spent a lovely day with them when they did arrive after an epic but enjoyable (they are train buffs after all!) train journey from Bristol to Nice where they stayed overnight, before catching yet another train to St Raphael where Geoff picked them up from the station. I have to say that I prefer our flights but each to their own and they had really liked all the train travel! After showing them round a bit we took them along the coast and had lunch at our favourite Bistro L’Antre Potes, where we bade fond farewells to Eric and his daughter until April next year when we will be back. We then got our gear together and caught the bus along to St Raphael and then the train to Nice where we stayed overnight as usual before taking our flight to Edinburgh the next morning. It felt very strange donning jeans, jumpers and jackets for the first time in a month…but we had been warned to expect cold and wet weather back home. I refused to give in to shoes though and arrived in Edinburgh in my sandals as always! The rest of the trip home went well and we were met at Carlisle station by a very excited granddaughter and her mummy which was lovely. We spent the next few days in total disorientation as we seemed to have forgotten where anything was kept in our flat…does that mean that we have entered old dufferdom at last! We were also not terribly impressed by the weather and the jeans and jumpers quickly became standard features…and even shoes at times. Sad times!
We were soon back into our normal routines but did have a lovely family meet up at the weekend for a picnic with our son Matthew, Ethan and Hadley and our daughter Hazel, Phil and the little one came too so we had a lovely day together. All the children love Bolton on Sands and they had a great time playing with each other and Xena the dog too of course.
I was then back to the eye clinic on the Monday. It had been too long really since my last appointment and my eyes were not good at all so I was almost glad (almost, note, as I still hate them!) to get the eye injections done again. It did make me realise though that this treatment is probably going to be necessary for the rest of my life, which is a bit depressing, but at least it keeps the condition under control.
I was supposed to be giving a talk to a local WI the first week that we were back, but I was very pleased that a mix up in communications caused it to be cancelled. I was pleased because I really was not ready for it and was not looking forward to driving there and back that week! I don’t drive much when we are in France…Geoff regards Sylvie car as his toy and so enjoys driving it! I will do the talk at another time so nothing was lost really. I did get back to swimming though with Linda again…well for a couple of weeks anyway before she and Mike departed for another trip to Australia to visit their daughter and family there. It did feel strange to be swimming in a pool again…and with warm water! We did fit in a lunch with Linda and Mike before they left though and got caught up with all their family news. Their tally of grandchildren continues to increase…they are now up to 6 with more on the way! I have also been swimming with Hazel and the little one a couple of times and am amazed at the progress the little one is making now that she has started proper swimming lessons. She always has loved the water, and has been very confident but now she is jumping in correctly and doggy paddling really well…still with the aid of a shark vest float…but I suspect that will not be needed soon either. It is lovely being able to see all this progress and always reminds us that this is why we decided to return to live in the UK.
We were soon back in the thick of things with the church too and have helped with coffee mornings and café church again last week. At the moment I am also trying to persuade people at church to contribute to the annual Shoebox appeal, something which is still very dear to my heart. I now have a good collection of donated toys and other bits and pieces here in the flat ready to be assembled into the boxes. I have also been buying lots of stuff from the charity shop where I work with cash donations people have given me so the pile is growing big time! As well as that I have been knitting and collecting knitted poppies whish have now been assembled into some stunning displays in the centre of Carlisle. They look amazing. Now my knitting has moved into Christmas stuff and there are quite a few little Christmas stockings made which will be filled with sweets ready for inclusion in food parcels which will be distributed locally nearer to Christmas. My knitting needles are never still it seems atm!
We have managed to fit in two visits to our local theatre too. The first was to see The Good Life performed by the amateur group there and was very good indeed. We laughed a lot! The second was to see a play done by a touring group of professional actors…and frankly was dreadful! It was done as a hammed up, slapstick performance, and we really didn’t enjoy it all. I have only given up on one theatre performance in my life (at the Royal Exchange in Manchester where we found the play obscene and left in the interval) but believe me I nearly made this performance the second! Such a shame as we had looked forward to it too.
We have continued to eat out each Wednesday as usual, but we have not ventured very far, and Geoff is back playing pickleball regularly again. We did attend an awards ceremony hosted by Britain in Bloom last week at the Gosling Sike site at Houghton where Geoff collected a certificate on behalf on the local community garden for which he is a trustee. That was an interesting afternoon seeing all the work being done mostly by volunteers, in our bit of Cumbria to improve the environment and lives of people in their localities. We enjoyed it very much.
This week we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights away in Silverdale which is on the edge of the Lakes overlooking Morecombe Bay. It is a part of the countryside dear to Geoff’s heart as his parents liked going there and we have visited it several times ourselves too. We stayed in Silverdale itself in a nice old hotel and really enjoyed just pottering around there and Arnside too. We also met up with Matthew, Susie and the grandchildren for lunch one day, as they were staying in one of the holiday parks nearby. It was a lovely break and we really enjoyed it and the drive back through the Lakes today was lovely too. We drove alongside Lake Coniston and up to Hawkshead where we had a nice walk round and visited the tiny Methodist Chapel there, which, although I have been to Hawkshead many times before I had never noticed before! It was lovely. The autumn colours in the Lakes are fabulous just now, and although it is half term here, we didn’t find it was too busy. I just love living so close to this fantastic National Park.
Apart from those things and outings, we have had quite a quiet month really. It always takes us a while to adjust to coming back from France…although having seen all the terrible storms and rainfall which has resulted in pretty dreadful flooding in parts of France (including Frejus and St Aygulf) last weekend, we are quite pleased we have missed all that. We have also watched with horror the flooding in and around Valencia in Spain this week. One of my craft group friends is actually just outside Valencia atm, visiting her daughter and thankfully she and her family are fine, but she has said that the region is in total chaos and shock after all the floods there. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by it.
It is Halloween tonight but I think it will pass us by quietly this evening. Hazel, Phil and the little one are away for a few days in Northumberland, and so there will be no dressing up, spooky food or answering their door to little ghosties and ghoulies as we normally do, this year. Instead, I have a quiet night in planned, some jigsaw solving and maybe a few more Christmas stockings to knit! Does this mean that I am getting old??? I hope not! We have a very busy period coming up next month so I will need all my energy for that I think. And so until next time
A bientot mes amis…
