Just been standing in our field to the front of house situated just to the north of Pau and watching the Pyrenees turn purple, listening to the silence (except for an owl and a sheep bell), eating a freshly plucked fig and quaffing the remains of a Madiran red and thinking, at this moment, all in all, I’m very lucky. Wonderful wife (who should be standing here with me, but is rushing about with washing), fabulous step-grandchildren who have been with us for the past week, great step-children who give us fantastic support, a great son (who should be doing more with his life but is happy) and me dad who, at 90 is still hale and hearty.
You do have to stop sometimes and just admire the whole thing and admit life doesn’t get much better than this. I’ve just been emptying the ‘fag’ trays after the other half and in-laws and had to stop and admire the starry night sky- it’s perfect and I never noticed it in London 
Good job I only had 2 glasses tonight.
Sounds idyllic Neil - a bit like my earlier Zen moment on the photography group. Have you tried one-hand clapping - another winner! You have to be careful how you say ‘freshly plucked fig’ by the way. Did you put that in there to try and catch us out? ;~S