We started off the holidays with a trip up to see Jess and Olivier's new house. It's a helluva spot and a massive departure from the city centre / apartment living that we'd gotten to know them through. In fact, you really couldn't get much more of change. It's actually quite a typical family home for this area but my god!, the space! Not only do they have a swimming pool and about eight fruit trees, but they also have a pond that's so huge, it's almost a small lake! The whole thing, inside and out, is a massive project as it was bought from an elderly couple who've not done anything to the place for about 30 years, and Jess and Olivier know they know they've got a lot of work ahead but it's going to be incredible. They've already knocked down a wall to create a huge kitchen/dining/living space so I can already start to see their ideas. The boys, as you would imagine, had an absolute blast; running around in the garden; tearing wallpaper off the walls; poking big sticks in the pond. It's a wee boy's dream adventure zone. Jess and I talked about us taking our tent up in the summer and having a night on the wine and beers in their garden. We need to make this happen.
Just in time for the soaring summer temperatures, Rosemary's latest batch of knitting arrived! This one was particularly anticipated as it contained Iain's commission. He is absolutely delighted and actually said that he wished it was autumn so he could break it out. She's even done William a matching one - they're going to look so cool! I keep saying that I really need to send her something to thank her for all she does. Best get onto that. William also received another winter warmer this week. - An early birthday present of a Hunting and Fishing top from Reneé and Jabba. I'm delighted as he's just getting a little bit big for his other ones.
Last Saturday ended up being a bit of slow burner. We took William down to Hédas in the very late morning to let him run around and burn off some energy but we all very quickly got bored and hungry and, as I'd been talking about trying some different places for food, we decided to head up towards the château and see if we could get a table at the Vintage Café. I'm so glad we did; my lunch was absolutely first class. I went for the scallop risotto which was served with with seasonal veg and a light dressing of caviar. It was possibly the best lunch I've had in Pau so we will definitely be back! We had a couple of wines with lunch then enjoyed our new lunchtime dessert - an Irish coffee - and we didn't wrap up until about 2.45pm. We were feeling good so went for a wee wander around the shops. We were momentarily split up while I went for a nosy in one of the handbag shops and when I came up the hill, where do you think I found Iain? Bondi. Bien sûr! So we hung out there for a couple of hours, talking nonsense and drinking cider and blethering with Lee and Conrad who ended up joining us late on. William took on the usual mantel of Street Urchin, playing in the street on his bike and kicking a ball around. We headed home (just the three of us) at about 6.45pm, planning to fire up the BBQ and round off the day with perhaps one or two more beers in the garden. But that's not quite how it panned out. As Iain was lighting the coals, our new neighbour, Mathieu, arrived into the courtyard, armed with a box of beers. Iain duly invited him round to our beer garden for an apèro and a blether. It was great, and due to the amount of alcohol consumed, so was my french ;-) Mathieu had a couple of mates arrive who also joined us and I was still out, talking absolute nonsense at about 1.30am. As you can probably imagine, this late night blether session didn't come without inebriation. Where Iain sneakily went on to water, I went from the beer onto the biggest mistake you can make at the end of a boozing session - red wine. Nooooooooo. It was only ever going to go one way. Eurgh. As Reneé likes to say at moments like these: "One kidney to rule them all!" If Saturday night was bad, then Sunday was even worse. Iain took William for a big run in the château park in the pouring rain at lunchtime and I was so ill that I had to go back to my bed, get up again, spew, then force myself into a desperate sleep (under the blanket of shame ;-| [another Ronnie-ism]). What. A. Mess. I forced myself out for a remorseful 6k run (with William in tow) on Monday morning and it almost broke me. When will I ever learn?!
On Tuesday I took William to La Pêcherie d'Aurit in Hagetaubin. It was Lee who first suggested it and Alisha, Nadia and I jumped on board. I was actually unsure if I'd be able to go as Citroen sold our Berlingo and I needed to sort out collecting our new C4 (booo!) but turns out it was bank holiday so Citroen were closed anyway. Anyway! Back to the story. We had a good old meander around the pêcherie the kids loved it. We probably took a bit of a wrong turn towards the end and ended up on the wrong road and missing quite a few of the animals but I took William back in and he was able to have more cuddles with baby goats and feed the deer. He's fearless!
A great day out and bonkers that it's actually three years since we last went. You can reminisce here and marvel at, not just the cute baby goats, but how small and cute William was when we just moved to France.
On Wednesday, we picked up our new car. It's a C4 and feels tiny compared to the Berlingo. I know we're lucky to have a car, and that the C4 is actually a lot better for parking in our courtyard, but the Berlingo is just brilliant for road trips as there's so much space. Eric said he'll let us know if he gets any in, but he can't make any promises. I reckon coronavirus has had a massive impact on this too. Alterations to the contracts between Citroen and Section. Anyway, at least we still have a car.
The days can be long when its just me and William all day every day but you can always find stuff to do. Here's some videos of William practicing his numbers (after finding corresponding objects).
Anyway, here's another current favourite: for for walks around town with the buggy. A few days after this was taken, we even progressed to having Bunny / Elephant in there too.
We went out for dinner at Passage on Saturday and Fish joined us. It was good to just hang out and absorb ourselves in the summer atmosphere. Great feed too, as ever.
I'm still trying to run as much as possible but I'm being hampered by the heat, having to run with William on my own, and, even more annoying, ongoing issues with my feet. My second toe on my left foot was developing a sharp pain after I got to about 4 or 5k, but I've now also developed problems with both my achilles (worse on the right). I reckon its those bloody Asics trainers that have done it. I'm really annoyed as they weren't cheap either.
Yesterday we wanted to get out of the city and into nature so decided on a big bike ride, this time following the route I'd gone with Claire and Lee a couple of weeks ago. I knew that heading all the way to the lake would be far too much for William but we still managed to get past the Billère nature paths, under the main road on a good bit along the VeloRoute to Bayonne. We'd take a decent picnic with us so found a spot next to the river and parked up for most of the afternoon. It was scorching. The boys played in the river, we ate good food, and generally just enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was great.
Knowing its always harder on the way home (especially with a four year old) and that it would probably take us about 40mins in the 35* heat, we decided at about 4.30-4.45pm to pack up and gradually make our way home. Our route took us back past the mountain bike park and Iain headed straight in for a quick play. William duly followed but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing and before I realised, he was ambling up one of the jumps. As I screamed "Noooooooo!", he kept going, in slow motion, tipping right off the edge and going right over the handlebars. All this with a chupa chup in his mouth too. Immediately, and understandably, he was howling. We both ran over to him, picked him up and tried to assess the damage. Remarkably, no broken teeth, and seemingly, nothing else broken. A big fat lip and a grazed chin but really just a big fright for everyone.
The worst part was that we were still out in Billière and had to get him home in the searing heat. He was determined that he didn't want to cycle but the longer we walked, the longer it was taking us to get back. He absolutely howled the entire journey home. By the time we got home, he was done, and with his eyes rolling around in his head, and him unable to stay awake, I started to panic that he'd had a bad concussion. But what could we do? We needed to get sugar in him, and fluids, and wait it out for a bit. Amazingly (thank god!) he came good in about 45mins once he'd had a rest and a load of lollies. Phew. What. A. Day.
Monday morning rolled round and he was in much better fettle, but I still spoiled him with a croissant and a ride on the helicopter at Leclerc.
An eventful couple of weeks!
Lorna :)
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