So then, just back from a weekend en France avec le bateau et quelques jours de Janine er Ross.
SO nice to sail in warmer waters with the sun on your back - only a tiny shame it makes the ice in your G&T melt just that little bit faster….
went from La Rochelle across to the Ile de Re, a small but perfectly formed expanse of small harbours, endless bobbing boats, oyster farms at regular handy intervals along the cycleways and coastal paths, bountiful moules frites in various guises and the most profitable ice cream shop / parlour / monolith I've ever seen – 2 boules for 4 euros and five separate entry queues that stretched for 20 yards from its opening at 11am till its close at midnight. You blow your cornet well, La Martinique..
Pootled about in search of fish – and the Frenchman sourly said from the boat next to us 'Les poissons? Il n'ya en a plus' was indeed proven right. Popped up to the lighthouse in the northeast corner and even played mini golf – only worth a mention as I WON, ha Mr Ian 'I Played off Scratch' Hawkes – not so good on a crappy course of concrete, billiard markers and ludicrous obstacles, hey?
And now back – to a desperately happy Scrumpy (cue vast amounts of 'happy wees' on the floor in her ecstasy), her celebration of our return (digging up the remaining few bulbs in the garden and eating them with the last couple of snails she had somehow missed, plus a lot of crapping and biting) – and the prospect of actually having to buckle down and look for some work.
In my usual spirit of prevarication, I spent yesterday amassing a vast quantity of fruit and veg from the delighted Indian man in the southfields greengrocers, and today Mr H & I are embarking on our 7 day fruit juice diet. Yes, 5 juices a day, with everything from pineapples and avocados to kale and broccoli root in them. More of your 5 a day ina week than I probably get in a year.. Here's hoping we actually manage to stick to it – with the promise of 'losing 7lbs in 7 days' being the goal.
Must go – my morning apple, pineapple, lemon and ginger is calling me. Perhaps not so loudly as the granola or the toast however….. sigh.
S x