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We returned to France in Mid July and were happy to be home for a while and see friends, especially those who are often here just in the summer months.  We also looked forward to the annual village festival and the music. For a number of years, the festival has been organised by a group of local villages, but reorganisation in France meant that the villages were no longer in the same commune and in 2017, our village organised a smaller version on its own.  Fortunately, it was a huge success and so in 2018, three other villages joined us and again, it was a great success and its future should be assured, although it is now shorter. The venue is a wine domain lose to us and so we can walk down to he events.  The opening event, however is always in the centre of the village, where we sat on stone steps at lunch time on Sunday. We then had a busy week, with two more concerts and apes with friends, before we set off for Broadstairs on the train. John has som...

Broadstairs and Cambridge

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This trip to the UK was planned around Helen’s birthday and the 70th birthday celebration of a long standing friend, Jacqueline. We met Jacqueline and Simon whe we moved to Cambridge in 1970 and both we and they were married that summer. First stop was a visit to Mayville Mews to see house progress. The roof is now in place and work is now moving to the garage and utility room which are both at a different height.   Windows are mostley installed, but the conservatory is waiting for the solicitors to deal with various issues, before we can exchange contracts. The first event was Helen’s birthday in Broadstairs . She and Nick were able to go out for a meal on her birthday while we babysat and went away for a night in Sandwich at the Salutation. The other major event was the World Cup and we managed to see a couple of matches. At the weekend, Helen and Nick went away and, on Sunday, we took the boys to London, at Ernie’s request.  Following a tour of ...

Italian lakes

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Italian Lakes with the 3rd age group from Lespignan Since 2009, with only one exception, we have joined a third age group for their annual week away on a bus tour.  This year, we were at the Italian lakes.  We left Thézan at a time that is ‘de bonne heure’ in French which is far from good in our book!  As always, we greeted our friends while waiting for the bus.  We were delighted to be joined by Yvette.  Her last holiday with the group had been with her husband, Armand when we passed a wonderful few hours with them in a gondola in Venice. She had nor been on holiday with the group since then. When the bus arrived, we were quickly away; we had a long way to go.  Also on board, we had a couple that we had met on our trip to the Baltic states.  There are rules for bus drivers in France, which, we understand are strict and not to be broken.  So, to get to our destination , we have two drivers, one driving the coach and another in a car. ...