Happy Return

Well, we`re back! Back home again from our annual Christmas visit to our `other family` at Lille. We got back in on Friday after a trip of 625 kilometres, all done in one day. On the outward trip we broke our journey at Orléans, so as not to arrive too exhausted, it`s not very polite to arrive at a friend`s house and demand to go straight to bed!
  We had a fantastic time chez Cécile and Patrick; the weather was relatively mild, unusual for Lille, we  had snow last year. At least the dogs, having to spend Christmas in the car like SDF`s, were not too uncomfortable. Still, they get loads of walks. Here it is even milder I walked them yesterday without a coat on (me rather than the dogs!) The down-side has been LOADS of rain, Paris was nearly underwater when we passed on the outward voyage and it rained nearly all the way.

Oysters--see if you can spot the pearl

Coquilles St Jacques + side dish

    We are really spoilt while at Lille, there are for example two separate dinners for Cécile`s family and Patrick`s, and we get to go to both! Kim has taken to Jax`s habit of photographing her food, so here are a couple of shots... Have to admit that neither of us are brave enough to eat oysters but an alternative of ham was provided.
























Oh, yes, you live high off the hog there and my digestion is still recovering.
   While we were there, Patrick took delivery of his new computer. He was not happy with the old one, which, he said ,was acting up. He disconnected it to install the new one and it worked fine on a temporary connection, seemed to be putting out its tongue at him!  Anyway, he generously gave the old one to me, so I am now the possessor of a much more modern Apple than my present Leopard and I am hoping that Ade can sort out any problems on the new Tiger OSX 10.4.3  A suivre!
   The Peugeot ran impeccably for two trips of over 600 kilometres in spite of the rain, I`m very pleased with how it continues to run. The only down-side at the moment is that Kim has returned with a Northern France cold, so I am nursing her back to health and we had to give church a miss this morning.  And it seems that a fox has seized the opportunity of our absence to eat our two Muscovey ducks....Oh, well, that`s life...RIP Alyson and Rebecca :(


  Right, that`s all for now, going to eat a small, dry biscuit with a glass of water...