Christmas at Lille

       As was our normal routine, we decided to spend Christmas with our friends Cecile and Patrick at Watignies, close to Lille in northern France. Although my health was a little shaky, we decided to go for it and make the trip. We took two days to cover the distance, spending the night near Charles de Gaule airport at a Formula One hotel at St Witz.
   Cecile and Patrick welcomed us warmly at their home near the centre of Watignies. It is a most luxurious modern house created from Patrick's father's veg garden, approached via a tunnel from the centre of the town,which seems to lead to the rear yard of a cafe. You wriggle your car down this unpromising entry, turn sharp right in front of a small terrace of houses, including the house of P's father, turn sharp left and you find yourself in a sort of oasis-garden in the middle of the town, facing Cecile and Patrick 's large home, which originally had a granny annex for Cecile's mother, sadly deceased a year ago.
  We were given the guest room on the first floor. C and p's daughter and friend were also staying but as Dimitry is allergic to cats, they stayed in the caravan parked in the garden and all cats were prohibited from entering the house, which didn't please them! However the couple proved invaluable in assisting Cecile in cooking meals. However, we were 32 people at dinner on Christmas Day and Eric Sacleux, and Patrick were responsible for preparing and serving the sumptuous repas. Our contribution was five goat's cheeses on leaves much appreciated at Lille. An iced Christmas cake was also baked and taken up with us.
    We took the dogs with us, but our friend Agnes was kind enough to look after the cats, poultry and sheep, as well as keeping an eye on the house. In spite of our qualms before going, we were made so welcome and had such a great time that we returned home very much happier than when we left.
    Bye for now, I'll try to blog more regularly in future.