“bread and water for supper tonight dear”.

The joy of having people come to stay is that we spend all your time demonstrating what a great time we are having here. We manage to tell the same story with the exact amount of enthusiasm expounding the joys of  French life her in Brevands. There are moments of doubt when Mike gets off on one about the electrics on the vans but I have developed a polite way of getting him off his soap-box. Mike, needs to get it off his chest and  I wish we had access to the French version of the Jeremy Vine show where  we could lock Mike up in a studio for an hour or two, but needs be and our visitors and friends are his  only sounding board.  We are all happy to listen and sympathise then we can all rejoice together when the job is done. We have now sent off another one hundred and eleven Euros for a second inspection and HOSS and I wait with baited breath for the arrival of the post van, me, for the letter announcing the said inspection and HOSS because this confounded post woman keeps poking letters into the post box in his room and this amounts to a total invasion of his space.

An afternoon tea photograph with everyone absorbed in the act, just says it all. John and Linda came to visit on a day trip to France with Dee and Melvin. I made cakes and a large pot of tea and we wowed and whooped  about the garden and Dee sat in the shade of the parasol  and said, “I can really see why you are so happy here” she then wanted to know how easy it might be to buy out here and what our bills were. I was confident that I was able to cover all the aspects  and pondered if I should ask Mr Sarkosy if he needed a Minister to run a “bring the Brits back to France” campaign because it is only us who buy these places and carry on the heritage and history of these fabulous homesteads.

On the subject of culture and history I treated myself to a concert in the Abby at Lessay with my friend Ann. We sat for ninety minuets breathless with concentration and awe that a crowd of musicians can fill such a huge space with the most delicate and accurate interpretation of Vivaldi’s Gloria. I was absolutely shot through by the encores and then we gathered in the Abby gardens for a glass of cider and the opportunity to clap the conductor in and gaze as though some God like apparition was amongst us. It was all about  the emotion of live music and I am sure that as it is not a regular occurance for me was made all the more special and memorable. I then had to drive Mikes car home as we have decided to take the Mondeo off the road, three vehicles for two people just seems absurd so into moth balls she goes, until we can decide what to do with her.

And finally, why wouldn’t you want to spend your holiday here, We are soooo close to getting this project to a more positive stance and I for one can’t wait. We have missed this season and will have to tighten our belts until the 2012 season but now we have time to get the adverts right and be fully booked before we have to declare “bread and water for supper tonight dear”.