The bank holiday weekend is drawing to an end. Yesterday Steve spent the day teaching sailing, I spent the morning catching up with household chores and in the afternoon I went to see my friend Elaine, we chatted most of the afternoon. Our plan today were to stay at home, the day started with torrential rain which looked like it was set for the day. Steve spent the morning doing important stuff on the computer, I spent the morning being totally chilled, stretched out on the sofa engrossed in a book, well after all it is a holiday. By early afternoon the rain had stopped, the sun had started to shine and the urge to hibernate dissipated, so we drove to Stokes Bay and walked along the coast to Fort Gillkicker and stood at the entrance of Portsmouth harbour, before walking back in the glorious sunshine to have a drink at a little cafe at Stokes Bay. It turned out to be a glorious afternoon which would have been wasted by staying in the house. In Southsea some houses were affected by flooding and also in Southampton.

Rebecca sent a message to say that their 9 month old little puppy 'Ken' had been involved in a collision with a car this morning and sadly was killed, not sure exactly how it happenend but both she and Simon are devastated.

I have just returned from a lovely day out in the Hampshire countryside. Three friends and I went to a 'Waitrose Food Festival'. It was held in the beautiful parkland of Leckford House a property bought by John Spedan Lewis in 1928 and is still owned by Waitrose. It was indeed a festival of food. There were stalls from all over the local area, with produce sold in local Waitrose stores. I bought Steve some Hampshire Stilton from the producer who had made it. We wandered from stall to stall where there was an abundance of food to taste, cheese, wine, cider, ham. flapjacks and bread to name just a few. No wonder we didn't need lunch. We had a lovely walk in the water gardens which were abundant with colour and fragrances. Unfortunately the pollen was very strong and my eyes streamed, I'm not usually a hay fever sufferer, although a few years ago I developed seasonal asthma, but I didn't let it spoil my day out. On the way home we stopped off in the very pretty Market town of Stockbridge for a cream tea.

Another weekend approaches, it's bank holiday, not a longer weekend for me than usual as I am lucky to work part time and thus have a long weekend every week! I usually work on a Friday morning but today I accompanied Steve to see his cardiologist. Steve had his heart scanned, he and the Dr were happy for me to be there and it was pretty amazing to see the images on the screen. Steve has to go back and have an MRI, but the good news is that the chambers of his heart and his valves are all healthy. The consultant reassured us that Atrial Fibrillation isn't life threatening, but its likely that Steve's condition will be treatable in his lifetime. Steve may have to increase his medication, possibly need a pacemaker and in a few years need surgery!!! Steve wouldn't allow me to take him to get medical help when he had a really severe episode a while back, but the Dr has given advise and if another severe episode happens I have been advised to get him checked out. Steve was delighted because Dr Jones kept referring to him as young.

Tomorrow I'm off to Stockbridge which is a market town to the west of the county. Waitrose have a country house and farm there, which I believe was bought by the founder of the company in 1928. This weekend they stage an event which includes, cookery demonstrations, food tasting and a look at their farm. I'm sure I will come back with lots of goodies. I'm going with three friends, but feel a bit trepidatious, just in case I bump into A who is a big fan of 'Waitrose' and lives quite close by!

Work has been really hectic, were even more short staffed and with a colleague on holiday its been hard going. I have been taking antibiotics for an annoying infection and could have easily had a day or two off, but the guilt of leaving colleagues in a worse state meant I went in. I wasn't contagious, but I was feeling decidedly off colour. I had to drink copious amounts of water and needed to be close to the loo.
Were off to a farewell party tomorrow evening as friends of ours are emigrating to Australia. Barbara and I have known each other since our elder children were babies. She has since remarried and is off on this big adventure. I know she has concerns at moving away from her grown up children, but I'm sure they will take the advantage of holidays in Oz and communication is so good now.

Its back to work today after a very busy weekend. Ian was home and an enjoyable time we had. On Saturday evening Christo came over for dinner with his girlfriend Naomi and a great evening we had. We cooked on the raclette and drank a lot of wine! Steve and Ian went out for a sail together on Sunday morning and we watched the film 'Ratatouille' in the evening. Yesterday I got up at 6.00 to take Ian to the station as he had to get to Swindon for a course. Before we see Ian again he will have been to a conference in Kyoto, where he has a presentation to give. Later on in the summer he will speak at a conference in New York. Before coming back to the UK he will travel to and Boston and spend a few days with David my cousin.

I certainly picked the right days to use up my leave. I worked on Tuesday, but was off the rest of the week. I know I'm at risk of sounding boring by talking about the weather, but it has been fantastic, wall to wall sunshine. Living on the coast is wonderful all year, but especially when the weather is as glorious as it has been the last couple of days. I have used my leave quite efficiently. Meetings with friends, shopping with my Mother, Dr's, opticians, and hairdressers appointments all fitted in.
Today I'm off to help at the a rainbow sleepover:) Its the second one I have attended and I can't begin to hope that this one will be as good as the last, when all but one child slept the night through.

Summer arrived in Lille the morning after we did. Our journey was easy, how wonderful the channel tunnel is. Thirty five minutes from departure we drove onto French soil. The journey on the motorway from Calais to Lille was smooth, although getting into the car park proved too challenging, so we parked the car in a shopping centre car park and walked the short distance to our accommodation. We had booked into the 'Citadel' one of a chain. It was an excellent place to stay, clean and modern with a little kitchenette, what a bargain It was as well. Our first evening out was spent at a Creperie, the service was excellent and the Gallettes were delicious. The food we ate all weekend was superb, from the bread, croissants and coffee for petit dejenuer (my apologies to any language teachers reading this) taken at small cafe's to the wonderful Sunday lunch of fresh fish eaten at a little restaurant overlooking the wonderful market. The indoor food market was amazing with a colourful variety of fish, fruit, veg, pastries and cheese. The meat wasn't quite so attractive. Lille was a very attractive city, with lots of pretty squares and wonderful buildings. It felt a very safe place to be, everyone was very friendly, there were a small number of people begging on the street, but not as many as you'd see in London or other European cities.

We ended our weekend with a trip to Carreforre where we bought some French goodies, not too much, some wine, some raclette cheese and a few bottles of wine!