Taking Stock

We are flying back tomorrow and right now we are relaxing before cooking out Saturday night dinner.
Our original plan had us on the Caen to Portsmouth ferry by now but we are staying on tonight until F&A arrive tomorrow to take over hospital visits with Pat. So flying back tomorrow and leaving the car here is the only way of getting back for work next week.

Poor Pat was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning and diagnosed as having a big kidney stone but, more significantly, also a fractured sacrum. She will be on her back for the next six weeks.

So the holiday has basically consisted of four hours of hospital visits each day and dashing about doing stuff in between. Still this is a better pattern of activity than Pat faces, being laid up in country foreign to her and surrounded by people using a language she does not know.

And stuff has got done: the dreaded "bash my head everyday" canopy over the cooker and kitchen sink - has gone, the gradually falling to bits and falling off the wall, kitchen cabinet has gone and replaced with a handsome glass fronted wall cabinet, Leroy Merlin have breathed a sigh of relief as their takings go up, my bike has new handlebars and a shopping basket on the front, we bought two safety helmets for when we are biking, we had a decent 60 minute bike ride and I discovered the cycle route to Esnande, the patio table has new "legs" as I managed to saw through one of the trestles during the DIY, the coat hooks in the main bedroom are up, we cooked moule for the first time - with some success from a Nigel Slater recipe using cider, I fell of the desk stool and broke it, the dehumidifier has stopped auto draining.

But perhaps best in the week was that we were able to recover a bit of the holiday feeling by celebrating Mary T's 65th birthday with an excellent evening at Les Flots in Chatillion Plage and then enjoyed a superb meal at Andre's Bistrot (salle de pientures) on Tuesday - her last night here. What a birthday holiday for her!

Sheila will be flying back next Friday and I will come back on May 1st. We will be based here until May 9th when we will get the car back to England.