Before fireworks on the same day

"Oh how magazine" says a friend for morning coffee re the kitchen!

We sat for longer than I thought she had time yet I was pleased to chat.
Even though I'd forgotten about my intended trip to Le Blanc, where 350 stalls were showing ancient and modern ware in intense heat,  I went with three hours to spare.  It was worth the pistachio ice cream but I did not find what I was looking for. On the way I took a route that I was not familiar with (was thinking about something else, so travelled much further cross-country than I relished).
On the edge of one of the many woodlands a sleek, golden brown buck bolted across the road looking into my eyes as I approached at speed!

I rather like the fusion of wood and metal and thought of my son who could make something such as this or these.

 Then I thought of at least two friends who like sports vehicles!

The second one is for me!

Whizz home to leftover lamb (all leftover veg had been eaten in three days), quick shower, dress business-like for two hours voluntary work which made my head spin!
Whizz home to calm quiche making from THE FRENCH KITCHEN ... page 55 and my first pastry making session in three years, I am sure!  Bit short but it yummy. Not enough tomatoes in the fridge so adapt with red peppers. No cream so add the festering feta cheese and left over cube of pokey Cantal diced small with Herbes du Provence. YUM. Any bacteria is blasted by the heat!

in the oven

out of the oven, on the new grill, on top of the new induction hob and the lovely silk print of frangipani flowers selected by me from Sri Lanka 20 years ago!

a slice of!

Gently stroll at twilight along places where people gather to watch fireworks as mist hovers above the river pressed down by colder air before the fun of the fair.
(Does that need commas? Perhaps or not?)

Three clicks of the camera and the theatrical stage view changes slightly!

Not often are stages set with people cooking, eating, walking, searching, sitting, waiting for the best viewing place, whilst that grand chateau under repair and fortification has waited for 11 centuries for this day to look down upon us.
It is under new management by a company from Dordogneshire - a company that manages several National Monuments. Unfortunately, the Forteresse and the Roc aux Sorciers will, as far as I know be closed at the end of August, so come this month if you would like tickets for the two sites. 

Oh Gosh July

No time for The Mad Hatter.  No time. No time. I dally and am late on many things. Time slips by for that is what Time does. Time doesn't wait for Man or Woman.  Time flies so fast one is not aware, even when living in the moment, or forgetting or remembering the future and the past.   It whizzes faster than Light or Sound.  Now past the middle of the year are we, and in a canicule, a heatwave, which I just love at 35C in the shade at 4pm or so, if only I could be by water. But water is a precious commodity and today it has been reinstated without leaks but still there is more plumbing to do before the washing machine can be used.

Now almost midnight, before the passing of the day and night of the first of July it is 25C in my courtyard and indoors here by this hot machine, 28C.  Every now and then I walk in the full moon moonlight in my spacious garden where sweetpeas, roses and lavender bloom in the darkness, where if I was brave I would sleep in the hammock at night!

I am indeed grateful for water, space, air to breathe, gardens, my house, land and village AND THIS MY FRIEND who is helping 'my house' for reasons he has explained!  Why he should return to this sometimes difficult and unreasonable person is a mystery when I have made so many mistakes in life and have been so wretchedly unkind to some people.  Perhaps it shows me faith in humanity.   I have accepted his return despite the fact that he too made mistakes of a volatile nature; been my enemy as well as a friend.  In a way it shows me that perhaps there is forgiveness on each side.  Even so, I have been on guard and am learning not to let that, which is fear, affect me.  Fear must be cast aside. Maybe I have been wrong about many things for which I am sorry! Often I have been right and not praised myself enough.

Fortunately we have been able to turn on the water for showers and baths and have been able to wash up dishes with cold or warm water as one wishes out in the outhouse 

Who would wish to be a plumber with different copper pipes and fittings or different systems? In and out water! Awkward spaces. Soldering and parts that do not work! A lorry load of bits for every eventuality.

Patience is what I keep.   I watch and heed that Time is slipping by, but know I am not in control and do not care.   Summer slips by.  I do what I can. What would REALITY do?  This is THAT!  This is Now and I wait for Future when I can make decisions and choices.  I already know that my home is my chateau and like he says I am the Queen of my Maison and not just the Client!
I if i could Master Time I would be a rich woman!
I am going to take my time to plan this kitchen... behind me and ahead of me is Phase One and Two.
I have not much time for much else. This is my work! 

Return of the intrepid itinerant worker traveller

He arrived whilst I was playing Chopin Nocturnes on the out-of-tune piano at Poitiers Gare.
There he was wondering if it was me! Nothing said but I asked him to take a photo or two.

Over forty hours travelling all the way from an island of Malaysia to Paris and then Poitiers.  Naturally anyone of any age would be tired.  He was back in Europe. Back in France. Un verre de vin rouge was imperative in the bar across the road where he remembered cacahuetes... and so.. tales unfolded as stories began, some of which I had read about as we have kept in email correspondence for the year... and for the five years in which we have been separated from being a couple! Nothing like the telling of a tale c.f. reading a story Jackanory!

The full moon was in full bloom.  A larger orange dot than turbines on a horizon.
I had been away for a couple of days, so the next day, there was shopping and affairs to see to.  Even though it was a so-called rest day for him, once washing was sorted, (less than 10kg of belongings on his back), he wanted to start planning the kitchen.  It was his choice, although I'd said, "Take a break".  With pencil, paper, ruler, he sat down and asked me this and that about THE KITCHEN PLAN... and the LAUNDRY ROOM PLAN...
I began to wonder if he has possibly underestimated how long the process and project will take!  Our ideas are miles apart!  Adrenalin was riding. I am glad he has arrived to force action over the difficult task of changing the kitchen!
He is keen to be in Europe for the weather, the summer weather, and the implications of this are not lost on me.  He is keen to continue travelling and that of course is also not lost on me. Everything is clear without further enquiry or explanation. We are very good friends and have surpassed many challenges!   I am sure everything will be perfectly ok!   Hope is everything!

Nomads

I have seen about three or four of the Chatellerault Christmas spectacles since living in France, but I had thought they'd been axed... so it was a great pleasure to know that these circus events are being continued as a free gift to residents of this region.  The best I saw was Transhumance in 2007.
I found this video of it because I don't know where my photos are!
For those who do not know:- Transhumance is the description of when cattle, sheep, goats go to the mountains in the Spring and are brought to the lowlands in the Autumn.  Of course it is a time of movement, of travel, of nomads and by extension could apply to many animals and people of the world.
Here is a video I found on the internet.
It is the troupe of modern troubadours in procession.  The procession is a representation of the Transhumance in the southern parts of France. I shall look for other information to display here...
Here is another link.
I would also like to wish a very happy feast to my former partner who is currently travelling in Australia, after 3 months in Malaysia and 3 months in Taiwan.  Soon he goes to Laos! A very brave and courageous man.  I don't know if he knows about this blog as he has never asked and so I have never said!  He is 'un petit nomad'. 
I too have a need to travel!

Unexpected encounters

PART ONE:
Herein lies a strange tale...where at this town square, a story evolved, where someone met another one, and a third one met the two ... oh no! oh ho! Funnily enough it wasn't that funny at the time, although I didn't know how to stop laughing.  I had to control myself for fear of ridiculing the situation. A flare-up would have been totally unnecessary.  However, I didn't know what to think, feel or do!  If I did this then that .... If I did that then this ... to retreat and leave the restaurant entirely? to sit down as invited? or to sit elsewhere? A few days later we laughed at the odds against such a rendezvous in France! An extreme experience!  
I am obliged to conduct discretion!  There was a sense of the ridiculousness in the distance that some people might go in order to meet others and / or feed from clandestine liaison; a ridiculousness in being furtive, in being not open! What does secrecy and deception achieve?  Lies, hidden truths, in its many forms, including being economical with the truth will result in being discovered.  I am not being high-minded! What goes around comes around!
The event happened because there were coincidences, circumstantial changes, changes of venue, changes of days, times, changes, changes, changes. Factors conspired to converge into making a story worthy as part of a novel:

1. Travel on Monday was altered to travel on Sunday.
2. Monday postal delivery arrived on Saturday.
3. Saturday energy levels were low. Sunday surged with energy, anticipation, excitement.  No reason to delay!
4. Admin and household tasks were completed on Saturday.
5. On Saturday lawns were mowed and a good weather forecast meant they wouldn't need a cut for ten days. A rarity this year!
6. A week earlier, there was a desperation for sights, sounds and smells of the sea but I couldn't find a cat sitter or else I would have been on that isle earlier than the invitation.  Alone, is perfect but company always welcomed.  Then, Saturday late afternoon, a window of opportunity emerged as a cat sitter WAS available.
7. Monday lunch was altered to Sunday supper but not to include me!
8. La Rochelle was altered to Île de Ré but not to include me!
9. I arrived. I wasn't going to 'eat out' but changed my mind.  I'd eaten my dessert on the beach and a can of mackerel and oat biscuits was to be my evening meal!  BUT, AS I was on holiday and could please my very own Self, unafraid of dining alone, an impulsive choice was made!
10. 'Dress up' was in mind, but I 'dressed down' because I only dress to please myself.  When I dine out I always, always 'dress up' and sometimes am 'over-dressed',  so I wondered what it was that made me change into faded blue, not such clean shorts and a favourite pretty top wearing THE summer hat?  I'd taken off the pretty blue double spotted summer dress that I had travelled in that afternoon.  In the suitcase were two other black dresses and a black classy jacket but nope I did not wear them!  I splashed on perfume which I always do every day!  IN FACT, I had no intention of meeting anyone!   I think that is why I dressed down! 
11. A favourite restaurant exists in the town of that particular campsite where three converged.
12.  One cannot rely upon seemingly instant internet communication being received and read!

PART TWO:
The following day a different encounter ensued. Last September a charming, attractive English speaking French man chatted to me on the beach whilst I ate my peach. We wrote. In Springtime I ended correspondence because  despite his romantic compliments and invitations it wasn't going anywhere.  
This September: with a backdrop of yachts in the harbour and stripey coloured awnings, oh my goodness, he came into view, but 2 metres from me!!!! We greeted, we chatted about his health, his travels to Spain and France in his camper-van, and how he had downsized his van from last year. We didn't discuss me.  As I indicated that it was time to get on my bike, he inched a step toward me, I stepped a step away, repeatedly, eventually stepping over the boardwalk chain.  It happened in the way that some people step into personal space.  It happened in that way that says, "I like you".  Time to travel!  I felt compassion and rather sad, a little guilty, but not responsible for being a heart-breaker!  It was how he described me in the Spring when I said I didn't wish to have a relationship! 
Later, I sat with companion one.  We agreed it was 'Touché' and laughed, but in my case this wasn't an intended or wished for rendezvous!
Strange and not so funny when so many people of my age live solo.  One rarely is aware of single people out and about. In France I rarely see them. Should we singles all wear a badge?
Not so funny when all of us have basic needs for a companion, mutual support, appreciation and respect from others and to care for others who are able to share emotional competency and well-being.

It may sound bizaare, but it is a true experience.  I have never crashed on someone's date before! 

Grey gives a breath of fresh air

My Workawayers were the most loveliest of people...I have been so lucky!
I had already met A in my daughter's home town when I visited UK in March/April. Such a small world! We had already agreed an exchange of labour for accommodation and food, so to meet beforehand was re-assuring.  I planned various smaller tasks but in actual fact PRIORITY A absorbed the week, however, when wet, cold weather on Wednesday prevented painting, PRIORITY B was achieved sufficiently to secure broken posts and holes in a wired fence on PLOT 13!  Bravo S and A for removing the dead tree and sawing it for logs! PRIORITY C was to move the piano and filing cabinets, to sand and paint the skirting board behind.  GREAT! Three jobs done!
It is absolutely amazing to have beautiful grey linen-fold shutters (see comments) rather than nasty brown, badly varnished, ingrained with dirt, blotting the view on my lovely house shutters.  The cream on the cake was to see grey from the inside when looking out.   So uplifting!
I had no idea it would take so long.  I worked too at sanding and using the special expensive undercoat that seals and prevents resin and varnish permeating through the paint!  I knew how difficult it was!
When I was at work in my career I would often join the persons working according to 'my instructions' to see if it should take that long! ... or to see if there was a better way of doing things.  I love it when people have initiative, as S & A did ... I love being open to being wrong (hard as that is) and that someone else has a better or quicker approach because of their own experience or knowledge.
S & A were unimaginably energetic and proactive. I can see how being younger makes a difference! They started work at eight and continued for five hours each day.  A was so lovely that she painted the third top coat on the outer leaves of the shutters on the Saturday morning which was more than she was required to do.  I need to paint one or two more coats on the inside!  They have pride in their work. They were fantastic company and yet we did our best to respect personal space. We shared the love of good food, music, wine and quiet moments to rest. They used the bikes and explored the village.  We went to La Place but after 5 hours work each day, with inclement weather as the week progressed, it was not conducive to sit and watch the world go by.
They were very motivating and encouraging and so I have promised to take certain action!
Thank you to Susan for telling me about WORKAWAYERS.

Spring 2010 - old single glazed windows with brown shutters folded back

Summer 2013 - change tp double glazed windows without battens

Summer 2014 - grey shutters closed

Summer 2014 - double glazed windows with battens and grey shutters

Summer 2014 inside to outside

I have another young lady coming from Ohio who will arrive in several weeks time and the PRIORITY will be sorting STUFF!

POSTNOTE:
Maybe the correct terminology is 'folding wooden shutters' ... or maybe they are bi-fold...

However, despite advice from builders, painters and decorators that the correct method would be to remove and paint flat, as in 'horizontal' ... we ignored advice on account of the peculiar flexibility and size of the doors.  In our opinion it was easier to open, close, fold in different arrangements to paint on both sides.  Initially, I was going to leave hinges unpainted but I did local research by wandering through the village on an bservational walk!  Hinges were left un-painted with nasty brown varnish but painted when les volets / the shutters were painted!

For those who are interested: we sanded the doors by hand as machines just jumped about...( maybe being on a flat surface would have helped but we didn't want the problem of not being able to get the doors back in situ!).  That took us 15 hours!  We removed all the shiny varnish and lumpy blackened dribbles. We did NOT sand to bare wood. Then we painted the doors and hinges with a product called Zinnsters B.I.N. which keeps the resin and varnish where it is!  It was recommended by Farrow & Ball for brand new pine skirting board.  After that S & A used modern vinyl brushes especially for water-based products and rollers but the brushes worked best.
The paint I used was being sold at a 40% on the last promotional day at LeRoyMerlin:
RIPOLIN EXPRO 3 for exterior wood and extreme weather.  I have enough for the gates but wish I'd bought more for the other type of shutters. The OUCH factor on my bank account nearly caused a heart attack!   THANK HEAVEN for WORKAWAYERS! I am now in Paradise when I look out of my bedroom and living room!

Times they are a changing

just like the weather...
after the shorts the rain,
after the rain the sun,
this is the way of life
where we had begun
with joy in our hearts
when a baby was born.
As we approach the latter years we strive to reject grey clouds of past errors and judgements,
sadnesses and sorrows, to let in sunshine with memories of good times, hoping that we can grow on whichever path we go.

Glad that I live am I; That the sky is blue;
Glad for the country lanes, And the fall of dew.

After the sun, the rain, After the rain the sun;
This is the way of life, Till the work be done.

All that we need to do, Be we low or high,
Is to see that we grow, Nearer to God on high.

A door closes, a window opens, a scene ends, a scene begins ... Let the sun shine in!   

Let us breathe in the goodness and light that exists in each one of us!   Amen

Hot Cross Buns

We walked for ten kilometres which took our group about two hours; there were those who took the lesser distance and others who for legitimate reasons did not walk. We all arrived for the bun feast.  I haven't walked that far for some time so it was a very good Springtime reminder of the benefits of walking, but the possible resistance to wine and refreshments is full of temptation. The problem with social walking is the shared drinks and eats when one is concerned about starting the diet. Probably in UK everyone meets at the pub at the end of the route. Maybe THAT is why I enjoy walking solo, apart from the fact that I can go at my own pace and think thoughts.  HOWEVER, I enjoy the camaraderie in a group because one meets such interesting people.  I try to avoid talking about me but it is inevitable that someone will ask and then the story is begun, but I am getting smarter at shortening the tale!  Unfortunately, mine hosts were busy, busy, but that's always the way for hosts.
It was a brilliant and successful first organised group walk for friends of friends and I do so hope there will be another.  Perhaps, it needs the leadership qualities of G'nT.   I get the impression that several people have offered to organise the next walk.  I also would be happy to do so, having experience off many walks around my village which are a bit more off the beaten track and not the same as the way-marked routes on tourist maps.  Most of the group were from the Touraine region whereas this is Vienne.  Many had travelled a distance. What beautiful weather blessed us all.  Thank you to the hosts and to all who made it very jolly!

Facing the onset of Spring

Days become lighter mornings and evenings and with that a frosty morning snap has arrived.
My arms have been working, stretching, lifting, carrying, which seems to suit the pain.  It's very odd, because at night, the pain keeps me awake or wakes me so that I lose sleep.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the inflammation has reduced but am reluctant to say that there is improvement, or that the pain is getting better.  Ginger tea is the order of each day as it is a natural anti-inflammatory! And so it is and so.

The media reports about the elderly. Am I becoming thus :)? It is scary!  I loved to hear about Nell on Woman's Hour this week. She is 100 Years old and a true inspiration. She cleans every day and says it's much easier for her  once the lady has giving it 'a do' ... what a marvellous expression!  Keep on moving that's what we've all got to do.  Use it or lose it.  I do my best to keep moving but it has to further improve! When I sit still and cannot peel myself away from technology, I know that if I can dance or 'faire le repassage' / iron the bedlinen whilst David Bowie sings then I will feel better!  But I like to sit and write / type, read the news, research this and that which the internet provides.  It has transformed my life.

Whilst Facing the onset of Spring:
There is a 2 stere stack of logs from 2013, yet I daren't touch them as they are stacked so well.  Therefore,  using the machine, I have started splitting logs from the January 2014 delivery. Really that wood needs to dry out a little more as some will not give to the 400 kilo pressure.  Smaller/thinner oak logs give greater immediate heat.  Although the sun has been shining,  some days or parts of days are still pretty cold, but there are times when one can have morning coffee or afternoon tea in the courtyard or rear garden.  There has been what I call a RAW East Anglian spike to the crisp, cold-blue sky and an edge to the wind. Tonight, 5th March, one can see Orion The Hunter lit by the myriads of stars and single crescent moon.

Whilst Facing the early Spring, pages of Life turn...
I've been walking around my house climbing ladders, sorting and spring cleaning.  I like DIY when part of a team, even though I am mainly the support skivvy. Friendship should have been more than working at home improvement.  It's been a fact that I can't do this work alone. Eventually, with not great effort, I succumbed to accepting an offer of help and I, in turn try to help him.  I've said it before that 'It's not yet finished until it's finished'.  Friendship doesn't just cease. Whilst there is laughter and fun which makes us happy, there is another day to celebrate, another day to live, another day to gather happiness around us!  What is happiness? What is friendship? What is a relationship?

I know that if I truly love someone then that love will go wherever she/he stays and wherever she/he goes. In the case if my friend, I hope that my love will give him courage to find whatever he thinks he is looking for, whatever he thinks he didn't have when he lived with me! I give him my blessings.
I / he / we haven't always been kind to each other and that fact hurts me beyond belief in my darkest moments... and...then I wake up!!!!!
I / he/we have been quite frustrated with each other for all sorts of reasons.  
It's a shame and a waste of friendship! 
I don't understand how people have successful friendships let alone relationships or marriage!

He jokingly but seriously says I must take advantage. The Wheels of Life are moving and we face further future LOSS.  On my return from a long drive to buy a matching curtain pole to the first, I sobbed most of the 50 minute journey home!!!!!!!  Why do I cry? I know why!!!!!!!  But as I cry, I think, and thinking whilst I drive helps to unravel emotion, though it's not quite safe to do all this at the same time!  I absolutely know how I feel and it won't go away and by Jove I have tried, even not connecting with him for 5 months!  Its feels like a form of madness, illogical, worse when he have made contact and then are apart.  Unrequited Love, I suppose that is what it is.... 
How are people able to care so much for each other after 15, 30, 50 or more years of marriage? 
What made us so co-dependently close and then what made us fail to keep tolerant and patient with our foibles?  I/he/we made so many mistakes!

Why is it that the smallest of jobs and most final of tasks when titivating interior decoration seem to take for ever?  However,  those 6 French doors of the barn part of the house are at last painted internally.  Now wooden battens fixed to polystyrene backed plaster-boarded walls take curtain poles to receive beautiful Laura Ashley cream damask curtains from a house I left in 2002. They have emerged from the suitcase, visited the dry-cleaners at huge expense, but the lovely lady halved the price as there were 4 curtains, and at last they now provide ambience.  However, I must sit and lower the hem which means using needle, thread and patience.

I'm trying to consider having a chambre d'hôte in the high season.  This week and last we've been working through small jobs where broken door-knobs have been repaired, plumbing to the exterior toilet and sink has been repaired, and there has been much drilling, sawing, sanding, painting.
It has been a pleasure!

Flowers give hope

 

Whoopee... Look at that!!! Have managed to suss how to post photo using miniipad. 

A lovely lady to many people, gifted me yellow roses and gerbera. Cheerful colour to bring to the patient who has been more or less confined to the house.

I'm trying to learn to be less harsh to me and less harsh on others. 

One could say I have suffered from the "Poor me" syndrome. 

The last 4 weeks have been a bit of a roller-coaster ride with excitement and depression taking me up and down. Exhausted and not just physically, whilst recuperating from the operation and post op drugs, I have felt overwhelmed by the assault on my body.  Somehow the spiritual me has been under surveillance as I have had too much time to contemplate. The chaos of having my house and home attacked whilst roof timbers are nearly all replaced, worse than was estimated, has been an ordeal especially when there is no one here to share thoughts with. 

Optimism has to be the key. And Hell can become Paradise....

Challenges!

The hard drive on my applemacbook has crashed. Tests suggest hard drive cannot be repaired...   Ooh lah lah ...  Thank goodness I have an iPad because I can't reach an Apple Genius bar until I go to Uk.
This will be an exercise in blogs and posts from the mini screen. I recently learned to transfer photos from camera onto iPad with a small device...so photos may be possible.
Thank goodness I have the iPod as the old CD player I was gifted, really to use as an amplifier for louder music from laptop, skips sections of cd tracks ... My radio, CD player, DVD player, all on the laptop was my source of media stimulus. I was just enjoying watching videos!
AND ALSO the internet phone does not always ring. Unless people use the landline I do not know if they have called.   Maybe, it's not much different from being in a nunnery. I could start playing hymns for I still have a hymn book (would prefer catholic hymns for Nostalgic reasons) ...  and burning frankincense but I have none left.
My techno world and life support system is not being helpful to the isolation I have been experiencing.

However.  Today.   A friend took me to a restaurant for lunch (le Grillon) and she brought yellow flowers and roses, DIY shopping and oatcakes from UK.  I feel normal again, human. I was really losing the plot at the weekend and had become severely depressed! I refuse to take any tablets. I slept and slept and didn't even notice the fall back of Time. The stresses of the last  4 weeks, medication and loss of regular sleep patterns as a result of all of that plus roof or no roof, wind and rain ingress has been very worrying!

The foot has made brilliant progress and the wound has closed, so I am waiting for the swelling to subside further before I can abandon the adapted walking sandal and wear a PAIR of flat shoes.. And drive my car. It will sure be a celebration day when I can wear walking boots. Oh and what joy to feel a madam and wear heels!

En Angleterre

It was rather hectic but I absolutely loved it.

I stayed a few days with my cousin's daughter and family and tried to support them in their latest angst. Then onto Sussex and the most delightful of cottages. I was lucky. It was a beautiful thatched cottage which I highly recommend to rent.  The owners were lovely and apart from a few mosquitoes I had a lovely time.....but then my own home is pestered with mosquitoes! Difference is I have a mosquito net!   I loved Arundel and Chichester.  So pretty, calm and assuringly steeped in history. I also visited Rye on my journey from Ashford to Littlehampton.  What an exquisite village.
Maybe I will tell you more about these villages in a later posting.

Apart from the prep for and clearing up of my son's wedding at which I did not help as much as I would have liked to .... (everyone did their bit)...  and apart of course from attending the lovely ceremony, I walked on a lovely SSI beach in Sussex. Then in Suffolk another SSI beach and how wonderful to be free from litter.

The next two weeks disappeared as quickly as the first two! Suffice it to say there was Englishness :

A day's journey to visit mother and brother
Barbecues and bunting 
Crabbing buckets with bacon
Dunwich 10 miles there and back
English scones and raspberry jam
Fish and chips, flying kites, flag on the sandcastles
Gigs in pubs
Hula hoops
Ice creams
James and Katie
Laughter as we climbed the lighthouse up and down the spiral staircase
Meals in pubs with Ad
Nams

Olympic torch flame carried past the cottage
Picnics in the dunes, paddling in the sea, promenade on the pier,
Questions from little ones and those who are so tall

Running along with wind in our hair
Shared meals
Tired people
Union Jack flags wherever we go
Umbrellas abandoned when rain stopped
Vicky and co aboard a river boat
Walks along beach to harbour, across common and marshes,

X,Y, Zee and Camarderie,

Thank you England and despite the weather I had a whale of a time and laughed for 4 weeks!