Sunday 27th December

I have always loved the Chris Rea song ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, it seems to perfectly express that desire to be home in time for Christmas, to see one’s family, especially the children.  Well, we have done that.  We have been back for over two weeks now, we have done Walton, we have done Wales, I have delivered presents for and seen four sets of grandchildren, we have tidied the garden, we have done our Christmas shopping, we have gone to my sister’s for Christmas Day and had a lovely time as usual, we have spent Boxing Day with friends and now at last we are driving home to France.

Never knew how much I missed it, we were like fish out of water for a while back there. We probably planned it all wrong, and gave ourselves too much time back in England.  We knew we needed to buy some paint and some new bedding (both notoriously expensive in France) and we retrieved a few boxes of china from my wife’s house in Wales; the car is loaded to the gunwales (as usual) and we are starting off in the early hours for a dawn crossing, then down to Paris (hopefully quiet on a Sunday) and the long run to Limoges, turn left at Brives La Gaillarde and then swing on down to Bergerac and our beloved Eymet.  Just in time for New Years Eve and another party.