Well That Didn't Last Long!

Not long after yesterday's blog entry was sent out into the interweb, it started to rain. I had to dash out and pull all the laundry off the line. It started raining harder and the wind picked up. By the time Gordon and Louise arrived (with cake!) it was chucking it down and very unpleasant. I think it was cosmic retribution for me bragging about the lovely summer morning we were having.

We all had such a nice chat with those two. (Happy Birthday Louise!) We went outside for a bit so that they could admire the little bundles of fluff. It's amazing how quickly they grow in just three days!

Now it is Sunday afternoon and I don't think the rain has stopped since it started yesterday. It's cold too. We lit a fire in the fireplace last night to take the chill out of the air. As yesterday was the first day of summer I was loathe to turn the furnace back on. In addition to that, the cost of heating oil is so high! We thought that during the summer the cost of heating oil would go down as it has done in the past. We were going to take advantage of that and get the tank filled up but the price keeps going UP!

I've had it with worries. I am now going to focus on the week ahead. We are preparing to set off on our summer family holiday. We will be using a UK based holiday company that we've used many many times before, Matthews Holidays.

Our first holiday in France was years ago when all three boys were still at home and young enough to have no say in whether or not they came on the family holiday. I was still a stay at home mother and our household budget was Tight. I found a last minute, off peak bargain off teletext with this company.

We went to Brittany for two weeks in early September and stayed in one of their static caravans. I must say that even though it was a bargain we all had a really good time. The weather in that part of France in September is dry, sunny and not too hot. Most of the tourists have gone back to their schools and work desks by then and the crowds of summer are just a dimming memory. We had a really good time and it didn't cripple our finances. We kept going back there for years.

In the past couple of years we've found that we can go a bit further, spending the same amount of money. One year I compared the prices for holidays in Greece and it turned out that it would actually be less expensive to fly to the Greek islands. So we went to the lovely island of Skiathos for a couple of years.

As much as I loved our holidays in Skiathos and the holidays to Egypt, I found I missed going to France. This year we're going back. This time however we're are going to go further south than we've ever been before. We're headed to the Mediterranean coast not far from the Spanish border. I'm really excited. The Man of the Place and I have been researching the dive laws in France and getting all the documentation we might need to dive in this corner of Europe. In addition to bringing along our qualifications, we need to have a current medical certificate signed by a doctor. We also may or may not need some passport style photographs. We'll just get some done at the local supermarket photo booth. Aerial photo of Torreilles Plage. Photo of the beach with the foot hills of the Pyrenees in the background.

This is where we will be for two weeks.

In addition to all this we are also taking neighbour boy Gordon with us. Gordon and George are eight weeks apart in age and have very different personalities. Despite or because of this, they've always been very good friends. We're quite fond of Gordon and know that he'll be good company for all of us during this holiday and I think he'll have a good time.In my excitement I bought a sunhat when I booked the holiday. This will protect me from the harsh Mediterranean sun. It is a bit garish, but where else can you wear a hat like this if not in the South of France when one is on ones holidays! It may have the added bonus of embarrassing my family.