Time for an update

Good morning, I'm finally back to update my blog.  The time goes by so fast and I am in awe of the people that still blog everyday. I'm sure a daily post from me would be terribly boring.

My last post was the 31 May, where did June go?  Well actually it went in France.  Yes, we managed to get over to France on 7 June by means of a letter from our daughter and attestations which the French border control were happy to acknowledge. Which was a bit of a relief - that "do you know the border is closed" was a tense moment.  We arrived back home on Friday 3 July and now have to quarantine for 14 days but it was worth it.  So what did we do?

Spent time with the boys, which was one of the main reasons for going.  Childcare and home schooling whilst Beck and Tim started to make ready the Chateau to reopen. Though President Macron declared that all children were to go back to school for the last two weeks of term, which meant that we ended up with time to play in the garden and work on the gite.  Luckily the weather improved as our first two weeks were rainy and not really conducive with working outside.  We did however get out for some walks and a couple of bike rides.

 A brief visit to the Donjon in Ballon, which is just in the next village to the Chateau.  Luck was not with us though because as soon as we arrived the heavens opened and we spent 15 minutes hiding under the trees, in the end we just gave up and wandered around in the wet, shoes were soaked through!  Other than that we didn't venture far, a trip to the garden centre, a quick foray to the supermarket and an after school trip the the lake at Sille plage with dinner out.  

The French are taking this whole lockdown easing a lot more grown up than the UK.  No queuing to get in the supermarkets, just sensible spacing, masks where necessary, and life is going on as normal but with no kissing!! Yes, there aren't as many people about, but the French have a different concept of going out - no booze fuelled binges, just a nice meal with wine, much more civilised.  I sometimes feel ashamed to be British and truly wonder what other countries think to the pub/booze mentality - it remains to be seen which of the countries is the first to spike after easing.

The Chateau has some new residents in the shape of three kittens, see the collage below - two boys and a girl - Brian, Steve (Etienne) and Fred (Frederica) - needless to say a lot of time was wasted on these three

There were lots of raspberries to pick, in fact each day we collected, open froze and then bagged ready to make jam at a later date or to add to puddings.

We are now home for a rest and as I said to quarantine for a while, which is frustrating, but there is work to do on the garden and knitting and crochet to keep me busy.  I need to find a new hairdresser as mine has decided not to reopen, which is a real shame.  I have kind of got used to my hair being longer, Peter prefers it, though I find the flopping in my face a trial, but a few hair slides help.  I will get it trimmed and see where I go from there.  I'm guessing it will be a while before I can get an appointment at some place new. I wonder how many other businesses will feel the need of a change.  

During lockdown Rebecca has decided to start writing a book - her Instagram and Facebook followers have been on at her for sometime to write so she has decided to do just that.  To enable her to do this she has set up a Patreon page, in the hope of a little financial help.  It seems this is the way that vloggers/writers/artists go these days, so if you feel you'd like to know more or can help please take a look at her page - thank you

There you have it, June, there would be more photos but this new version of Blogger has lots of issues, one being that I can't actually see the photos only the ref number, so I have to go to my phone, check the ref then add the photo, crazy

Enjoy your extra freedoms whilst you can, wear a mask, wash your hands, stay safe.  I for one have no desire to rush out to the shops.  Until the next time xx