I went to the Uk on 3rd December to be there in time for the funeral of Val Failes on Wednesday 6h. Whilest there I took the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping, visit family and friends, check our furniture in storage etc.
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| The gold letters need redoing, next time we visit. |
I visited our parents graves and placed some flowers on both the headstones.
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| Hoory, its a hit! |
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| Time for Christmas decorations! |
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| An annual tradition of Ginger Bread House making (plus a new addition of Dr. Who's Tardis!) |
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| It was nice to catch up with a selected few of the BOFs! |
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| And so back to France and a Choucroute meal at the Cave on the Quai. |
Driving through the English countryside made me feel quite homesick, which now poses us a dilemma as, finding cruising hardwork we feel we are coming to the end of the time on our beloved Gesina. So much soul searching to be done over the next few months. To stay in France or return to the UK. We both find the UK too overcrowded, property is more expensive, but cost of living, particularly food is much cheaper. We love the climate and relaxed way of life in France, property is much cheaper, but we dont speak the language very well. So would we be isolated if no longer part of the boating community?
Now it's all hands on deck to get ready for the communal Christmas day meal for 13 persons, with various individuals preparing/cooking different parts of the meal. It's a bit like Babette's Feast!!!. As some consider this an unlucky number we have enlisted the help of another body. More to be revealed.
OK, here 'It' is our mystery guest number 14:
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| Obviously not eaten for a while! |
We began the day with the traditional glass of sherry while opening our presents. These 'only small presents' handed to me when I visited the Uk necessitated an extra suitcase to bring them back to France!
Guess who also attended the festivities?
some were worried that they might 'run out' of supplies
others obviously didn't ...
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| How many drinks was that again? |
But some remained cool, calm and collected ...
