Or so it seems….. Why does the period of time between New Year and Easter feel so depressing? Maybe it’s the weather, the general cold, damp, greyness, and lack of soul sustaining sunlight. Just a few minutes of sun on your face never fails to lift the spirits, but it genuinely feels like France has had a monsoon season this year, those precious moments of golden glow have been few and far between. I’m taking my vitamins like a good girl to try and stave off rickets, but it’s just not the same is it? These last few days have been 10 degrees colder than we’ve been used to, because at least the ..read more

Yes everyone, I’ve become a wellness influencer. (insert sarcasm here). First of all a very Happy New Year to you all, and a big thank you from me for making 2023 the best ever year for this little blog. I’ve had the most annual visitors to date – 2132 to be exact, and the blog as a whole has now surpassed over 40,000 views which has gobsmacked me a bit, so ta very much! I’ll try not to make the usual promises about posting more regularly. because well, I know I won’t, but if I try to write for the sake of it, it just never quite sounds like me. So I guess you’ll just be stuck with me posting ..read more

I’m a bit behind as ever with the Rugby Road trip blogs, and completely forgot I had this one sat in drafts….. Our hotel in Nice was just a 5 minute walk to the main line station, so it was an easy 25 minute or so train that ran right next to the sea at times, to Monte-Carlo. Somewhere I had fond memories of from the same visit I’d had to Nice about 15 years ago, but somewhere Craig had never been. Another blisteringly hot day, and with this in mind we thought, we’ll head there reasonably early, have lunch at the Cafe De Paris (as you do) and head back before the sun reaches it’s peak. A small ..read more

Afternoon all. We’re in our room in Nice, it’s game day, so just putting our feet up before the face paint comes out once more. Please dear god let this one be more bearable than the Fiji game! Also, honourable mention to the chap we met this morning, that has constructed a giant leek from drain pipes and a sand bag. We commend you! So, it’s been a few days since I last wrote anything, we’ve been with flat out busy or passed out asleep! This is the next instalment of our road trip. We decided to stop off at Cannes, somewhere Craig had been before but I hadn’t. You figure that these places are ..read more

Evening all. We’re back in our “My Name Is Earl” hotel for the night in Aigues Mortes, our last night to break up the journey onwards to Nice where we are headed tomorrow. I knew this one was going to be a bit of a wildcard. There are neon flamingos. Rooms are painted in what I would affectionately call Dysentry Apricot and there is one plug socket. Everywhere I look something looks back, from a wall mounted gecko (quite like him), to a large painting of white Carmargue horses above the bed. The bar of bathroom soap is the actual size, to full scale, of a single piece of Caramac. The air condi ..read more

Good evening folks. Currently in Beziers after a very fun 48 hours. We had a very easy, just over 3 hour drive to Bordeaux, and were able to check in just after 1pm instead of the usual 4pm, so that was most helpful with the temperature in the early 30’s. We’d booked a hotel about 15 minutes drive from the stadium for the Wales v Fiji game, and it was quite pretty. A little family run spa hotel called Les Criquets on the outskirts of Bordeaux. So we didn’t have to circumnavigate Bordeaux city centre like on a previous trip which is a blessing. Check in was easy and the owner absolutely lovely ..read more

I wasn’t going to write this today, but sometimes you get angry, and it has to come out somewhere, so here it is. The Football World Cup Final has just happened, and the Lionesses, despite a valiant fight, were outclassed on the day by victorious Spain. That is almost a footnote in all of this. Am I sad they didn’t win? Of course I am. The victory though, is for women’s sport. When have you ever seen a women’s sporting event gain such momentum and prime time TV coverage? I haven’t cared this much about a game (in any sport) as long as I can remember, it’s made me really emotional. It wasn’t un ..read more

After 2 years in the waiting, and slightly less in the planning, in just a few weeks we’ll be heading out on an adventure. Important things are starting to be delivered in the post. Red, green and white face-paint for one. It’s nearly time to hit the road and support Wales in their Rugby World Cup endeavours. Last weekend the warm up games began, and while Wales haven’t been particularly inspiring of late, and have had a number of high profile retirements and injuries, I remain ever hopeful. This hope, my beloved repeatedly tells me, is the thing that will kill me. I am fully braced for Englan ..read more

Definition **Its too warm but it feels distinctly Autumnal. I’m not used to this. It’s the 2nd of August and the weather for the last few weeks has been, well, odd. I’m not complaining though. For the first year I can remember, we’re not having watering restrictions, apart from we can only do it before 8am and after 8pm, which is pretty standard. We’ve had no canicule (Heatwave), in fact the temperatures have only really nudged the 30’s once. We haven’t had to bust out our little emergency air conditioning unit in the bedroom so much as once, not even for the dogs. It’s rainy, sometimes stormy ..read more

Well folks, here I am again – heading homeward after a rather weird week. For those that don’t know, my mum was admitted to hospital about a fortnight ago, and last weekend she simultaneously had a fall in hospital, while my sister fell over in her kitchen and was being x-rayed for what we now know is a broken bone in her foot. Upon hearing this news I of course started to fire up Skyscanner for flights, a little odd given I’d only just flown home after a scheduled visit for my Sisters 60th birthday. So this past week, punctuated by a quick bowling trip and a solo trip to see the new Indiana J ..read more