Happy Holidays

Fields of sunflowers surrounding our villa.

Lola and Calum enjoy some enormous croissants!

Calum and Lola all dressed up for dinner

A close encounter with a knight!

A typical house in Pujols

Lou Calel restaurant

A sweet stall at Montflanquin Market

Calum, Lola and me at Montflanquin Market

Holiday Heaven
Holidays are absolutely my favourite thing. I love everything about them (except for the expense of course!).

There's the planning, the months of anticipation and, finally, the arriving.

For me, holidays are the one time when I can truly relax and get away from it all. Some people have trouble winding down when they go away, but I'm able to switch off completely and enjoy it from the first minute.

Relaxing means being with Joe, Calum and Lola and no one else. Luckily, we all get on brilliantly and it's very precious family time away from the stresses of work and school. Even though the children are teenagers, we all enjoy the same things so there's never any argument about what we're going to do. And they're great company.

Usually we like to go away for two weeks but this year we were only able to make one. However, it felt like much longer.

Villa Chartreuse Revisited
We went back to the villa where we stayed last year, Villa Chartreuse, in the South West of France near a lovely town called Villeneuve sur Lot.

The villa is very spacious and sleeps nine people, so for four of us there was loads of space, much more than we have at home, and that was a real luxury.

But it's not just the space. It's also the light.

Every morning we woke to brilliant sunbeams streaming round the edges of the shutters, giving everything a golden glow. In the evening, the sunsets were magical, with a myriad of pink and red hues.

The villa is set apart on a hill surrounded by farm land and this year we were treated to the spectacular view of fields and fields of sunflowers. It was impossible to feel anything but happy when you were greeted by such a cheery sight every time you walked out of the door. I still think of them now and it makes me smile.

Lazy Days
We were all shattered after a busy year at both work and school so we decided to keep sight-seeing to a minimum and spend most of our time at the villa by the pool. Which is exactly what we did - and it couldn't have worked out better.

We all read (I polished off three novels), swam and sunbathed. The children also went on the PS2. Plus we ate and drank more than our fair share of the delicious local food and wine. We even found the same stall from last year where were bought industrial-sized croissants that tasted better than anything I've ever eaten in this country.

Diets were a distant memory and it was wonderful to indulge ourselves to our heart's content. Amazingly, when I got back I discovered I'd actually lost weight. So a diet of bread, cheese, croissants and wine obviously agrees with me!

Holiday Highlights
There were so many highlights on the holiday, it's hard to list them all. But here are a few that really stand out.

Knight in shining Armour - Bumping into a 'knight' who was like a character straight out of Les Visiteurs. He asked me if I'd noticed his cheese grater!

Montflanquin Market - A riot of colour, taste and smell and, with a wonderful atmosphere and an amazing variety of wares, all in a beautiful Medieval setting.

Star Gazing - Gazing up at the stars in wonder with Joe and the children on the clearest night you can imagine.

Snail Trail - Laughing at the huge number of snails that appeared on our terrace after a shower of rain leaving silver trails in the dark, looking as if they were having a race.

Eating Al Fresco - The simple pleasure of eating delicious, fresh food outside everyday on a sun-warmed terrace.

Lou Calel - Our farewell meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant set high on a hill with panoramic views. Laughing at the miniature French dogs that were taken out to dinner by their owners (it wouldn't happen here!). Watching the twinkling lights of the village as the sun went down.

Shop 'til you drop! - Discovering that Villeneuve sur Lot has great shops and even better sales! Lola and I got some fantastic fashion bargains.

Picturesque Pujols - Visiting the Sunday market at Pujols village where almost every house is adorned with brightly coloured flowers.

It was definitely a holiday to remember and one I'm sure we'll reminisce about for years to come.

Ein Besuch von Gerda

Me and Gerda

Gerda with Calum and Lola

Gerda by the river in Cambridge

Friends for life
There are very few times in your life when you meet someone who you know is going to be a lifelong friend. Gerda is such a person. We met in 1981 in Vienna when I spent a year abroad in Austria as part of my German and English degree.

Since then we've both been through a lot, including having children. Like me, Gerda has a boy and a girl, David and Lisa, now 19 and 20 respectively.

A new year with a difference
They were young teenagers when I last saw them when we spent New Year's Eves with Gerda and her family in Klagenfurt, including her husband Hugo who is a great character and a wonderful host.

it was one of the best New Year's Eves we've ever had and I don't think I've ever been made to feel as welcome as we did at Gerda's house. Nothing was too much trouble.

She ferried us to and from the airport, drove us miles to visit her parents and various friends (she has loads) and took us to a thermal swimming pool in the heart of the mountains where we swam in deliciously warm water surrounding by snow-covered mountains - an amazing experience. The children thought it was fantastic and still talk about it.

Blush blush
I still talk about my experience of my first (and probably last) communal mixed sauna where everyone was stark naked. I was sent out for keeping my swimming costume on but was allowed to come back in wearing a towel. The only other person in a towel was an Italian girl and I was very grateful to her. I can laugh about it now but as an uptight English person at the time I found it all quite embarrassing and literally did not know where to look! Enough said. :)

Food glorious food
Gerda also fed us delicious Christmas home-made biscuits (Kipferl) and cakes (Lebkuchen) and we were all treated to Hugo's amazing goulash soup on New Year's Eve which we wolfed down, even though we'd already eaten fit to burst!

A summer visit and a doctor drama
So when Gerda told me she was coming to England this summer, I was absolutely delighted. She was only able to stay for a couple of days, having already spent two weeks on a teaching course, but we managed to pack a lot in.

This included an emergency trip to the doctor because she was having trouble with her eyes (a long standing problem since she had an accident when she was a child). Thankfully all was well and the optician we were sent to couldn't have been kinder. I was just glad to know that she was okay and that we could enjoy the rest of our time together without worrying.

Speaking your language
Gerda's first language is, of course, German, but she speaks English like a native and we talked for hours and hours about everything under the sun. The fact that she is an English teacher definitely helps but I think she has a natural gift for languages anyway.

Good friends
It was a if we'd seen each the day before which is the sign of a true friendship. You simply pick up where you've left off - even though there'd been a five year gap in between.

What was lovely was that she got on equally well with Joe and the children and they were all sorry to see her go.

So, what did we do?

A trip to cambridge
Apart from (inevitably) consuming quite a few glasses of wine, we also spent a day in Cambridge. Gerda and I went on our own which gave us chance to really catch up.

We started with a reviving cup of strong French coffee at my favourite cafe Gros Franck and managed to make it last half an hour as we chatted away.

We then hit the shops at Cambridge, pausing to look in on a few of the colleges along the way. Afterwards it was lunch at the Pizza Express at 7a Jesus Lane, also one of my favourite places. There we managed to talk so much, we were the last people to leave!

After lunch we wandered around Cambridge some more, stopping to buy Hugo's favourite Tetley teabags (he likes them because they're round) and pick up presents for the children.

It was a really lovely day and we arrived home to glorious cooking smells and a nice glass of chilled Pinto Grigio!

Gerda said she likes television so we all watched the latest episode of Heroes, a brilliant series we're all hooked on.

I hate the A14!
Having commuted to Cambridge for nine years along the A14, I hate that road.

It's always busy, full of juggernauts and there are loads of accidents. So when we had to take Gerda back to Stansted I allowed an extra hour as you never know what's going to happen.

It was just as well as, true to form, there was a bad accident which meant we crawled for miles and added an extra half an hour to our journey.

Gerda and I chatted some more in the car and were still deep in conversation when it was time to drop her off and wave goodbye.

See you soon
Seeing Gerda again was really wonderful.

It made me determined not to leave it so long until we meet up again - definitely not five years!

She is a very special friend.

So, as they say in German - 'Bis bald Gerda!'