We did it!

That's right. The heat bubble over Europe got us to a record temperature for this time of the year. It's so hot, as they say in France, that an old lady will put a shopping bag on her head.

Well she did, and I tried to take a sneaky no look picture, but only got one of her with bag in hand. Look, I'm a writer, not a photographer so I get an A for effort.

We walked through the city, went into some interesting shops, saw the sights and wondered why most of the food market was closed at lunchtime.

I saw a fountain that I said was so ugly that it didn't deserve to be photographed. And it wasn't until later that I decided I had to take a photo so that I could show you. So I got myself into one of those loop situations where I didn't but had to and shouldn't have but needed to times infinity (if anyone understands this, please explain it to me).

I want my fountains to ask questions like "are the serpents turning into horses or vice versa?".

Ever since I gave up cigarettes (I never actually took up cigarettes but the whole paragraph will sound heaps better if I start the sentence this way), I sometimes wake up with a craving for a good smoke. Luckily, in France, all you need to do to satisfy that craving is walk past a couple of cafes, past any open windows of a house or pretty much most places where two people are talking, in order to get enough second hand smoke for a year.

When was the cold war? When did the Berlin wall come down? When was the Korean war? These were the questions we were asked by senior school students as we sat in the park eating our quiche and poulet burger (two French words in the one post). They were studying for an exam in the afternoon so thought that the answers of two older Australians would be better than looking in a book.

Back home at 3 and got to play with Emma for a couple of hours while Claire and Jeremy worked.

We even got to change a nappy and can confirm that the green mixture she ate earlier, did indeed stay green and turned into a rock-like formation in her nappy.

I made chips for dinner (or is that French Fries?) and it seems as though any oven problems have been solved.

I'm going to try on my new pants (purchased from Bordeaux Decathlon). They may make an appearance later in the holiday blog.

Another Edinburgh?

I'm sure you all remember when the Editor, me and Jeremy went to Scotland and they recorded the highest temperature ever. I ran 10km with Jeremy that day to the beach and back. We've only just got over the sight of those British bodies on the beach.

The last few days, the weather forecast has been predicting 'near record' temperatures.

What should we do today? Let's go on a 8km hike. To be fair, a lot of it was through a forest so it was a bit cooler.

There was a lake and a toilet halfway and we were allowed to go to Maccas after so there can't be too many complaints.

We went to a shop called Auchan. It was massive in its enormousness.

While most people would have headed to the wine aisle (or perhaps in France somewhere a little classier), we headed straight for the cordial aisle. We took home heaps last time and we're going close to our baggage limit again. "Anything to declare?" they will say, with us replying that we are addicted to sucre. How goodly is my French coming on?

Anyway, the ingredients for lasagne were purchased to satisfy Jeremy’s longing for Mum's cooking only for the oven "to be funny".

On a positive note, the lower layers were good and Colorbond are very interested in the top layer for roofing.

We played a game called Codeword where mother and son cheated their way to victory and called it a night.

I trained for this

Luckily there was lots of climbing last week as today, in the process of playing 18 holes of golf, 264m were climbed. Yes it was hilly. Yes it was tight. Yes I putted many greens. Yes I scored 100 for the first time in maybe 50 years. But we had fun and Jeremy only lost 3 balls whilst my Srixon lasted the entirety.

4 and a half hours. If you're ever in Bordeaux and fancy a game about an hour out of town, this is the course.

The electric fences that surrounded most holes sure speed up play by stopping you looking for your ball for too long.

Of course after golf, French Maccas is a must. My 5 euro value meal of fries, strawberry shake, double chicken burger and Coke cost 5 euros and 9 cents. I chose to pay the sugar tax. Jeremy's dessert was a chocolate sundae and was the smallest dessert I've ever seen.

The drinks and desserts were all in reusable cups which is a great idea but would probably fail in Australia. Oh, we ate in.

From there we strolled to Aldi for a fake Coke (hit with a sugar tax again) and also went looking for Munchers (chocolate covered peanuts in Australia and in France they are called chocolate peanuts).

The editor did her own thing today and may or may not let you know what that was.

[Annette's day: I caught the tram into the city to check out the antique, fabric and other interesting shops. 

I didn't buy anything but it was nice to browse. Some beautiful fabric but out of my price range. However looking at the lovely French clothes and fabrics has encouraged me to up my game and not dress like a slob in retirement! Unfortunately the art galleries are closed on Tuesdays so that will be for another day. 

I saw a woman on a bicycle with a trailer, which was a mobile tattoo studio.

I had a nice lunch at French House before going to a lovely spa (Caudalie) for a body scrub and massage (a Christmas present from Claire and Jeremy), a fabulous experience.]

I hung clothes on the line, went to the creche to pick up Emma, ate Annette's curry that Jeremy craves and then, in what can only be called a massive upset, managed to win a game of Scrabble after my brief retirement.

Luckily I've been stretching my stomach in preparation for the cruise next week.

A long weekend

We arrived mid week in France on a public holiday. Today is another public holiday. How very Australian of them.

Saturday is swimming day for Emma so she was woken from her first nap of the day only to be dunked head first into the water. She seemed to enjoy it as much as Annette and Jeremy who were in the water with her. 

From there it was to a shop that sells only frozen foods and back home for lunch and a nap before heading out into what the weather app described as 'near record temperatures'. 36 degrees in France seems cooler than 36 in Australia but maybe I'm just being patriotic.

I ran 2.2 km without getting too far away from home. Later, as Jeremy, Claire and Emma went to a baby music class, we did a pilates class on the hard wooden floor. Pizza for dinner to replenish all the calories burned.

Sunday markets, and as is quite ofter the case, they were ok but with the cheapest records being 5 euros I didn't dip into the wallet too much. Just a Telly Savalas and Michael Nesmith (pronounced 3 different ways by 3 of us) record to add to the collection. I'm still amazed at how many records I look at when I go to markets that I already own.

It was a bit of a dodgy area so we sought a bread/pastry shop on the way home. It was empty when we entered and the line was out the door when we left, as the editor was like herself in such a shop and had much difficulty in deciding how her daily sugar fix would be fulfilled. Fyi, I got a baguette that was better than any cake purchased. 

Emma seems to like us, which is good. She seems very close to standing up and she is very curious, so watch this space.

Another failed game of Scrabble where they ganged up on me, so I have officially retired. Claire made the secret family recipe cake. It was good. Maybe one day I will share my crunchy nut cornflake and ice cream recipe with her in exchange. Wait, it's in the cookbook we gave them. D'oh.

Monday we went early to the park for Emma to see a peacock, sheep, pigeons and lots of ducks. 

Home for leftover pizza (unheated for those of us who really appreciate good food). In the arvo we left Claire and Emma home and drove to a beachy area with Jeremy (Le Cap-Ferret). From across the bay we could see the sandhills we climbed previously. It was an interesting little place and if you want a good oyster, I am told that this is the place. 

On the way home, we joined a line of every car doing what we had been doing on a long weekend. This disrupted the ice cream demands of the 2 in the front seats. The shops spotted along the way were closed, then at 3:59 one was spotted. However it closed at 4:00 before a car door could be opened. Ice cream fail at 3:59 but they eventually got their ice creams at another shop by double parking in a bus stop. I save my money in case Telly Savalas has another record. 

We tried dodging traffic according to Google Maps but it was a slow trip home.

A stop at another massive shop on the way back and then home to the news that Emma can now pull herself up to stand, something she repeated many times in her cot, when sleeping should have been the preferred activity.

Is it Friday?

Another easy day with a drive to the coast, a walk up a giant sand dune, pizza for lunch. 

We looked at some houses and the colour of our new kitchen was discovered, then lost and then rediscovered as we drove.

Dropped into Leclerc, an enormous supermarket that is apparently not the biggest around. With some help I found the chocolate aisle. My refusal to purchase corn chips shows how much I am growing as a person. 

While Jeremy and Claire went to a movie, we babysat and managed not to set the smoke alarms off when my "caramelised" quesadilla was browned within a cm of its life.

Introducing Jeremy, Claire and Emma

Most of our holidays are go go go but this one is a little different. We did arrive in France and were doing stuff non-stop for a week, but now we are back in Bordeaux and doing a lot more of nothing much. So today's 'not much' meant that us,  Jeremy (son) and Emily (granddaughter) had to be out of the house before 9am because Claire (daughter-in-law) has work meetings. Is it because I have eaten all of the Kit Kat bites?

We hopped in the car and drove off to a nice medieval town (Saint-Émilion). Just the right amount of churchetecture for my liking and some very strange church murals.

Lunch was had there and despite the recommendation of galettes, I had the big dessert cup full of ice cream, because I can.

Back home, we took Emma for a walk to the park, where her main interest was attempting to eat grass and flowers. We all wanted to sleep. 

Back home again for dinner and a game of Scrabble that I didn't come last in (a rare occurrence that proves my constant watching of 8 Out of 10 Cats is paying dividends).