Merry Christmas to all

There was a moment on Tuesday morning that we thought Christmas was going to be cancelled. Rebecca and Matthew were booked on the early flight from Gatwick to Toulouse on Tuesday and at 5:00 AM Matthew received a 'tweet' to advise him their flight had been cancelled! A very quick check on the Easyjet website informed them that there were no seats on any flights until after 25^th December. Time for us to get the bags packed and head back to the UK earlier than planned? Well not quite yet as the good old ferries are still sailing and it was back to Matthew's to pick the car up and head for Dover. So 24 hours later than planned and a little tired from the 900 kilometre drive they arrived safe and sound and settled in for their first Christmas in South West France. To get the Christmas festivities off to a flying start we'd booked a table for Christmas Eve lunch at a new restaurant in VDR called 'Cote Saveurs' and what a great decision that turned out to be. The food was fantastic and it's definitely in my top 5 restaurants, we'll definitely be heading back there when we get back from the UK in April.

The snow I mentioned in the last blog only hung around for a couple of hours but returned last Friday with a vengeance and with 12 guests arriving on Saturday night expecting to be fed thank goodness the Land Rover was back on the road. It may be low on high technology etc, but it did get us to the shops and Barbara was able to conjure up a wonderful meal that everyone enjoyed and I'm sure had our French guests doubting all those horror stories they've heard about British cuisine. What, with the excellent meal we had last week at P & P's they must be thinking 'sacré bleu what ever happened to mint sauce and jelly?'

Christmas shopping French style lacks that little something that has become all too familiar in the UK, crowds. This picture was taken on the Tuesday before Christmas (we should have been in Toulouse picking R & M up) and as you can see there's no mad rush to pick up tonnes of food that won't be eaten. I suppose the French are used to shops not being open 24/7 and don't go into panic mode at the thought of not being able to pick up essential items on Christmas Day.

That's it for 2009. Have a good Christmas and all the best for 2010. Hopefully the next blog will be from that hotspot of the North West of England, Blackpool.

Bonnes fetes!