This house resembles a fever hospital at the moment. It all started last Sunday evening when it became apparent that my youngest had chicken pox. Not that she seemed particularly ill or even much put out by it, and it has developed into one of the...

A small two-fold victory to celebrate this fine December morning. First of all, this blog is still here. Obviously. The upgrade to Wordpress whatever-it-is actually worked. I’d like to thank my webhost for their help in doing this, but I can’t because...

This small, inconsequential, blog is written in Wordpress. To precise, it is written in Wordpress version 2.2.2, an edition that, in computing terms at least, puts it in the era of Cro-Magnon man. I’ve been thinking that the site has been looking a...

Life around here is seldom dull. Today we journeyed to La Rochelle to source some specialised DIY supplies and to visit a friend in hospital. In between doing these two things we went out to lunch at a new restaurant (new to us, anyway) called “Rouge...

And so our season has come to an end. More or less. For the overseas visitor, the Vendée is not really a winter destination. Ski-ing is pretty much unheard of, due to a staggering absence of hills. The Vendée is so flat that for an entire...