The Boys are Back

Ed in London with his Ride London 46 finishers medal

After two long weeks home alone, Adrian and Ed are back in France and I’m happy.

Ed profited from Adrian’s UK work schedule to spend some time catching up with family and friends, as well as cycling his 80km charity bike ride. Thank you to everyone who sponsored him; he well and truly smashed his £200 target and has so far raised £388 for Mind, The Mental Health charity. The weather in London on Sunday was horrid; cold, wet and breezy which is the worst combination of conditions for cycling, so well done Ed.

One of the things he did while in UK was make plans to meet up with his friend Mary. Adrian and I have been friends with Mary’s parents for about 25 years, my wedding car was Mary’s mum’s cabriolet Mini, we all worked in London in our pre-baby years and regularly spent many a fun weekend at Mini shows or camping together, so you could say Ed and Mary have known each other all their lives, but have probably only seen each other a handful of times since we moved to France fourteen years ago. Social media obviously has a big part to play in Ed keeping in touch with her and his UK friends, but I still think it’s very special these grown up kids, who enjoyed ice creams together as toddlers, now choose to hang out when Ed is visiting the UK.

Courgette and tomato tian

The evening the boys returned home we were in party mood. A roast pork dinner served with a courgette and tomato tian (recipe from Mardi’s cookbook), made a welcome change from spiralised courgette salads for me, and as the sun set, Ed played his guitar on the terrace and we caught up with each other’s news. It felt like we were on holiday and with no school, no library and for the moment, no work for Adrian, the holiday mood has continued.

Hoopoe

Yesterday Adrian and I treated ourselves to morning coffee at the village bar before settling down for a languid afternoon in the garden, watching the birds foraging for food. With my feet up on the reclining lounger, I quickly got swept up in Susanne O’Leary’s latest summer read A Holiday to Remember, which is the sequel to The Road Trip. Then again at 34º and an orange heatwave alert I felt justified in my laziness. Adrian, however, went out on his bike!

Moules frites

Dinner last night, following a kir in the shade, was a summer favourite for us; moules frites. We’d bought the Atlantic moules direct from the producer when she visited the village in the morning and as I’ve been at work by the time she arrives, this was our first moules frites of the season and delicious it was too. It was certainly worth the wait. Their first day back was finished off nicely with an after dark dip in the pool, to help cool us off before bed.

Early morning cycling through sunflower fields

Cycling is something we haven’t had much time to enjoy so far this summer and with soaring high temperatures forecast for the next week, I wasn’t sure I could. However, such was our need to turn the pedals, we were up and out by 8.00am today and enjoying the cool of the morning before a refreshing dip in the pool and a trip to market. The melons and strawberries perfumed the car on the way home and the cheeky croissant and coffee while watching the world go by felt entirely justified after our bike ride. I’m hoping this holiday feeling continues for a while.

Morning coffee and croissant at market