OUR KIDS LIFE IN FRANCE, AND OURS - welcome to the vendee

A good nights sleep was not on the menu, as it turned out. I usually get the pleasure of seeing the kids over excited at Christmas and Birthdays, but this was a night with all 5 of us squashed into a room no bigger than a bathroom. Really, you could do everything without moving from the bed, even take a shower if you tried hard enough! OK, so it was cheap & cheerful, and it was one of those motorway hotels, but I would have called that more like a room for 1 not 5. Whatever, (there's that word again!). The children thought it was a hoot, and giggled all night. They found it especially amusing when we had to climb over one another to get to the loo, so much so that they felt the need to go at least 10 times in 30 minutes. Granted it was hot outside, even at that time of night, but the air conditioning was loud and clonky, and it gave you that funny sort of taste in your mouth. So we turned it right down. Then we still couldn't sleep as it was too hot. "Are we there yet?", didn't sound too bad at that point.

We were up and dressed at the crack of dawn, obviously, and in consequence, had to wait 1/2 an hour for the breakfast buffet to open, (I can't do anything without my daily caffeine intake). By 7.30am we were back on the road again.

Having done the longer part of the journey the day before, we figured we only had a couple of hours left on route, but decided to take it easy to make sure mum would be up and running and ready for us. Fortunately for us the kids slept alot of the way, not all but alot, so there is something to be said for motorway hotels after all! A few toll gates, hours and "are we there yets" later we finally rolled, (literally, we were almost out of petrol), through mums gates. She rushed out to greet us all with hugs. There it was again. That feeling of security. The same one I had when dad had rushed out 5 years previously........

EASTER EGGS & CHOCOLATE? IT'S TOO SOON

So we've got the pancakes out of the way, thank heavens. But just when you think it's all over, just when you think you've got a short break before the kids start asking more things, just when you think you can walk around the supermarket without the "Can we have? Will you buy?", the stores are stacked with Easter Eggs! Really, everywhere you go there's temptation for youngsters, (and chocoholics), posters, eggs, bunnies, chocolates, and, exceptionally here in France, the chocolate bell & chocolate chicken, (never quite figured that one out!). Wait a minute! Easter's not until April! That's almost 2 months away, unless I'm stuck in a time warp or something. And to top it all, today is the first day of Lent, aren't we supposed to be giving up things like chocolate? It gets earlier every year, and so does the drain on my finances. I mean, they're not cheap, at least not over here, and in France you don't even get anything in the middle of the egg! I like stuff in the middle. I'm a stuff in the middle person. I remember when I was young rushing downstairs on Easter Sunday to see what the Easter Bunny had left for me. Ripping the egg out of the box and shaking it to see what was in the middle. My kids rush downstairs to see what the Easter Bell or Chicken, (?), has left for them. They too rip the egg out of the box and shake it. Unfortunately they just end up with broken chocolate! Never mind, they enjoy it anyway. Oh well, can't wait for the end of April, I suppose all the Halloween & Christmas gear will be filling the shelves then!

From France to England, via hotel & car ferry

So the kids have got so used to the French way of life even their expressions are French, you know, tone of voice, eating habits etc.. Mind you, the eating bit is good. I hear stories about the English school canteen service, and what they serve, chips mainly, and the French way does appear to be a lot healthier. Ok, so it's quite expensive, but worth it. They get a 4 course meal; starter, main course, cheese or dairy product and dessert or fruit, and they are very varied and typically french meals. I could never imagine English schools serving up black pudding, offal, beef tongue, mussels and things like that, (although apart from the mussels I wouldn't eat it either, shhh, don't tell the kids!). But it is good that they try these things, and they actually enjoy it, trouble is I keep getting bamboozled into cooking exotic dishes you'd normally only eat at a restaurant!

Last October we decided it was time to take the plunge and visit the family in the UK. Not that we hadn't wanted to before but we had a food store before moving to the Vendee and it was open 7/7 and 364/365, (excluding Christmas Day), so we never really got the chance. And since living here we have been so busy working and renovating the gite & house, that time just slipped past. Anyway, we finally went back there, ooh the kids were so excited, they were going back to their roots!

We drove to Calais and stayed in a Hotel the night to get the ferry the next morning. That in itself was an adventure for the kids, the first time, (that they can remember), ever being on a ferry boat. As you can imagine, we didn't get much sleep that night due to giggling children who didn't want to go to sleep, so we arrived at the port 2 hours early, bleary eyed, and got an earlier boat. I'm not sure what they were expecting to see on the other side of the Channel, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't what they were expecting. In fact, it was pretty hard to see anything due to the rain & fog, "This is England, kids, what do you think so far?". To which I got no comment..............

PS. Thanks to Aji for dropping in and leaving a lovely comment.