August

3rd Aug:
Once again forgot to ask our visitors to write in the book. Anyway, a Christian-cooked birthday meal (à la Delia) with Alan and Maureen was great.

4th Aug:
Champagne in the garden sunshine with Ann and Noel after an excellent meal at "Wildings" in Girvan is my kind of birthday present.

15th-19th Aug:
A weekend with Mary spent eating, drinking, talking and a little sunbathing. Colin and Sheila around for dinner.

23rd Aug:
A "train pals" night in the house. Chinese carryout, wine and plenty of chat.

25th Aug:
Surprise picnic by the Solway Firth à la Greque with Mary Kate and Johnny then home for supper and a bottle of wine.

France, here we come!

Just the two of us to celebrate the signing of the new house after a good lunch at Fouters - where else?

Vive la France!

Bastille Day '96 spent in the garden with Ann and Noël, Angus and Maureen, Mary Kate, Sheila and Colin, Julie, Morgan and wee Holly. Where will we be next year?
 

• Yet another year and still dropping clangers - will I ever be allowed to live it down - Ann and her "twin" brother Angus!! Ooops, sorry - lots of entertainment from this one. At least they won't forget me!! Love, Sheila.

• Had a lovely day. Thank you very much. Look forward to visiting you in France. Love, Maureen.
• Espero que uno dia te visitará en Frances por la fiesta de Bastille. Hasta luego, Mary Kate
• Had a great day with lots of good friends. Who knows where we will be next year and hope it will be celebrated together. we will certainly be in our thoughts. Ann

France, May '96

Gleaned from Our Travel Notes: A House Hunting Trip

9.5.96:

Made a late start from work to drive down to Jean's new house in Bourneville.

10th:

Afternoon crossing after a leisurely drive to Portsmouth where we also had lunch. Dinner with Valérie Christophe and new baby Léonie. It's cold.

11th:

Said a quick "bonjour" to Gilbert at his shoe shop. Dinner with Valérie, Christophe, Valérie, Guilhaume, Pierrette and Alain.

12th:

Left at 9h30 and made our way down to Montcuq where we arrived at 18h. Just say it out loud in a French accent and you'll/know why the French laugh about it. Overnight in the "Hôtel du Parc". http://www.hotel- restaurant-du-parc.fr

13th:

Our first visit was to a "dream" house with a gîte but sadly, it was too isolated. Had lunch in Beauville and looked at two other houses in the afternoon being driven from place to place by the estate agent.

Stayed overnight in Montreal du Gers at  "La Gare" with its restaurant/museum that even had railway sound effects in the dining room! We slept in what was the old toilet building!

14th:

Looked at more houses but there wasn't anything that leapt up and said "buy me!" Had lunch in the "Trou Gascogne" and met up with June and the girls in Blagnac where the company is putting them up in a hotel until they find something more permanent. Wouldn't you know it, Bill was back in Scotland. Overnight stay in the Campanile.

15th:

Moved onto St Antoine where we had an appointment with another estate agent. Overnight in Caylus.

16th:

Being Ascension Day, today is a public holiday. Lunched in Villefranche after which we telephoned a former colleague of Christian's on the off chance  but he wasn't there. Went to look around Cordes -sur-Ciel which is a lovely medieval hilltop town with cobbled streets and lots of tourists. Another night in Caylus.

17th:

Spent all day looking at houses though of course there was time for an obligatory break for lunch in St Antoine. Drew another blank and as it was too late to drive to Pilippe and Gisèle's, we overnighted in Monesties .

18th:

Made an earlyish start for the Pyrénees Orientales, arriving at Philippe's for lunch. Dinner with the family and a cousin, Michel (a doctor) and his partner. Funnily enough, he's decided to buy Valérie's house that we looked at last year. Seriously, thinking of buying Philippe and Gisèle's house.

19th:

Drove Philippe to the airport.

20th:

Pizza lunch in town followed by shopping in Spain.

21st:

Had photos developped speedily at the outrageous price of £15! Wine is cheap so I guess you win some and you lose some. Left after lunch to drive to Avignon, stopping for a cuppa with Aimée and the girls in Nîmes. Had a BBQ dinner at Stéphane's, once we'd done the shopping of course.

22nd:

Left at 9h30 and stopped for lunch in Tournus, a very pretty town. Dinner with Frank and Valérie (Laurence working late). Overnight in the Confornew. Very wet.

23rd:

Day spent lazing at Frank and Laurence's. Had paella lunch in a Moroccan restaurant across the road. We were invited to Vincent (colleague) and Maya's for an overnight in Reuill Malmaison  and it took us a long 2 hours to get there. GPS can't come soon enough! Also present were Jean-Marie (another colleague) and Odile.

24th:

The three blokes played golf in the morning and golf in the afternoon with lunch in between. The weather was warm so I contented myself with just sitting and reading. 

Did some last minute shopping for cheese and stayed overnight with Christophe and Valérie.

25th:

8h30 crossing, light lunch on board in an effort to counteract the extra pounds around the waist. Visits to Jill and John, Hilda and Dad. 

26th:

Saw Lena and Kate after church, then Chris and Rosemary. Left about 11am ith the car loaded with furniture and were home by 16h.
27th:
Today is a public holiday and Mary Kate came down to share the booty from our boot.

Chez Papa for Christmas

Will we ever forget an afternoon at the pantomine where there were remarks from the stage about visitors from France and teaching young and old afterwards how to play "Tell Harry". How we rolled about laughing .... the auld alliance is alive and well.

• Merci pour cet agréable séjour. nous avons pu aimer découvrir les fêtes de fin d'année en Écosse. Nous avons aussi été très heureux de rencontre des personnes très sympathiques. Merci pour tout, on reviendra ........! (Valérie)
• Merci beaucoup à tous les deux, ainsi qu'à vos amis pour ces merveilleuses soirées que nous avons passées. Je vous fais 10,000 gros bisous. (Guillaume ,une des pièces rapportées)

Tour de France '95

Gleaned from our Travel Notes

4.10.95:
Left after work to drive down to Mum's
5th: 
Visits to Hilda (step grandmother), Jill, Dad and then on to have a look around Moreton.
6th:
Lunch in the White Swan in Stratford. http://white-swan-stratford.co.uk/ Night crossing from Portsmouth.
7th:
Breakfast in Honfleur then lunch with Christian's godmother. (Rabbit) Back to Christophe's for dinner en famille. 
8th:
Met up with Didier, a long time colleague of Christian's for a walk followed by lunch at an Alsacien restaurant.
9th:
Lawyer and bank in the morning; lunch at Christophe's and on to Paris. Dinner of salmon en croute with Frank and Laurence.
10th:
Visit to La Defense. Very hot so just a salad lunch. dinner with Frank and Laurence. Fondue and champagne.
11th:
Lunch stop in Avallon for an indifferent coq au vin. Next stop, an overnight in Bollène in "Le Château de Rocher". Wooden floors, stand up bath, verdant setting and a good restaurant. http://www.lechateauderocher.com/ (They didn't have gîtes when we went all these years ago).

 12th:

Visited Vaison de la Romaine which as its name would indicate has lots of Roman remains. Had lunch in a quiet bistro in the medieval quarter. Arrived chez stéphane in ime to do the shopping for the evening meal which included more champagne.
 13th
Lunch stop chez Aimée but this time no Jean-Louis who was at work. From here, it was onto Philippe and Gisèle's. We're looking to buy a house so gazed in the windows of local estate agents and visited a house in the village that's up for sale. Huge and needing a lot and I do mean a lot of work.
14th:
Lunch in Argelès and we did a Scottish dinner.
15th:
A huge family lunch with both lamb and duck, homemade bread and champagne. Philippe took us for an apéro chez Valérie and then it was home for an early night.
16th:
Looked at some land next to Gaby and Chantal's but the thought of building was a bit daunting. apéro with Josette and Jacky.
17th:
Stayed an extra day to visit estate agents, went up to the "mas", the old farmhouse that Philippe is renovating and went foraging for mushrooms.
18th:
Drove through the Massif Central and stayed over in Massiac in a quiet Logis de France. Champagne again!
19th:

A misty morning to start today's journey ever northward. Stayed overnight (more champagne, of course) in the Moulin de Flagy (Chambre "Millet"). Lots of character in a picturesque village. http://www.aumoulin.fr/index.html

20th:
Had thought to visit Fontainbleu but it was closed! cut our losses and drove on to L'Oise where we met up with Christian's ex-wife's cousins and .... yes, more champagne.
21st:
Travelled through the countryside, stopping in Lyon-la-Fôret for lunch on the way to Christophe and Valérie's. http://www.grandcerf.fr/ 
Pascal, Sandrine and their wee one came for an apéro then it was dinner en famille with yet more champagne.
22nd:
Couscous lunch and strangely enough more champagne. Visit to the Malos' followed by a walk.
23rd:
Still sunny. Called in on Gilbert.
24th:
Arrived home

Mary to Stay

4.9.95

Thank you for a lovely weekend. Very relaxing - good talk, wine and food. Make sure that I can return the compliment soon. Love, Jean x

13.8.95:

Alison, having reached an age to fly up to stay with us came for a week which included days out and a trip to the Moscow State Circus.a real wee honey, she left us a thank you note with £2 in it to treat ourselves to a drink.

3.8.95:

An overnight all very "county" at Ladyburn. Normally, our haunt for Sunday lunch we splashed out for a wee treat.

18.7.95:
Birthday breakfast yesterday al fresco - champagne and strawberries, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, fresh assorted rolls, more champagne and coffee and that's just one meal. Had a really good time as usual, all meals same standard plus plenty to drink! As usual good company, don't want to go home! Hope I'm invited again soon, Mary xxx

21.5.95:
Well worth the wait. Wonderful food, wine, company, conversation and champagne. June

17.4.95:
Good food, excellent wines, wonderful accomodation and brilliant conversation. What more could one want?. Hope to come again soon - if invited. Love, Mary x

Weekend in Paris

Gleaned from Our Travel Notes

10.3.95:
Flight to Paris compliments of "Airmiles" to find Christian at the airport with Philippe's car. Champagne in the hotel and then an apéro with Frank and Laurence. Dinner of crêpes "Chez Jeannine".

11.3.95:
Breakfast with les enfants and then a sunny day out around Montmatre. Dinner with Frank, Laurence, Valérie and Guilhaume. Birthday presents for Papa.

12.3.95:
Breakfast down the road from the hotel. Plans to meet Christophe and Valérie off their plane from Tunisia didn't work out. Had a splendid lunch out in the country, taking our dessert and coffee out in the garden. Followed it up with a walk in the nearby country park. Christophe and Valérie finally arrived at our hotel bearing birthday gifts at midnight, their flight having been horribly delayed.

13.3.95:
Did some supermarket shopping for goodies to take home. Had lunch with Christian's colleague Jean-Marie at La Defense. Of course, while there, we had a visit to the office and then met up with Philippe to return the car keys. Return flight, laden with bottles went without a hitch apart from some rather smelly cheese odours wafting out from our cabin baggage!

It all starts here!

1st January1995 is where it all began thanks to the gift of a Visitors’ Book from Mary Kate long before we were ever users of the internet. It was sporadic at first as we didn’t always like to ask or simply forgot to ask people to write a few words but then it took on a life of its own especially after we moved to France. People became more imaginative with their entries and started to read who had said what since their last visit; I started to record the menus we’d had so that I didn’t offer the same thing to the same people and to decorate the entries wth wine bottle labels and other reminders of the event recorded. A small library of visitors’ books started to grow and inevitably, things evolved. More and more it was me that recorded not just visits but also other things that were happening in our life until the time came at the beginning of 2008 to let the dust accumulate on the books and hit the keyboard instead. Never having kept a diary before, I wasn’t sure that I could keep up a blog but apart from the occasional backlog, it’s still alive and although our audience isn’t large (not that it was ever meant to be), our “daily doings” are read by a few faithful friends and family who have said that they enjoy catching up with our news. Well, they would wouldn’t they? We enjoy reading it too, by the way!

So, now for a digital version of all those entries nestling in the six now-redundant books that as time goes by will appear on this blog in italics in chronological order. It will be a laborious, long, slow process but here goes ...... 

New Year 1995

Back at ours after to continue partying after celebrating Hogmanay in a local hotel.

• How on earth can I make amends for my faux pas in 1994 - can I have a clean sheet for 1995? Lots of love, Sheila. (Shame we can't remember what her faux pas was!)
• I don't think Sheila should have a clean sheet, do you? Happy New Year from the "baby, sometimes on the train girl", Julie xxx
• Have really enjoyed visiting you for the passage of '94 and the arrival of '95. Look forward to many other visits with yourselves and friends in the future, Colin
• All time is space, Johnny
• Having a lovely time. Lots of lovely people!! Ann
• A wonderful time and great time. Looking forward to 1995 and hope all yer wishes come true, Mary Kate
• Happy New Year, Morgan. That was easy!
• Hope '95 is a good year for you, love from Laura
• Happy New Year and all the best in the future, Lynn
• Don't forget us because we won't forget you. Maybe (?) we will be neighbours in France sometime, Bill
• A' the best for '95, June

The writing was shaky and sometimes illegible but it was Hogmanay and we hadn't stinted ourselves. 

Pembrokeshire with Friends

1984: A Change of Scene with Friends

My second trip to Pembrokeshire came when I joined Suzanne, Elaine and Harry for a week in Suzanne's Mum's cottage. 

Drinking rosé in the sun of an afternoon, 

 coastal path walks and time on Marloes Sands,

visits to St David's and St Roch castle. 

It was worth getting "kippered" for!!

1986 (?)

There was another week there a couple of years later but all I can remember is that the smoking chimney had been fixed!