Translate

Monday, 17 November 2014

'Bye Mum

Fears, hopes, doubts, wishes, hush my pensive shell,

Fount of them all, dear Lake! farewell! farewell!

Wordsworth, written on the bank of Lake Windermere.

It may have taken a long time to get ourselves organised, but finally we two estranged brothers made it together to Lake Windermere, where mum’s ashes were finally scattered.

A memorable few days it was too.

Tinged with sadness? Of course. However, three days of nostalgia went down very well with copious quantities of local ale and more wine than you can shake a stick at.

There has always been a smidgen of sibling rivalry betwixt the two of us, with Mick’s 5 year head start putting me at a disadvantage that my superior intellect and physique (delete as appropriate) has struggled to overcome. Suffice to say, I now feel my drinking abilities also inadequate.

Having cast mum onto the cold waters, we toured the local sites, hostelries etc until the weather forced us permanently inside.

In truth, a small amount of mum’s ashes were held back (what I lovingly refer to as ‘mum’s left foot’) so that it can be mixed with dad’s ashes back in France. It would be disrespectful to make jokes about where I should put mum’s left foot, suffice to say we will have a further ceremony when we can get all the kids together at the same time. Resting in peace isn’t what it used to be…

The scenery was beautiful, albeit dark and wet..

The hotel was stunning (good choice Mick)

and the boats, as Mick pointed out, were nearly as big as his…

Thus, with a mixture of sadness and satisfaction, we both headed back abroad our own seperate ways. He to Majorca, me to be interrogated in the airport as to the strange grey substance in a plastic bag that I carried with me.

'Bye Mum.

Phil

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

End of the summer, fine...

Well, gotta admit that the last couple of months have been pretty good weather-wise over here in the south of foriegnland.

As usual, we are more than happy to mouth off about it, whilst listening to your pious claims of “pooh, I really love the rain over here…”.

In keeping with normal behaviour, we may well omit to mention that the summer itself was nothing to write home about.

The resultant verdant lawns are difficult to hide.

Suffice to say, all that glorious ‘Indian summer’ is now at an end. The cold front has done its least worst, and the winter is coming.
None of this is news. We are told that the English talk incessantly about the weather. This may be true, but the French brag about it incessantly.

And so, did we make hay whilst the sun shineth? Well, not precisely, but we did make best use of it.
After our start up the mountain as per previous blog, we toured the Cominge a while, where Louis became a little aggressive.
Putting as much distance between us and Louis as possible, we passed by our favourite village, St Cirq Lapopie,
and onto Carcassone.
Before ending the month watching the sunrise chez nous,
Oh well, off to the Lake District now, to say goodbye to Mum. Scattering her ashes on lake Windermere will be strange, I’ve never done that to mum before, but catching up with my long lost brother may be ammunition for another blog…

Here’s all October’s pix for those who cannot sleep: