Thursday 30th April

I woke about eight thirty and left ant in bed, came down and did the usual then called ant down for his coffee. We watched the news for a bit the had baths and got dressed. We headed out to Hesdin, made a stop at the bank and then to Maggie before buying our euromillions ticket, 51 million this week, so fingers crossed! We had a bit of a mooch around the market whilst we were there then went to Point Vert, a garden centre, to have a look at stuff. I bought another sheet of weed suppressant to extend our veg patch and was toying with the idea of something tall in pots either side of the front door but ant cheaped me out so i flung my hands in the air and said forget it.
When we got home we had a bit of lunch then i set ant on the task of sorting out his strike pay while i started putting the leeks into the veg patch, they have been under plastic for a week or two. After i had put in about ten i went to see how ant was getting on, not too well, so i sorted it out for him and found the number he needed to phone, which he did. We spent an hour or so in the garden putting in leeks and extending the veg patch by turning over the weeds, unfortunately our fork broke, serves us right for buying cheap. We spent a pleasant hour or so in the hammocks until the sun went in then got the watering done before dinner.
I put together a veg curry with bits of veg that were on the turn then had another bath, i let the veg curry stew for a while, watched George and Mildred, then made a start on the dinner, three currys and some piri piri rice, one of the currys was sag aloo which i think looks awful but ant likes. We sat at the table and had dinner, chatted and stuff before finishing up and heading to the sofa for a night in front of the tv. There was very little on but we managed, one of my eyes started playing up, getting all watery and a little painful, i decided to go up to bed, ant came with, we had a cup of tea, my eye got a little worse so we went to sleep, hoping it would be better in the morning.

Wednesday 27th April

Up about eight thirty, came down for breakfast and watched the news, did some bits online, had a bath and got dressed ready to go and pick ant up. Ant phoned to say he was in the uk and everything was running to plan. I spent a little time online whilst waiting for the time to arrive, then headed out to pick him up. He arrived on time and we got home in good time so he was in bed by three. I headed down to Hesdin to do a shop, got veg and the like and bought a couple of very cheap free standing hammocks from Lidl then drove home. I put the shopping away then put the hammocks together and sat out in the sun for a while, called ant down and we sat together and had a beer.
I made steak and chips for dinner and we sat at the table and chatted on for a bit, had a little look at property in Adelaide, trying to keep the dream alive. After an evening of celebrating ants return home we got a little inebriated and fell out, we really should not drink so much on the day of his return. Ant went up to bed and i watched a bit of tv before following an hour later.

Tuesday 27th April

Woke at eight and came down for breakfast and watched the news. Got dressed and cleaned the kitchen, then decided to get all the housework done today so carried on through the house. I had finished all the cleaning by about two, did tons of washing and got most of it dried outside. In the afternoon i decided to sit out and read, i mowed the lawn first then settled down with For the Term of his Natural Life, it has been quite a tale so far and appears to be quite historically accurate.
I sat out till about six thirty enjoying the sun and the book, just a shale there was no one there to share it with. I made a chicken rissole for dinner, with a nice salad, and settled down in front of the tv. I watched Tristan and Isolde, the film, which was ok, if a bit shmulchy, then X Men the Last Stand, which i have seen several times but enjoyed none the less, i finished the evening with an episode of Shameless, poor Mikey.

Monday 26th April

I woke at seven and came down for breakfast, watched the news for a bit, then cleaned up the kitchen, did online stuff and watched a bit of tv. In deciding what to do with myself i phoned Tony to see if he fancied a day out, which he did. I gave David a phone to see if he wanted to go with us but he said he was too busy and needed a couple of days notice, lucky him. Tony arrived just after eleven and we headed up north towards Belgium, we took in a couple of interesting cemeteries on the way up, including one for Indian forces with an Indian theme.
We got to Ypres at about half one, it is a very attractive city that was completely ruined during WW1 and rebuilt in the same architectural style as it had been, the result is a town centre you would never know had not been there for the last two hundred years. We had something to eat in a frite shop on the main square, had a mooch around the tourist info office in the glorious cloth hall, which as you can see from the pictures, was completely decimated and took over ten years to rebuild after the war.
We walked from the main square to the Menin gate, Yres is a walled city and this was originally one of the gates in to the city. It is now a huge monument to the service men who died in the battles for Ypres but have no identified grave, the walls of the interior are completely covered by the names of the dead, every evening at eight the last post is sounded here but we did not stay late enough to see it.
We headed out of Ypres and up towards Passiondale, a small village that was completely leveled by the fighting in the area, we visited the Tyne Cot cemetery, the largest cemetery for soldiers of WW1 in the world, including over 700 diggers. We seemed to have hit the place on school trip day as the place was teeming with teenagers, but it was a huge complex and they were not too annoying. We spent a fair time at Tyne Cot and then headed back home, getting a little lost on the way.
We got back by six thirty, Tony headed home and i released the hounds, made some dinner, healthy living Chinese style chicken curry with a salad, not too bad. I had an evening in front of the tv, enjoyed Glee again but i get the suspicion i am going to go off it soon, it is starting to get a little grating. Went to sleep with the dogs on the bed, i am feeling a little guilty about not spending a lot of time with them, but they seemed happy enough.

Sunday 25th April

I got up at seven, came down and had coffee then set a big pan of water to boil and cooked up a large pan of rice, mixed together tuna and onion, sweetcorn and tomato with a little vinaigrette and then let it all sit. I got the dogs sorted and headed out to meet the others by the church, i had decided to do the long walk, last years parcour du couer only had one walk, this year there is a choice. When i got to the church Monique was there with her two dogs and a bunch of the village kids, we were later joined by Gerard mr la mayor and his dogs, and two other men. We set off, down the back routes to Humieres, then we were joined by two women i did know with thier dogs, eight dogs all together, the girls had a great time. The walk took two and a half hours and i really felt it by the time i got back, over ten kms.
I put the dogs in the house and then put my salad together then went round to the mayors house, within half an hour the rest of the village arrived and we set to enjoying ourselves, Janine was there, which was good as i knew she wanted to make it back in time. We had a bbq and salads and a fair bit of booze, a strange woman, who was well pickled, came and sat next to me and i couldnt shake her off for the rest of the afternoon, much to Janines amuzement and later annoyance. I got gently merry as the day went on and had a good time, by six it was all over and i came home, chatted to ant for a bit on the phone and headed upstairs to watch more American Dad and sober up.

Saturday 24th April

I woke early, went down and had breakfast went online and chatted to mum for a while then decided to head out to the Australian monument at Villiers Brettoneux for anzac weekend. I drove down to Amiens then across to Villiers Brettoneux and found my way to the monument, a huge site, very impressive, all set ready for the dawn service with a lot of people around. I had a good look around and then headed back to the town, had a wander about there, quite a lot of aussie themed things going on, including a footie match, which i didnt hang about for.
I headed over to another town with a nice church, had a sandwich on the square infront of it, the weather was great.
I headed back up north, got home, made some dinner and watched a bit of tv before heading up to bed and watching American Dad for a bit. Went to sleep about twelvish.

Friday 23rd April

We were up before eight, had breakfast and watched the news, no changes to ants rosta so we had baths and he got ready for the off. We drove up to Lille, very little traffic on the road, i dropped him off and headed home then got stuck in a huge traffic jam due to a crash, it took me an extra hour to get back. I had a bit of lunch when i got home, spent some time online then went round to see Marthe, she was not able to go for a walk so we sat on her step in the sun and chatted with a coffee.
I returned to the house and got my book, For the Term of His Natural Life, kindly brought back from Aus for me by ant, headed out in to the garden and read for a couple of hours. I had a healthy living dinner, sweet chilli chicken, with a nice salad and watched a bit of tv. Spent a bit more time online dreaming of my lottery win house, spotted the ideal one in unley, all glass and landscaping, for just two and a half million dollars, cheep! I headed up to bed with my book and read for an hour, something i have not done for a while as ant was at home and he always talks to me when i am trying to read. There is quite a big empty space in the house again now ant is back at work, no one here to chivy me along and get on with it.

Thursday 22 April

Got up and had breakfast, watched the news then did some online bits. We got out in to the garden, finished off the wall, it looks a whole lot better now. Mowed the lawns then ant started weeding, which we have plenty of. I made some lunch then went in to Hesdin to get a couple of bits and pieces. I spent some time on the computer in the afternoon whilst ant pottered about in the garden, Marthe arrived to ask about Janine, we will go for a walk tomorrow.
We had a gentle evening, watched the final episode of roots then the film Ned Kelly, which i felt was a bit of a fairy tale retelling. Then off to sleep, ant is off to work tomorrow, though not too early.

Wednesday 21st April

We woke a little later today, about nine, came down and had breakfast whilst watching the news, looks as though ant will be able to fly on Friday, so things should get back to normal, we hope. We gently got up, had baths and got dressed nicely then set off towards Hesdin. We stopped in for a coffee at David's and chatted to them for about an hour then carried on to Hesdin. We nipped in to La Bonbonier to buy a little bag of chocolates and then called in on Maggie for a quick chat and catch up. We headed out of Hesdin on the picturesque route to Montreuil, along the valley floor, then headed towards Berck. When we got to Berck we were going to have frites on the front but it was a little chilly and windy so we decided to eat in a bistro.
We had the exact same thing, Moule Marinere followed by Steak Frites, i had Pain Perdu for desert while ant had a Creme Caramel. After lunch we found our way to the hospital, a very imposing turn of the century building right on the front, we found the room Janine was in and went in. Janine was a little surprised we had found the place, the room was lovely, a single room looking straight on to the beach with a big balcony, almost like a fancy hotel, and with the sun out the view was lovely. We proffered the choccy's to Janine then sat and chatted for the best part of two hours before heading back inland. We took the direct route home, stopped in at Mr Bricolage to buy another tub of crepi, unfortunately one of the tubs i had got the other day turned out to be a noticeably different colour so we will have to go over the bits we did with that, no point doing the job shabbily.
When we got home we relaxed for a little while then i put together some meatballs and used up the gravy from the stew the other day, served it with peas and mashed potato, not too pleasant but it went down ok. We watched a bit of tv then decamped upstairs and watched Julie and Julia on dvd, which was ok. Then to sleep, to dream of lottery wins

Tuesday 21st April

We got up at eight thirty, came down for breakfast, watched the news, still a cloud of ash. the morning was a bit cloudy so we did independent bits until lunch time when the sun came shining through. Ant made some nice french toast for lunch, one of my old faves, so we enjoyed that. After lunch i dug out the crepi and made a start recrepiing the wall, it looked so much better from the start. Naturally the crepi we had didn't go far enough so i nipped down to Mr Bricolage to buy some more.
I finished the main body of the wall, ant following on doing the cutting in, i took our neighbor down to Le Parc to pick up his car then heade down to Hesdin to buy another tub of crepi. I finished up and sat out in the garden with a beer and a book for a bit, the weather was very good. Ant finished up and then we went in and i sorted out a nice Italian style beef stew to go with pasta for dinner. we watched a bit of tv then ant went up to bed for a nap.
I followed ant up about an hour later and watched the tv in bed, i watched Heston Blumenfeld but found his cooking a bit rediculous. We also watched a doc about the dancing boys of Afghanistan, which was quite an eye opener since pederasts are very rare these days and certainly not eager to talk about it. After this we went to sleep.

Mon 20th April

Up at eight, had coffee and watched the news, still no movement in the air here, we are hoping ant will be able to get back to work on friday but who knows. The morning was a bit cloudy so we had a morning in the house. One of the neighbors called, his car had broken down and wondered if i would drive him to Hesdin to buy some tobacco, which i did.
After lunch the weather was a little better so ant started on the second wall, i weed and feeded the lawn then joined at at the wall, we chipped a fair amount of the old crepi off, finishing at about five. Ant made a nice curry for dinner and we settled down to an evening in front of the tv, Glee is back on so that was good but i found it a little less interesting this time.

Sunday 18th April

We woke about eight, came down and had breakfast whilst watching the news, the volcanic ash is still grounding flights so ant is going nowhere. Phoned mum on skype, had a bath, clean the car and washed it then we headed up to Tony and Jackie's to pick them up. We went to the brocant at Monteuil Sur Mer, didn't buy anything. We had a frite van lunch, which was very good, the journeyed on to Le Touquet, there was supposed to be a vintage car thing on but we missed it. We had a walk allong the prom and a mooch around the shops. The sun was really nice and walm, making it seem like summer for the first time. Ant bought me a little selection of fancy chocolates, then we headed back to T and 's, we had a quick beer at thiers then headed home.
We settled down for a relax, watched tv, had something to eat, spoke to gran and then ant spoke to his mum, i went upstairs and watched tv in bed for a while then we went to sleep.

Sat 18th April

We woke about eight and came down for breakfast, due to volcanic ash ant is at home, probably for the whole week. ants laptop was still not working so i got on to Toshiba and someone is coming to pick it up on Monday. We went in to Hesdin and bought some smokes, saw Maggie and Marion then called in on David and Mark on the way home.
We had lunch sitting in the garden, a lovely sunny afternoon, then ant started doing a bit of weeding, i started on the stripping of the garden wall, the old crepy is in a terrible state, it came off quite easily on the whole though was a bit tricky in places, ant came and helped and we got one wall uncovered, we will do the other on Sunday.
After our afternoon of work we sat in the garden with a glass or two of rosé and listened to the radio until about six thirty, the we watched tv, had a beef stew for dinner. We watched Briton's Got Talent, which was a bit of an oxymoron, hopefully i won't have to watch it next weekend, then i watched the new version of The Prisoner, not as good as the origional.

Friday 16th April

We woke at about eight and came down to a slightly colder and overcast day, we had breakfast and watched the news, still no flights out of Heathrow. After our walk with the girls ant started in the garden and i drove down to Hesdin to buy herbs for our new herb patch, i bought sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme. When i got back i unloaded the car and then set too putting them in place, they look quite good, ant had made a good stab at the weeds and then got the lawnmower out, the garden really looked half decent after we had finished.
We spent a bit of time relaxing before Tony and Jackie arrived, we finished off the cake from the day before and sat chatting for a couple of hours. We had some dinner and watched Avatar, it was quite good but i think it would have been better on the big screen. Ant went online to find he was not to report to work on Saturday, then his laptop died so i had to dig out the warranty, which i will have to sort out tomorrow. We went up and watched Muriel's Wedding in bed before going to sleep.

Thursday 14th April

Up at eight, coffee and porridge, watched the news, a bit surprised by the airspace being closed due to a cloud of volcanic ash covering the uk, then we went for a walk with the dogs. I invited Janine over for tea so set to making a cake whilst ant worked in the garden. The cake done i went out and worked in the garden too, sprayed thez rough back lawn with weed and feed. We had a bit of lunch and then started again, i headed down to pointvert and bought some cabbage and cauliflower plants, some leeks and some anti weed sheeting. Janine arrived soon after i got back and we sat and chatted over tea and cake for about an hour. Ant and i got back into the garden put the sheeting down and then planted the brassiccas, then covered the whole area with soil, hopefully it will remove the need for weeding.
We finished in the garden at about seven, a bit tired and achy, we opened a bottle of rosé which seemed to evaporate in a matter of minutes, so had to open another. Very nice peice of smoked salmon with salad for dinner, had a chat with gran and then settled in front of the tv until we headed up to bed.

Wednesday 14th April

We came down about eight thirty had coffee and watched the news, walked the dogs and then went did some stuff online until lunch. After lunch we headed up to Jackie and Tony's who took us up to Calais, we had a look around the Tesco wine shop, bought a couple of boxes of cheap wine, had a look around another couple of shops then went to Leroy Merlin where i bought a box of solar lights for the garden. We got home by seven thirty, had a pizza for dinner and then watched Australia, the Baz Lehrman film, which was good. Ant had a call from his mum so chatted to her for a good while. We headed up to bed, watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy then went to sleep.

Mon and Tues 14th April

After nearly a fortnight without internet access the orange engineer arrived and fixed the problem, thank goodness. I went online and trawled through the hundreds of spam emails, i had not missed anything important. I phoned mum and we had a good chat then got back on with the housework, ant returns today after a nine day trip, so i have missed him a lot. I drove up to pick him up at Calais and we chatted all the way home, got him settled in, he gave me three dvds and a book, very nice. Jackie phoned and informed ant about travel concessions on Eurostar so i phoned them and sorted out all his commuting for the next six weeks, much better rates than we have been paying. after we had bathed and had something to eat we settled down to a Kath and Kim evening with a glass of wine or two, which we both enjoyed, before heading off to bed.
Tuesday we woke before eight, got up, had coffee and got ready to head off for the day. I had booked a cheap Eurotunnel ticket, so we headed back up to Calais and crossed under the channel. We drove up to Ashford and went to Asda, did a mega shop, some very good deals, then headed to Tescos to get some other bits a pieces, and a microwave. We were back at the Eurotunnel by ten to one and got back to France half an hour before i had planned. We stopped in on Jackie and Tony and dropped off the bits we had picked up for them, had a cup of tea then headed home. We unpacked enough food to feed an army and put it all away, should not need to buy any meat for a month. Then we gave the micro a test run on the curry in a bag we had got for dinner, it was quite nice and a lot easier and felt almost futuristic. I have not had a microwave for at least three years. We had another evening in front of the tv before heading to bed.

Mon Tue and Wed 31st March

We did very little on monday, on tuesday ant went to picket and i stayed home, he didnt get home until 11 in the evening, i was not amused, however Maggie phoned to say we had a viewing on thursday. Wednesday we spent all day cleaning the house, everything was taken out and given a good clean, we finished about six thirty in the evening then had pizza from a van and spent the evening watching tv in bed