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.