Sunday 20th July
Sometimes the journey from our house to London City Airport seems like a breeze while at other times it’s more like a slog. Today, you guessed, it appeared to take an unnecessary long time. Getting out at Canning town we completely messed up. We ascended to the DLR platform and hung around. Eventually a nice woman member of staff approached and asked our destination.
You’re on the wrong platform, go down and then go up. DLR certainly make it difficult for you.
London City Airport
Every British Airways flight seems to leave late. Today was no exception. We hung around the terminal, which has no BA lounge, although loads of BA flights leave from City. The initial flight had a one hour delay. We then had the call to go to the gate. At the gate we watched our plane arrive and the passengers disembark. From that you know you’re in for a delay, unfortunately the gate didn’t have sufficient space for everyone to sit down, and Maggi and I stood around.
Eventually we boarded, but for some reason after we arrived with the first batch of passengers and had taken our seats nobody else left the terminal for the short walk across the tarmac. The rest of the customers did arrive but then wee had to wait because we had lost our slot in the schedule. All in all the delay lasted 3 hours.
Late Night Arrival in Nice
We picked up a car relatively easily without having to queue at the desk. We had been allocated a Citroen EC2 not the best electric car I’ve ever driven. By the time we left the airport any hope of buying some provisions was out of the window and not much hope of finding a restaurant open either.
We put our vegan inclinations to one side and stopped at the all night MacDonalds on the route to La Colle. Apart from taking ages working out the ordering process on the terminal we ate an expectedly awful meal.
Monday and Tuesday July 21st & 22nd
Two days of shopping at both Lecrerc and Grand Frais. Plus a shopping trip up to Vence where we bought €220 worth of alcohol at ‘Le Gout du Vin’.
We have visited this store before and the guy who I guess is the proprietor helps show us some good value wines. This time he recommended a red, a white and a rose all at €10 each bottle. In addition I bought a bottle of whiskey and we need a present for Fanny for her help in unravelling the mystery of the insurance agency.
Naturally we also popped into see Fanny on the Monday afternoon with the present we had bought. She explained all the ins and outs of the insurance and disappointingly said selling houses is particularly difficult at the moment with very few potential customers.
Wednesday Lunch
We invited Clare and Martin, Madeleine and Tom and Jilly and David over for lunch because we owed all of them meals. Maggi had planned and revised plans for several weeks in advance. A few days before the date David wrote to me to say Jilly had not left her mother’s bedside for a couple of weeks as she approached death and that they wouldn’t come.
All Wednesday morning we prepared for the arrival of our four guests both in terms of the food, laying the table and preparing the summer kitchen, which hadn’t seen the light of day since easter.
Everyone arrived 30 minutes late because of traffic problems.Maggi had prepared a ham and peach salad with a very interesting dressing as a starter. For the main course we served a steak salad with potatoes. Because of the late arrivals of our guests the spuds had seen better days with the accompanying onions and garlic a little bit too black. Nonetheless everything tasted great.
They had arrived at 1:30 and didn’t leave until 5 o’clock. which says something about our hospitality. After they left I took my first dip in the pool on this trip.
Thursday – Helen Arrives
A bit more shopping to prepare for the weekend as Alex and family arrive as well as Helen Lewis. We’ll all stay in the house even though it will be crowded for everyone except Helen, who will have the flat on her own.
Helen’s flight arrives late and we don’t pick her up from the airport until 7:55 pm. By the time we arrive back and sit down for a bite to eat the time has ticked by until 8:30. Fortunately Maggi has prepared well with a Salad Nicoise sitting in the fridge.
We eat well and have a few drinks and turn in for the night.