A few days with AAAA

Yes, we've had a week away from La Tranche, first of all calling on Anil, Anita & Arun in the Dordogne and spending a couple of days with them.

They are currently living in a spacious mobile home (complete with running water, toilet and electricity from solar panels - oh what it is to be good at these things!!) whilst the plans for the house are nearly ready to send off for approval. We were impressed by the number of visitors they had, and their progress in French. Hopefully they're going to come up and see us again during October half term.

We arrived on Anita's birthday and there were a couple of phone-calls from home. We love the outdoor table which they found dumped a few miles away (good old EDF). Anil & his mate Jonathan who was visiting this summer rolled it so far and towed it the rest - it sounded like a tricky journey! Perhaps you were wondering who the extra A in the title is: meet Astier, a beautiful labrador pup. There are also two kittens but they are more elusive.

Arun is growing fast and loving his new school and rugby every Saturday - he was grateful for Tine to help him with his Spanish homework though. Each night we sat outside in front of a wonderful fire watching the dusk fall and listening to the owls going about their business. Who said the countryside was quiet?!