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Published: August 18th 2006
Le Maison Rose
Parry Mansions and our home for the next 3 weeks !!!I thought that having given up work on 21st July I would have no more early mornings so it was with some shock that I received the information from Matt's parents that the wake up call to head for France would be at 4.30am! .......a time I was sure only happened once a day.
Having arrived at the house some 12 hours after the wake up call we were greeted by a lovely blue sky, this was not to continue the following day was fairly grey and wet but good weather has prevailed since then (but for a few chillier days).
The main trauma in France was the lack of web, Winn and Maurice's internet was being upgraded and we had to wait for their pal and personal IT Manager to arrive and fix it. I guess this is a good thing really as I need to wean myself off reading other people's blogs really before I head off to places with no roads, let alone PC's (what am I letting myself in for!!)
So highlights so far...aside from the joyous moment that I found a Cyber Centre Municipal (aka 1 euro for 1 hour on the web)...
Shucks !!! these things stink!!!
Carla learns the art of preparing Oysters have been going to the Isle De Re - a beautiful harbour with lovely beaches and great restaurants, learning to shuck oysters and make soup (anyone that knows us well knows that the division of labour in the Parry & L-D household is that Matt cooks and I wash up so this is no mean feat!), not worrying about getting a tan because i have all year to do that! actually being good at a sport, technically it's boule so whether I can call it a sport is under debate but I actually rocked! probably because I have so much wine and cheese in my body that I am actually turning French, and finally today's visit to the Indian Forest.
The Indian Forest is kind of like the new thing they have built at Willen except about a million times better. It's basically an assault course in the air (from tree to tree), you need harnessing in and there are various levels of difficulty depending on age and height. I am so glad I opted to do the green course and not the red one as previously planned because it was hard. The weather today was the worst it's
Boule !!!!
Carla gets set to beat the locals at their own game been since we arrived wet and windy, great for assault courses! After the first stage where you had to cross a rope ladder about 20 metres in the air I was ready to admit defeat and blow the whilstle to be brought down, however as I hugged the tree for dear life I decided to bravely soldier on, it then got good as we got to head down three 50 metre zip wires (this is pretty impressive for me to do, as a child at the local park with Kelly and Sarah I coudn't jump off a 2 metre high slide!). Very close to the end I had a problem when we got to the bit where you had to walk on a wire with your hands holding a wire either side of your head. Fortunately for me a small boy thought he had twisted his ankle causing a guy that worked there to come to his rescue, after rescuing the kid, I asked to be rescued too! He said he would help me across, I thought we would just head over together but he actually lifted me up so that I clipped onto the safety wire with my zip
Winn & Moz at the Isle De Re
....Make sure you get the Merry Fisher 695 in the background !!!!! clamp and proceeded to give me a piggy back across the wire. I came off vowing never to do it again!! Matt, Maurice, and (to my shame) their friends Andy and Kim's 12 year old daughter continued onto the next level.
So as we write we are on our final day en Francais, last night another Bon Voyage party took place with all the locals including Jean-Paul, Jean-Claude, Zo and Josette (we love how french the locals names are round here) and today we plan to mess about on the river and have a final few drinks down at J-Ps tonight before back to blighty first thing tommorow
As always Winn & Moz have been as generous and welcoming as ever and it's a good job they are back to see us off in a couple of weeks as its delays that awful tearful goodbye for a while at least!!
Au Revoir M&C
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winn et moz
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Happiness
Just read the blog and cried!!! having Matt and Carla was sheer happiness for us both, apart from all the great food Matt cooked and Carla wowing the French at boule (great girl power) not to mention the heptathlon Carla is preparing for next year!!!! see you soon