NIC WILLIAMS
NIC WILLIAMS
2011
7 weeks in and I’ve already failed to blog weekly. Probably a good thing really since week 7 wasn’t that exciting.
I did manage to sneak a trip in to the gadget show in Birmingham on the professionals day, the day open to people buying and selling stuff as part of their business. I would have thought my gadget consumption would qualify as professional though, the budget certainly does. Thanks to Mad Scientist David I hitched a lift. I was good and only bought a single gadget, a head torch for camping that will light up a tent from 200m.
Other than that I spent the week getting my mum’s house ready to go on the market. That entailed some cleaning, a good deal of lawn mowing and some painting, the surround for the front door looks very presentable now so let’s hope it makes the right first impression. We’ve turned down the first offer already, lets see something more sensible.
I had my first round of golf in almost a year. I think I should play less frequently as I managed to shoot a very respectable 86, my lowest score in years. Colin and Gwyn made good golfing buddies. It was Gwyn’s first round ever, he put Col to shame!
Since then we’ve taken Vern on his first proper holiday and we’re still on it. We drove down to the Dordogne to visit and stay with my Dad for a couple of days in their lovely cottage. It was a cracking couple of days that was probably summed up quite well with our arrival. After 12 hours on the road we arrived at midnight and managed to stay up with Dad and Chris until 3:30am demolishing wine. The perfect arrival.
We’re now at Lacanau, a beach town 40 miles west of Bordeaux and an old haunt of mine from my days spent at the University of Bordeaux at ENSERB. Today I went for my first surf and what were pretty punishing conditions, probably a little too big to be honest so I’m strangely praying for the waves to drop a bit, something very unfamiliar.
We’re staying on a campsite called Les Grands Pins, it’s fab. There are two pools, a bar, a supermarket, jacuzzi, gym, tennis court... the list goes on. You can either camp or hire a cabin, some of which look very upmarket. I’d recommend this place to anyone. Of course we’re here in Vern and it’s fab. We’re in California corner, well that’s what we’re renaming it. There are loads of VW California’s here so Vern feels right at home with his friends from Italy, Germany and the UK. I can’t say I’ve seen any with a French plate.
Helena seems to be loving her Kindle, she’s never off it!
Enough of this. Needless to say we’re having a fab time. Tomorrow will either be cycling in the forest, lounging by the pool, surfing the Atlantic waves or geocaching. More than likely it will be all of those.
I hear it’s warmer back home. It’s just lovely here as well.
Week 7 and Part of 8 - France here we come
24/04/2011
Great golf, the gadget show and now camping in France in Vern. We’re having a great time.