Yet more days in paradise. . .

Thursday, 28th July
Just a standard day today - got up and made breakfast for our guests - the Chiangs who hale from Malaysia, on the coast near Brunei.  We had been wondering where they came from because they speak such very good English, but still with an accent which shows they were not of UK origin. They've been in England for 10 years, hence the good English.  Didn't ask why they came over - silly of me.  It will be a mixture of relief and sadness when they go, their two boys (Ethan 6, Joshua 5) are very sweet, but incredibly tiring because they are so full of energy! Children are so full of enquiry, why this? why that? it is a reminder of how staid you can get as you get older, and sad because you can lose that enjoyment and 'sensa wonda'. We sit down with a huge sigh when they go off for the day and we can collapse.

Unfortunately this was a working day for me, so from 8.30 a.m. until 6.30 p.m. I was at the computer writing an exciting course on anti-money laundering regulations!  We did dive out at lunch time to the beach at St Aubin to see if we could buy some fish off the fishermen for a pie for dinner, but it was deserted. Igor hasn't been fishing for a couple of weeks because the motor on his boat died, but it looks like he's got a couple of brand spanking new outboards fitted now - I think that was his boat on the keyside anyway.  Now how did they manage to afford that I wonder - they were complaining about how very, very expensive it would be to replace the. I suppose they've got HP terms or something like that, because without the engines not only does he not earn any money, but also his mother, Beatrice, who works on the stall selling his catch for him. Jordan's stall was deserted too, so no luck there. In fact, it looked as though nothing had changed at all from the day before. Perhaps they're all off on holiday.

So we went to the next village, Quiberville, where there are more stalls, but they were all deserted too.  Of course, it was lunchtime, and here in rural France EVERYTHING stops for lunch!

So we eventually had to succumb to the supermarket which is a shame when there are so many local fishermen to support.

Back to the 'office' for the rest of the afternoon until we could have an apero out in the garden. Somehow we didn't then feel like getting on with the gardening, it being 7 p.m. and all, so we decided to leave the fish pie until tomorrow, and just have prawns dunked in garlic mayonnais for dinner. Now why can't I lose weight when we're over here?

Guests return, we have to watch Torchwood with the sound really low, then off to bed ready for another day in paradise tomorrow.