What a lovely day - I decided today I could easily live here - the pace of life out in the country is so relaxed. Traffic is non-existent. It is idyllic. So we decided to head off late morning to Homps (pronounced "Omps"), in time to have a nice lunch before our cruise on the Canal du Midi. First we went to the cruise office and booked and paid for our tickets, just in case it was busy. The man there commented on the length of winter this year. We then returne...

Woke up late this morning - only to find I've got a touch of what Tom has had, so he put his foot down and said we'll stay put for today, even for lunch, because today is Fete des Meres in France - Mothers Day, and the restaurants are bound to be booked out. So I got out my trusty Word Lens app and came to grips with the French washing machine! Made it so much easier to use! We had chicken enchiladas for lunch and just took it easy all day. But we have made g...

Woke up to the same weather that we've been having all week: showers followed by breezes followed by sunshine followed by showers .... And so it continues. The local people are quite puzzled by their weather. After brekky we had a Skype session with Jess and Pete, followed by a Skype session with Chari. All is well everywhere, but it was nice to see people. Sophie and Joe were out partying. By the time we finished chatting to Chari it was time to head out for...

Tom's still feeling poorly today so we had a quiet, easy morning. We rested, read, and skyped Shannon. Eliza wanted to see "danmar" and Oliver has been missing grandad and grandma. Shannon and Jess say our holiday is too long and Char is threatening to lock us in our house so we can't escape again! I think Soph's okay with it but missing us. She understands - she left us all for 6 months last year to study in Ireland! Im not keen for Tom to drive unless he's fee...

The head cold that Tom has been fighting for the past few days blossomed in the last 18 hours, so he's rugged up and staying in bed in our heated cottage. We shall have soup, cheese and bread for lunch and tacos for dinner (I know, sticking with the Mexican theme - might help clear his head). In the meantime there are books (Alice Sebold, Donna Leon,Terry Pratchett, Kathy Reichs, Lonely Planet travel and heaps more - they're all over the house: in the toilets, ...