Home and Reunited

We arrived home from France on Sunday evening, sadly without our luggage which was causing me some concern as my knitting was in there. A pair of socks I completed during the holiday plus one half of another pair still on the needles and most importantly this sock wool I found in Lidl in Sarlat, a nice mix of wool and cotton with 15% polyamide. A pack of 4 x 50 g balls cost me 5 euro, I bought 3 packs which means I should be able to knit lots of chaussettes at around £2 a pair, tres bon.

Our return to Scotland without suitcases came about because we had selected a return route from Bordeaux to Orly then from Charles de Gaule to Edinburgh. We were told by Air France that our luggage would be transferred, this was not the case and we found ourselves having to wait for the cases, find the shuttle bus to take us to the other side of Paris and check in again at CdG, all within the space of two hours. When we arrived in Bordeux airport and were told we couldn't check our luggage through or indeed check onto the second flight we asked if we could be transferred to a direct flight to CdG, especially since customer services agreed that our travel arrangement was 'a bad thing'. All the flights were full and of course when we did get on the shuttle bus in Paris the traffic was a nightmare. I couldn't bear to look at my watch throughout the stop go journey and we were dropped off at the airport with about 5 minutes to check in. We pushed our way to the front of the queue and they opened a desk especially for us, we pushed to the front of the security check apologising as we went and then sprinted through departures as our names echoed round the building with an announcement that we were the last remaining passengers. We did get the flight but our cases didn't. Yesterday when we phoned to ask if they were on their way they seemed to be missing but eventually arrived around 8.30 last night, extremely dirty and somewhat battered but home. Phew, I am 60 now I really don't need this stress.

Being 60 in the Dordogne was good, we celebrated the day before by going out for a delicious meal, nothing would drag me away from Strictly on Saturday night and how delighted was I to find that we could receive UK tv in our house. 01 November was quite a chilly day that started with a nice array of goodies from the patisserie. In the afternoon Mr FF insisted on opening up the heated pool and we had a swim, I did suggest it might not be appropriate for a lady of my advanced years but the woodburning stove was ticking away in the lounge for our return to the cosy house. Yesterday it was lovely to come home to cards and parcels that are still arriving today and of course the much longed for bus pass was there too, a wonderful extended Scottish/French birthday.

I have lots to tell you about France, the beautiful house we stayed in and the places we went but today I'm enjoying being in my own home, checking round the autumn garden, unpacking my case and having my knitting beside me.