Spring has finally arrived; sadly, it didn’t start till the day before Alex, Graham, Izzy and Martin went home! But we didn’t let the rain and the cold spoil their holiday; we had various trips to restaurants, to a medieval crafts exhibition in Nogaro, went walking with the Nogaro club, when Izzy amazed everyone by doing the 12km without a murmur of complaint, and had a day in the mountains. Graham and I had a photography afternoon, buzzing about in the Renault (which Martin has christened Betty) and ending up looking round the Roman chapel belonging to a neighbour. Every time we talk to M Rouma about the bishop’s sarcophagus outside the chapel, his story about the assassination of the bishop changes; this time, the then lord of Nogaro was notorious for raping and murdering young girls who took his fancy, the bishop heard of this and remonstrated with him, so the lord had him done away with that very weekend! M Rouma invited us to see the bell tower; you climb up steps only held together by the strength of the woodworm that riddle them; the bell isn’t original, but is still “old enough”, M Rouma’s estimate of its age. The man obviously doesn’t normally have anyone to talk to, so when it started to rain while we were examining every plant in the garden at the end of a 2 hour tour, Graham cleverly made the excuse that his camera mustn’t get wet, so we could get away.

The day in the Pyrenees was great, with beautiful weather and a trip in a cable car, though sadly, as the season was almost over, the sledging area was closed. Graham risked exposure in every sense of the word in order to take pictures of a fast running stream – mad!

One of the highlights for Izzy was finding Hugo’s latest offering; she excitedly described it to Alex in graphic detail; “The bit that kept it alive was squirted out all over the floor Mummy!” A mouse? A bird? No – a rabbit!!

Work continued on the roof, we’re just waiting for the woodwork for the balcony now; and Nick managed to do a bit of work in the bike shed.

The house feels really empty now that they’ve all gone home, but we’ve plenty to keep us occupied between cleaning up and tackling the garden now that the rain’s stopped, and of course, DIY for the lads and teaching for me.