This weekend was planned to be relaxing. Although we’ve both brought laptops, with work things to do, the plan was to spend the weekend visiting Leon & Alice at their French house in Le Beausset, and leave catching up on work until we’re in Paris during the week for the conference. The weekend is a Full Blown Mini-Break Holiday Weekend. It’s been nearly a decade since we’ve been here; Leon has since built two sheds and the kitchen tiles are a different colour. It’s 30ºC outside but an occasional cool breeze makes sitting in the shade, under an umbrella, quite pleasant.
Sunshine!
Dan & Leon catch up.
An hour in traffic around the harbour in Marseilles.
We all slept in. We shared breakfast at the large round stone table in front of the house. The table is a huge round stone mass, with inlaid stone designs of flowers and elephants. It has its own story; months held up in French customs (strikes) and then stones popping out of place (despite a guarantee of glued positions), requiring replacements and the addition of a glass top. I had both a cup of tea and a cup of coffee with my cereal and French bread (buttered and then spread with Alice’s homemade marmalade).
After breakfast I had a nap. Dan braved the cool (24ºC) pool. I lay on a deckchair, closed my eyes and fell asleep. I woke to the sounds of laughter and conversation from the small kitchen behind me, through the small window. It was almost time for lunch.
We ate lunch (salad, bread and cheese) and I made a pot of tea. Afterwards Alice, Dan & I went for a swim. It was cold at first but quickly a perfect temperature. Alice & Dan got out so I attempted to exercise and swim laps, breast stroke, but I am not a swimmer and was immediately bored with longitudinal back-and-forth (you have to slow down and change to a completely opposite direction). I tried diagonal laps (to get more distance per length) then a figure-of-eight (the gentle curve allowing a constant speed) but this exhausted me after two cycles.
Time for a second nap.
Glen's Travel Blog 