Christmas has been - and New Year come to mention it...

Well, here we are…. Happy New Year dears!  2017 has arrived!  Hopefully it will be kinder to the entertainment industry than 2016 was.  We have felt very European over the last two or three weeks, travelling around whilst Quaintrelle remained on her Port de Plaisance mooring for the festive period – better late than never I suppose…feeling European, as we may not be allowed to in a couple of years…….. 

So, what have we been up to?  I can barely remember (partial blame goes to age, the rest to booze) but in the run up to Christmas we continued our familiarisation with Auxerre and getting to know the neighbours while Mike continued to work away on his various reports. 

I knew it would happen, but we found our way back to the cake shop, where Mike suggested I try the 'Lime tit" !!!  I did and it was pear with salted caramel in the middle - mmmmmm-hmmmmmm!

Our last three packets of bacon imported from the UK needed some nice white baps to go with it.  Lovingly made by ME!

On reaching Auxerre we had enquired where we could get coal for our Hobbit stove as unlike the marinas and chandlerys in the UK, in France the ports don’t sell it.  Neither does anyone else really….. We did find some online in a Bricomarche (the equivalent to B&Q), but at 25Euros a bag, it was a tad expensive.  We could also order an amount to be delivered, but there was a minimum amount and I’d no idea where we could store a ton of coal on a narrowboat…..  Wood was the way forward, and this is what all the locals use, with many having their own area of small forest to farm.  Again, ordering for delivery was not going to work as there was a minimum order of 5 steres, which is 5 x 1m cubed of logs, which would have lasted us a couple of years never mind the storage problem.  We only wanted 1 stere but couldn’t find someone to deliver.  Capitain Mike at the port offered to put out some feelers but wasn’t confident of success and has gas central heating so didn’t really know where to start.  I meanwhile began scavenging around the boatyard coming back with half a tree that had been pulled out of the water some time ago and some chunks that must have fallen off someone else’s supply onboard.  I sawed them up and stuck them in the oven to dry off (six month’s seasoning done in a couple of hours in the Heritage’s warming oven!!!) and headed to the office to see if we had any post.  On being asked if we were managing to keep warm, I said I hoped it was okay to scavenge around the yard for wood and whether it was pity or the thought of me bringing down the port with my tramp-like sawing of driftwood, half an hour later the mechanic for the port arrived with a mate and spoke slowly enough in French for me to understand.  His mate would bring us a stere of wood the following day for 35 euros – woohooo!!!

The next day our neighbours Chris and Liz had hired a car and invited us to join them on a visit to nearby Saint Bris, a small village with several wine domains, which was having its Christmas Fete, which meant lots of wine tasting and food and other stalls.  We had a fantastic day, first of all driving to Champs sur Yonne for a quick look round the market where we bought some local honey and then onto Saint Bris.

 

Cute streets in Champs sur Yonne

View from the town entrance of Saint Bris

Proper wine caves

Let the tasting commence - Mike with Chris and Liz

Winter sunset on the way home

Where the wood had arrived!!! Yippeeeeee!

On Wednesday 21^st, we closed up Quaintrelle and took the train to Paris for a couple of nights before heading to Fife to spend Christmas with my mum.

Parisien Pudding

And a fantastic visit to the Louvre

The thing Mike hates about me most, in fact the ONLY thing he hates about me (cos I'm practically perfect in every way..) is my need to comply with rules.  For the Louvre tour, when the lady tells me to put my sticker on my chest and have my ticket ready, I put my sticker on my chest and have my ticket ready.  20 minutes before the tour starts......

She's 'armless really.  (Sorry, had to be done).

My Christmas present from Mike.  Oh, no, wait, this is the French Crown Jewels.

No caption required - DOH!!!

Christmas Eve lunch in Edinburgh with cousin Diane and Aunty Nancy - I'll let you decide which one's which :)

The institution that is Jenner's Christmas Tree

Ahhh, now THIS is my Christmas present from Mike; Topaz set in 18ct gold on hammered white gold band; designed and crafted by Trevor Forrester :)

Mike, the bird and the old bird........ (sorry mum, it amused me)

The Scott children rarely seen together these days

Pars match on Boxing Day - brrrrrr......1-1 - could've done better boys!

Being very smart, I had ordered most of Mike’s presents online to be delivered to my mum’s.  The smugness didn’t last as I hadn’t thought of how we’d fit them in our handluggage to bring back.  (Yes, we were travelling away from home for 13 nights with one holdall each, and toiletries that fitted in the wee plastic bag you’re allowed in handluggage!!).  We decided to box them up, with the bundle of cheap DVDs we’d purchased in Fopp on Rose St and send them back.  To do the postage online saved us £6, but the problem was we didn’t have a printer at mum’s.  Mike had a brainwave and phoned ASDA to see if they have a machine that prints photos, which they did, so we put the box in mum’s trolley bag and took it for a walk down to ASDA.  After fannying around at the machine for 40 minutes, we accepted that the machine couldn’t see the pdf file on the memory stick or Mike’s phone and was calibrated only to see photo files.  Round the corner, the local printer was shut for the holiday, so we headed down to the Post Office and RS McColls to see if either of them did prints.  They didn’t, but suggested the library would, but thought it was closed today (28^th Dec) and it was.  We headed back with the box (having enjoyed its walk around Dalgety Bay!) to mum’s planning to go to the library the next day, and in preparation, just in case, I saved the postage labels on the memory stick as jpeg files this time.

Next morning we couldn’t find the stick.  We searched everywhere.  Every room, every bag, every surface, with me cursing myself for not remembering what I’d done with it (age v drink).  I remembered DOING it, just not what I did with the stick afterwards, though I was sure I’d left it on the wee side table or the settee itself……. It’s a sofa-bed, so we pulled it out and looked down the sides – nothing.  Upstairs in one of our drawers of stuff stored at mum’s I found another stick and saved the labels on to it.  We were supposed to be getting the bus at 11.15 to Edinburgh to meet a couple of York friends for a drink, but it was now 10.50 as we headed down to the library.  Had we not searched for over 40 minutes and just put them on the other stick in the first place we’d have been in time, but as we neared the library, the bus we should have been on went passed.  In the library the nice lady said, “Yes of course you can print here………. But you have to be a member.”  So I am now a member of Dalgety Bay library.  At least we know where to go if we need stuff printed in the future whilst at mum’s…… We got the box off and headed back to mum’s.  Mike’s phone rang, “That’ll be your mum, she’ll have found the stick.”  It was and she had.  In the sofa bed.  The one we’d pulled out but just not quite far enough to see the innocent little stick sitting there with a smug smile on its sticky little face – grrrrrrrrr.  With the arrival of my gorgeous niece Helen, and handsome nephew Alex for a quick afternoon visit, we soon cheered up and with a curry for tea, Mike was a happy boy.

The week in Fife flew by and we just never have enough time to see everyone we’d want to, so sorry to all our dear friends that we missed this time around.  From there it was off to Barcelona for the New Year with an early start to catch the 6.30am flight.

La Sagrada Familia - still not finished but moved on some since I saw it in 2007

Hogmanay view from the balcony of our apartment

Dining al fresco at Sitges with Peter and Jane's friend Liz and her brother Mick - fab day, but I am still off the booze three days later!!!

Pretty Sitges

Fantastic detail

Mike jumping for joy with the Big Balls which he only loved because Pete hated them!!

Our time in Spain drew all too quickly to a close and it was back on the plane to Paris on the 3^rd.  By now we were old hands at catching the RER from Charles de Gaulle into Chalet les Halles and swapping on to the Metro (line 14) to Bercy to catch the train back to Auxerre.  Despite my fears that I hadn’t left enough transfer time when booking the train, we thankfully made it with time to spare to grab a coffee and sandwich for the journey.  We were shattered when we got back but pleased to be back on board again and quickly got the fire going and the hot water bottle taking the chill off the bed!

Our parcel of Christmas presents that we posted over has arrived at the port so we are now tucking into our fresh stack of DVDs, Mike snuggled up in his new onesie and sheepskin baffies – just needs a pipe and the picture will be complete……