Monday 18 August 2008

Holidays in the Dordogne.... done.


Now, what was I saying about sunshine and wine and swimming ? Did I mention anything at all about kagouls or rain or cold ? No ? No. I thought not. It appears that the curse of bad weather ( having given us a year off from rain last summer ) has returned, found us and forced us to spend yet another 10 days huddled in the cold wishing it was all over.



It comes to something when you save up all your money in the hope that you may spend 10 days in the warm somewhere away from rainy England... and you end up wishing that you were back there. At least here in the rain in England I have my warm bed, my bathroom, my dishwasher and if I wake up in the middle of the night for the loo I don't have to trudge through a storm to get to the public toilets.



And I don't have to dry myself after a shower with a wet towel. Wet because it is impossible to dry anything. I am finished with the Dordogne. If you are considering it then I think you should definitely go. You will be guaranteed good weather because we won't be there...



We got back last night and I have spent the day trying to get everything washed and dry. I went to Tescos to get food and am absolutely Borassic. That, in layman's terms means that I am Borassic Lint / skint /broke/ poor as a church mouse. If we had stayed at home I would have been not only warm and dry, but also much more fluid in the financial sense.



If you wish to imagine the gist of our holiday, imagine a slightly crumpled woman sitting on a plastic sunbed in her kagoul watching as her children climb relentlessly up and down slides into an unheated pool. Picture the valiant Brits trudging through markets knee deep in mud, eating ice creams despite the the tips of our fingers turning somewhat blue. Picture us looking forward to bed each night, complete with socks and flannel pyjamas, because that's the only place it will be warm for a few hours...
No. We won't be venturing to the Dordogne again. You know, I honestly believed that one of the few good points about global warming would be that it promised a few sunny summers. Yes we would all die, but we would die with a suntan and a glass of chilled Chardonnay in our hands. Bloody typical...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sarah,

Funny post. Sorry to hear your holiday was a washout. I live here all year round. I know it's no consolation but the for the whole month of July and the first 10 days in August we basked in glorious sunshine. The winters are worse. This year we'll head back to Blighty for the winter months. I still recall the immortal words of the estate agent we bought our house from in October 2004. "The winters are mild and sunny" he said. "Take my word for it, you'll be eating your Christmas lunch on the terrace this year". He wasn't wrong. That Christmas was so cold that the pipes burst on Christmas eve and a violent storm made sure that we were without electricity for three days. So, we found a suntrap on the porch on Christmas Day and had Christmas lunch outside, just as the estate agent predicted. Our French neighbours assured us that that winter was exceptional. Since 2004 we've had three consecutive "exceptional" winters. In my experience, there isn't a huge amount of difference between the weather here and the UK. Here's a top tip. Watch the BBC's UK weather forecast to get the weather in the Dordogne. It's scarily accurate. Today it's 19 degrees and overcast. Still, wild horses couldn't drag me back to live in the UK.

Unknown said...

Thanks Gerry! Despite the rain that we experienced I am very envious of you - to live out in the Dordogne would be a dream !! It is a beautiful place and we have met some great people there - we were just unlucky this week !! Ah well...

AKM said...

so THAT'S where you've been!! Missed you in the land of Realbuzz. Sorry to hear your holiday was pants. Pish. Hope things pick up for you soon, m'dear. Annie x

2ogie2 said...

found your site to be interesting but can't quite figure out how all this blogging works??? Loved the garden photos and the wisteria (mine has never bloomed) i didn't get a vacation this summer as my car crapped out on me and 700 dollars later my vacation dreams were better forgotten. I am looking forward to fall and the farmers markets with pumpkins and gourds....ect. School starting for the kids. Winter I don't even want to think about yet...seems like it was just here, we had huge amounts of snow last year...shoveled daily!

Unknown said...

Hi 2Ogie2 - I think you should start a blog. Just follow the instructions and write whatever comes into your head !! Well, nearly.Good luck. S

Hi Annie-- yup, here I am !!! S