Actually we didn’t go to Juan-les-Pins last week, we went to Saint-Thois in Finistère, northwestern France, where we had the loan of a friend’s house (two houses in fact) for the week. And very lovely it was there too.
I won’t bore you with all the holiday snaps (not least because, as I’ve already explained, I’m not prepared to post pics of my children here, and most of the holiday ones are of them), but I have got a few for your delectation.
Here’s the Nantes-Brest canal at Chateauneuf de Fau just a short distance from where were staying for example:
And the view from the top of the hill overlooking the canal:
Gorgeous isn’t it?
Scenery aside though, the highlight for me of the week was getting to spend so much time with my children. The oldest two are 21 and 20 now, they’ve both left home, and yet bizarrely they still like coming on family holidays with us. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong (or should that be right?) but every time I read about how teenagers reach a point where they don’t want to go on holiday with their parents any more, I wonder when and if that’s ever going to happen with any of my mob.
Anyway, as you may have gathered from my Tweets, I discovered when I got there that my dongle wouldn’t work (not that I was planning on spending much time on the Net, honestly), so it really was a proper holiday. We walked; we lay on the beach (although as you can see, even though it was France I neither went topless nor did I wear a burqini):
We read; we drank wine; we played basketball in the barn; we played basketball in the barn and drank wine….
And basically we did what you’re supposed to do on holiday and forgot about the real world for a while.
Oh yes, and we met some wildlife.
Here’s a river full of fish (just don’t ask me what sort):
A big fat caterpillar thing:
A grasshopper (or is it a cricket?):
And finally, last but by no means least, my personal favourite who we met just as we were packing up to leave:
A toad!
Big fat caterpillar thing? Utterly terrifying mutant insect surely?
It was pretty hideous I have to admit, although I’m not generally terrified of insects (unless they’re dead, then I’m completely phobic for some reason). I’d love to know what sort of creature that beast turns into though, a moth or a butterfly (or something else entirely), what do you reckon?
And is it just me, or is the picture of the fish not showing up at all? I can only get it up if I right click on the space where it should be and hit “view image”. I’ve no idea why.
I can see the fish fine. It’s just you….
Ah, I think it’s nice your adult kids want to go on holiday with you. It must mean you’re a cool mum 🙂
I went on family holidays until I was 23!
Glad you had a nice holiday anyway. Wine is great.
Thanks BW. They do tell me I’m a cool mum, although this time I did get a lecture about how it wouldn’t be cool of me to tell them when it was their bedtime; unlike last year.
Ooops. I hadn’t even realised until they mentioned it that I’d done that last year. I must have just gone into automatic mum mode and forgotten they were grown ups.
And yes, wine is very great. It’s up there on my list of best inventions ever, above such other worthies as Tesco’s home delivery service, the washing machine, and the ready meal…
Willowherb Hawk-moth? I think you can get them in Brittany.
I went on the family holiday this year, with my own children, and I am a ‘little’ older than 21 🙂
Funnily enough we also encountered a huge caterpillar and asked a random person walking past and he handily had a moth book!!! It was some kind of hawk moth, but I can’t remember which one now.
Ha, yes my mum still does that! Tells me to go to bed I mean. 🙂 She used to do it every day when I lived with her (have had to move back in at various times during adult life due to skintness). Yeah, as you say, most mums can go back into automatic mum mode.
Ready meals are totally the best (feminist) invention EVER!
“Funnily enough we also encountered a huge caterpillar and asked a random person walking past and he handily had a moth book!!! ”
We split from the train-spotting movement in the late 1960s.
I’ve also expanded my interest to the candy creature variety.
making candy critters, is a very popular hobby amongst err.. people like me.
Lol. They look great!
We finished with trains once I had spent a fortune on getting the entire Thomas & Friends set – sadly the offspring chose that moment to outgrow Thomas.
That’s some of the scariest (and saddest looking) confectionery I’ve ever seen.
Lol!
Hello. No big deal, Ms, but just to mention that
the title of the thread is kind of…. rigolo… to someone who’s French. “Juan-les-Pines” means something like “Juan-The-Dicks”.
Glad you had a good time in Bretagne.
(it’s “Juan-les-Pins”)
Lol. Corrected.
In my defence, I blame whoever published the lyrics to the Peter Sarstedt song online. That’s where I took the spelling from….