Early October

I get to see my family - one of the great benefits of being here!

My father is 90 minutes drive south, near the coast, in Dorset, and sister S. is 50 minutes north of here. Neither trip entails going into London. We have 5 (!) airports (Stansted, Heathrow, Bristol, Luton and Gatwick) all within fairly easy reach, and no going into London.

In fact, when the truck fire damaged the Euro tunnel recently, I couldn't get to Paris except by air, and had to resort to Easy Jet, one of the cut-price airlines. However, they had jacked up their prices the minute the tunnel closed, and I ended up taking a train to Bristol, on the west coast, and flying from there. It was a revelation, because the train trip entailed just 1 change, and it was fast, comfortable and took 2 hours from my house to the airport. Bristol airport itself is lovely and set high on a hill amidst glorious countryside, so it was really nice to travel from.

So, I spent another 3 days in Paris - I went for the 60th birthday party of one of my oldest friends I have known from when I lived there (a very successful businesswoman) – and I stayed with my sister, D (the one from whom I have been more or less estranged for years; who had many problems. She is 11 years younger, and I was out of the family house by the time she started to grow up).
What a revelation! I rediscovered a sister! We had the best time. She is at a good place in her life right now, and has a lovely man (an osteopath) who appears to be a great stabilising influence on her. He was away on a business trip, so we sisters could spend all our time together.
The weather was gorgeous. We window-shopped, had lunches or coffees in small street-side cafes. I got up early and went to the local bakery (they open at 5.30am - the smell of fresh-baked breads - mmm!!) and bought warm baguettes, croissants and pains au chocolat!

One morning I walked into the Pere Lachaise cemetery which is literally next to her street. It is where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Colette, Victor-Hugo, and a host of others are buried. It's like a strangely empty village, with horse-chestnut tree-lined avenues, sidewalks, cobble stones, and everywhere these huge statues and tombs, chapels and stained glass. Wild cats running around and masses of birds. Very quiet, except for the odd tourist paying a pilgrimage.

Being able to see my father often is so great. I think it's that sense that Time is running out that we get, that makes us want to make the most of every moment we can with our family’s older members. Just having him on the same time zone is fantastic, as we can talk by phone, even if I don’t see him.

I was able to spend 4 days last week looking after sister S who had major surgery, so she is on instructions to do no driving for 6 weeks and have as much rest as possible. We had a really good time. I did shopping, washing, cleaning and cooking (! - with her directing from the couch) and looked after her 7 year old son. It was great to be able to do that for her. (Her husband was away on a pro-am golf tournament - which he won, so that was good news, as they have been having a very hard time this year. He hasn't won anything on the tour and it's all money out, none in, so it is tight, financially. But he cannot give up his dream and turn to coaching or an actual job. Golf is his life. Hard on their relationship, but we were able to talk a lot when I was there, and she was able to get emotional and tearful and talk it through. I think it helped),

I feel like all this is such a bonus.
A's father is coming over from Texas this weekend to spend 6 days with us. His wife cannot make it as she has a pacemaker and doesn't want to fly - understandable at 83. We are happy he is coming, and it is T's half term so we'll do some fun things.