Return to Real Life

Our journey home was rather protracted due to the cancellation and delay of a number of trains on the journey home -- they were 'suppressed' according to the translation we got from a nice gentleman who lived in Monaco.  I began to worry a little that we might just be in danger of missing our plane home, though we still had a few hours for things to sort themselves out.  I decided that Bill's job wouldn't likely be on the line if he was a day late returning and though it would be expensive at the last minute, there were ways of getting home.  It was a problem that money could solve.  At that point I could quit worrying.  That's not to say I wouldn't have hated to spend the money, but frankly if I didn't have a sizeable emergency fund, I wouldn't consider that I could afford this trip.  We discussed our options if the train wasn't available by a certain time, but then of course one came and it was all fine.

I was very pleased to see that the garden had survived our absence.  If anything it looked better, possibly because there was some warm weather here; well of course there would be, we were paying to have it elsewhere, weren't we?  So far, we've had 3 nice harvests of strawberries.  Not enough to do other than eat for dessert, but about 10 times more than we've ever had in the past so I'm pleased about having saved all those little shoots last fall.  They aren't as red as store bought ones, but they are still soft and sweet.

So what has been going on since our return?  Well, there was a short epidemic of madness that caused every possible place that could sport an England flag to do so.  I kept hearing that the US was doing well for a while and I worried that the World Cup would come down to the UK vs the US.  However, when England fell out of the running, all those flags disappeared overnight!  Even the natives were glad when all that passed, but there was lots of laughter about what a cheap deal could be found on football memorabilia!  

However, we're not really a football household.   Bill sort of kept up with the World Cup out of a sense of obligation.  His real passion is the Tour de France.  This is the one time of year when he is in front of the TV every single day.  I've watched in years past and cheered for Lance.  I'm not as involved this year, but Bill is as fascinated as ever.  

Do you love the Tour de France?