15. Apr, 2016

WEDNESDAY 3-6-15

On alighting from the shower block this morning I noticed that the French Chinese neighbours had already left.

Today was to be chores day. The housework had slipped a bit of late and so I was keen that we get back up to scratch whilst we had both the time and the weather.

We both worked on the interior stripping everything out airing it cleaning it etc. I washed the bedding as well, though because of the shady trees on the pitch I was a bit concerned they wouldn't be dry, ironed and aired in time to go back on the bed tonight. If they hadn't I would have had to resort to the spare set in the 'airing cupboard'.

With team work (and having a very small home) we had completed everything in two and a half hours. Rosina popped down to the local superstore for a crusty baguette for lunch whilst I finished off.

This afternoon was spent with me playing with the laptop and The Chef reading MY book outside in the sunshine. I love a bit of sunshine, I think people feel happier in themselves when they see a blue sky and sunshine, but I'm not really a sun worshipper, and I burn quite easily and so have to be a bit careful. I'd had my share of sunshine for the day.

Late this afternoon we had new neighbours next door, an elderly French couple with a car and caravan and a very noisy poodle. It just kept yap,yap, yapping, so much so that it was necessary to deploy 'Henry the Horn', after two or three long blasts after each bout of yapping either the dog or the owner got the message and it stopped. Good old Henry.

This evenings meal was a creation - home made pizza, although we had cheated a bit in bringing pre-mixed bags of pizza base. It was cooked on our small 'Cadac' gas barbecue. Granted it's smaller, lighter and more flexible than the Weber model, but I can't say I'm wild about it. One advantage though, is that you can buy a 25cm/10" pizza stone for it, and we had. The Chef struggled a bit to get the dough to rise, eventually needing to cover it with a piece of greaseproof paper and giving it a blast with her hair drier. That's the thing about this lifestyle - it presents you with problems to overcome and keeps the grey matter active, well either that or you go hungry.

We had followed the instructions on the pizza stone box and heated the 'oven' and stone to 200°C, but on reflection I think that was a bit too hot as areas of the pizza base were a bit burnt (yup, we had sprinkled it with flour). Never mind it's the first time we've tried to do it, next time we'll reduce the temperature and probably use ready-made bases, it would be far less hassle.

After what was an early meal we had a nice long walk along the seafront in the direction of Nice. It really is a nice spot here, as is the whole coast along here. The Italian Riviera followed by this, the Côte d'Azur, or French Riviera. I would have liked to have looked at a place called Menton on the way here. It was just before Monaco and looked lovely from the toll road high up in the hills. I think I may try to have a look around it using Google maps with street view. This is a website I use extensively when planning a trip.

15. Apr, 2016

15. Apr, 2016

15. Apr, 2016

TUESDAY 2-6-15

I awoke to a rather cloudy morning. The Chef was having a lie-in as I think the second half of my cheesecake for dessert yesterday evening exacted some kind of revenge on her during the night. Never mind, we had nothing planned today since we weren't returning to Monaco.

I'm a bit concerned as today is a National Holiday in Italy, and yet the Italian motorhomers here have been leaving one after the other, the campground is already half empty. Have they heard that The Chef is planning Spaghetti Bolognese for our evening meal tonight and want to be as far away from it as possible?

After we'd popped down the road to the lovely large supermarket for some bits, we returned 'home' where I made a start on some chores including soaking some bits in 'Vanish' stain remover in my just-purchased ten-litre bucket, before washing them and hanging them on our clothes line hung between two trees and running over the top of the motorhome's bird shit splattered bonnet. It's ok washing clothes on campgrounds but many of them only supply luke-warm water to the taps for the washing of clothes and crockery.

The Chef has run out of reading material and so now she's reading the one book I bought with me - 'Unbroken', which I believe has also been made in to a film. At this rate I'll have returned home and ordered the film from Amazon before I get to finish reading the book.  So now she reads my book whilst I bash away at the laptop producing rubbish like this, allowing her to have a moan because I'm doing so. Well if I had a book to read..................................

There had been a number of young children and dogs on site over the extended weekend break, but all were well behaved which is nice, and to the benefit of us all, and now they were on their way home. Campsites are very transient places with people constantly coming and going.

Now the Lord moves in mysterious ways, He must know that I quite like a Chinese or Thai meal. Well this afternoon a French/Chinese couple have moved in to the pitch opposite us. They have arrived with just an MPV car which they parked centrally in the pitch, so I didn't know if they intended to pitch a tent later or if they intend to sleep in the car. Anyway I am left with a dilemma - do I ignore them, or do I go over and ask for a menu?

Well The Chef produced a very nice home cooked Speg Bol, but I must confess I spent the whole time she was preparing it (we cook and eat outdoors unless weather prevents it) studying the Chinese couple opposite. I could sit for hours and 'people watch'. This couple had no verbal communication between themselves. He was studying some kind of paperwork while she was cooking the evening meal.

Now the interesting thing is that Western housewives want mega-sized kitchens with slate or marble-topped this and that, but this woman just sat on a chair and never moved off it, she turned left, she turned right, she faced centre, but at every point, she was cooking, cleaning pots etc, etc. It really worked. So I would suggest that anybody planning a new kitchen gets the Kitchen Design Representative round, then sit themselves down and spin from left to right demanding that everything needed to prepare a meal is immediately at hand. We have just seen it can be done.

After he had done the washing up, they talked over the coffee.

Later our Chinese neighbours bedded down in their car for the night, talk about travelling light.

The day has been rounded off by two more episodes of' Doc Martin', I think it's growing on her.