Friday 11 May
Where do I start with this holiday? All I can say is that the fates were obviously not favouring us and when you consider that, although the cottages were described as being in the Loire and they were actually in Normandy, this region of France has never been lucky for us.
We'd booked to go to France with Mum and Dad and two other couples - David and Pat and John and Sarah. We were renting two gites and our aim was to go away for a week and enjoy some great food and wine and generally have a good time. I'd been running a small wine club for a while and we all got on so well, it seemed the natural thing to do! How wrong I was!
The holiday started off very well with a great trip to Portsmouth on Friday afternoon. We had picked up the children (Sophie then aged 5 and Michael, 16 months) straight from school and Nursery, the weather was beautiful and sunny, and apart from one sticky moment on the A34, the traffic was light and flowing.
We arrived at our Travel Lodge opposite the port and explored. The kids went mad because of the new environment and when Mum and Dad arrived we took them down to the bar and restaurant. At this point Michael would not sit in a highchair or eat his dinner. All he wanted to do was get down and run about. Keith took him and Sophie through to the Wacky Warehouse (!!) while Mum and Dad ate their meal. Already I could see Keith and I eating a solitary dinner in every night...
Feeling very stressed and hot, Keith and I chose our meals while Mum vainly entertained Michael. He was determined to wreak havoc, though, and by 10pm we had all had enough. Back in the room it got worse. Both children refused to sleep and Michael ran from one side of the room to the other as if demented. Sophie wouldn't settle either and some harsh words were said to both of them, but it was after midnight by the time Michael finally gave in and Sophie was still awake at 4am. What on earth had happened?
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