Joyeux Noël/Bonnes Fêtes From Carcassonne

And so it's Christmas Eve again. The wind is howling and we've had torrential rain.  People are sneezing, coughing and spluttering their way round the shops.  The price reduction notices are appearing in windows but still the queues are small compared to previous years.  Church bells are ringing and calling out to the faithful to gather for prayer.

Inside No.11 the radiators are pumping out far too much heat for English taste in my opinion.  They need turning down but it really is rocket science.  What's Christmas without a log fire too ?  I fancy a brandy and hot water would keep the germs at bay whilst we're at it.  May as well go the whole hog, it's been an 'interesting' year and we need to celebrate the end of a long haul.

This last year has been no holiday but we can look back on it in quiet satisfaction knowing that despite all the setbacks we have achieved what we set out to do and overcome an awful lot of obstacles put in our way.

It's not quite the Christmas we planned, the snow and bad weather in the UK changed our arrangements but we're going to be celebrating tonight anyway. We're also going to be thinking of loved ones that we can't be with, loved one's that aren't well and sadly loved one's that we only see briefly and too infrequently.

His Lordship has gone bustling out to the market, I just know he is going to get 'waylaid' by his friends, from the boulangerie to the fishmonger and onto the lively bar.   And thank goodness he will, it's part of the beauty of living here.

Merry Christmas from Carcassonne.