Keeping you up to date for ***** 2023

Putting last year behind us, we began 2023 on an optimistic note, planning all the things that we had been unable to do. This was optimism was short lived. Barbara had an appointment in Tournus so we decided to do some shopping for the rest of the day. We were actually discussing a trip to Brittany and Jersey, now fortunate in choosing the comfort of the Alfa but thought that our little Fiat cabriolet would be fun and more suitable on the narrow Jersey lanes. The matter settled by a fairly large deer leaping out of the bushes as the neared to summit of Col des Chèvres on the 16 March. Another insurance claim and the Alfa off the road until Easter.

So we left the repairs to the garage and off we went in the Fiat, limiting our daily travel to about 300k. We took a route along the Loire Valley with overnight stops near Tours. Then on to the west cost for the weekend, visiting Lisa and Tony, who had recently retired to France and bought a farmhouse near Vannes. From there it was an easy drive to Saint-Malo for the ferry to Jersey where we stayed with Stanley & Gisela for a week before returning home by the end of April.

Fortunately the repairs to the Alfa were completed early in May so we were able to travel in comfort for our first trip to Germany 18/19 May. Three days in Karlsruhe with the families connected to the ‘Abitur class from Teheran’ including Barbara’s brothers. We are planing a meeting here in France for May 2024 but it will probably be a smaller group.

This timing was good because we expecting Barbara’s friend Trudy to visit us early in June. Trudy is perhaps Barbara’s oldest friend and now lives in New Mexico with her American husband Patrick. Their last trip to Europe had to be abandoned due to the Covid pandemic, but now Patrick’s health is not so good and Trudy had to do the trip, visiting family and friends on her own. We are all hoping that they will both be able to visit us in 2024.

We baked in the summer heat and then our second trip to Germany for a long planned Vorndran family reunion in Walldorf at the beginning of August. Most of the ‘English’ side of the family flew in to Frankfurt including our Babsi and Jason with Sébastien and Eliot. Pam and Rob drove down with Fiona and Jacob. An amassing drive by Rob with long delays at Dover, but they made it just as we were all sitting down to dinner! A days rest for Rob and they were off in convoy with us to France where they stayed with us for the rest of the week.

As always, our travels had to be juggled around our various medical appointments. The major thing this year was Barbara’s teeth! Her dentist was planning to do some implants, but he was about to retire so referred us to the big hospital a Dijon. However, there were concerns about implants and after six or seven consultations the specialist at Dijon painstakingly ‘crafted’ a denture instead. So we realized that October was virtually free of appointments which enabled us to plan a trip to UK.

We set of via our usual overnight stop near Arras taking a mid-week ‘Le Shuttle’ staying a few nights a Rye Farm being close to Babsi’s before moving on to Maldon where we were engaged as house and cat sitters while Pam, Rob and the children took a short trip to Glastonbury. We managed to catch up with just a few friends before spending the last few days in Sussex. We had promised to visit Jon’s aunt Anne and Joseph, so spent some time with her before returning to France.

Tony and Lisa (Brittany April 2023)

Gisela and Stanley with Stanley’s sister Margy – lunch in a restaurant by one of the many Jersey beaches.

Abitur class from Teheran’

Trudy and Barbara
The Vorndran clan and all!!

We have to give a big mention to our grandchildren and their parents who have given so much towards all the extra activities.

All three boys are into their football, Eliot with his swimming and both Eliot and Sébastien are starting to play squash! Jacob has started sailing this year and special congratulations to Fiona (above) for achieving he Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Jacob (and Grandad) waiting for lunch.
Auntie Anne

One of our trips which had to be abandoned due to Covid in 2022, was a visit Guédelon (Castle in the Making). A fascinating project for us amateur historians which we had been following for some years. Although it was not really on our way home, we had to take a look before it close for the winter. We arrived home at the beginning of November feeling as if we had just complete a world tour!

Barbara’s regular Tuesday meeting with her knitting group in Chalon. The ladies with birthdays in the last half the year were presented with Christmas flowers by officials from the Town Hall.

Writing at the end of February 2023 we remember starting this year in a positive way, putting 2022 and the global troubles behind us. Life was regaining some normality with events like the village lunch for us retired folk and the big carnival show in Chalon-sur-Saône reinstated for the first time since 2019!

We have had a busy year, some memorable times with friends and neighbours as well as trips out with various organisations. We attended a couple of after marriage celebrations including one for our Maire’s daughter and her new husband at the Château. In July our immediate neighbour’s son and his new wife also had a three day celebration in the village. As for 2024, there are a few events in the offing, but so far we are not making firm travel plans. Hopefully we can just take things as the come!

The names of the cars!

I am not sure if it makes economic sense, but we feel it’s environmentally good to use a small car for local trips, shopping etc. while, for a powerful SUV, our Alfa Stelvio is noticeably fuel efficient (and more comfortable) on longer journeys. We don’t usually name our cars but because of the last two letters of the Fiat’s registration, and its character, we immediately started calling it Pee-Pee! Now we had a problem. We had to settle on a name for the Stelvio, something Italian sounding.

We have owned several Italian cars over the years, but they say that you can’t be a ‘petrol head’ without owning a Alfa Romeo or two. Top left, our two 156’s, the blue one was the GTA which we often called ‘The Beast’ due to the growling sound of its V6 motor. Both cars were taken over by Jason and Babsi when we moved to France and bought more practical left hand drive vehicles.

My father had an Italian work colleague called Oscar. He and his wife Elsa became family friends and for no apparent reason, I woke up one night thinking about the times we spent with them about sixty years ago. They had no children, but Oscar was very proud of his wonderful Lancia car which I suddenly remembered he called ‘Carolena’. Why my ageing brain choose this moment to drag the name that Oscar called his car from some dusty corner of my mind must have been an omen.

Bottom left- ‘Pee-Pee’ in the background, with our ‘Carolena’ Stelvi finally back from the repairers during the middle of December 2022