Christmas 2008

Well Christmas 2008 was certainly much quieter than that of 2007 when Steve, Sasa and Jason came to stay. The main thing though was that Nigel was home and improving slowly day by day. After 2 or 3 days "settling in" it began to seem that he had never been away! Being on my own had had certain advantages, not so much tidying up, not so much cooking and being able to read in bed until all hours!! These advantages, though, were outweighed by the advantages of having him home again. It's strange how just the presence of someone else in the house makes it feel more like home. On Christmas Day we opened our presents, in bed, and then had Christmas dinner late in the afternoon. Even though there was only the two of us I still had to cook the ritual Christmas dinner, locally produced capon and all the trimmings.
We had somewhat of a success on New Years Eve as we actually managed to stay up until just after midnight! After watching the arrival of the New Year on French TV - good old Patrick Sebastian hosting cabaret- I let the dogs out. Just as I opened the door there was a great bang from next door and Rambo shot in the house again. I stayed outside and watched the continuing firework display which was pretty spectacular and went on for about 20 minutes. Poor Rambo was crouched at the top of the stairs trembling with all the bangs. Not a good New Years Eve for him.
On the following Sunday we were once again invited to Jeanne and Cristel, next door, to celebrate the arrival of the kings with petit fours, gateau des Roi and champagne, along with Alain and family and Dominique and Christine. A very pleasant afternoon but I have to say that we were the first to leave, after a couple of hours. Nigel's head was spinning with the noisy conversation and I was finding it hard to understand with 3 or 4 different conversations going on around me!

Back home.

Nigel finally came home on the 17th December after 11 weeks away. We had decided that as long as he was given the opportunity to stay and convalesce, at Cambo, he would do so. He had 2 consultations with the surgeon, 3 weeks after he left the clinic and again at the beginning of December. Both times he was given the opportunity to stay at Cambo. By the time he had the 3rd and final consultation on the 16th of December he was raring to come home! I had visited him each Sunday and was beginning to get fed up of the drive there and back, 140kms each way, which took me an hour and forty minutes. It seemed that it was raining every Sunday that I went down and the weather excelled itself on my last trip with torrential rain and hailstorms. On my second to last visit we went out for lunch, the first time he had been out since his operation, apart from short walks as part of his physiotherapy. Before lunch we went up to the Spanish border, about 20 minutes by car, to the huge shopping centre. After a brief shop there we went back to Cambo for lunch. We had hoped to eat at the Auberge Ste Ursule, which has a very good reputation, but it was fully booked. We ended up at La Grilladerie, good food but somewhat lacking in ambiance! As it was our 5th wedding anniversary we had hoped for something a bit more "special" but at least it was an improvement on the food at the medical centre. Although I must say, after eating there several times, the food was very acceptable. It was noticeable, when we got back to Nigels room, that he was pretty shattered by his first outing. On my final trip down there, the next Sunday, we ate at the Auberge (this time I had reserved our table) and very nice it was too-superb food and ambiance. This time Nigel was much less tired than he had been after his first outing the week before. Although I wasn't sure that this was to be my last trip down there we were both hoping that he would be home later in the week.