So friends,

Saw the New Year in at the cottage in Brittany (at 11.00 pm French time) with my lovely family, broke the Loge Goar deathly quiet with some dodgy and highly unpredictable French fireworks. The finale was a large rocket that shot off at a ridiculous angle and hit the main power line for the village. We made our calls and then watched the fireworks and celebrations from London.

We drove from Brittany to Paris via Rennes and Le Mans and arrived at Euro Disney at around 5.00 pm on New Years Day. Teresa had booked us into the Disney Newport Bay Club Hotel with a fantastic view of the park and a very frozen Lake Disney. We were too knackered to do much on New Year’s Day so hit the sack early after dinner. The hotel was horribly, stupidly busy. Like total MADNESS! I have never seen so many people from so many places. Also is it my imagination or is nose bleedingly expensive? £1,000+ for two nights and a three day park pass. On top of that the tickets for the excellent Buffalo Bill Wild West show were another £250! Even considering that tourist rates for a euro are now effectively £=euro it’s still a lot. HOWEVER – we had a fantastic time; don’t want to sound mean. In fact we had a first rate and really memorable few days. It was freezing (complete with real snow) so very festive, Christmas lasts here until January 6th so we’ve had a double dose of Santa and carols this year. It was Carys’ birthday today – she was 8 – what a great way to spend your birthday at Disney. I won’t bore you with all the things we did ‘cause we did it all.

We headed off to Caen at tea-time and battled with the Paris Peripheral Motorway (Peripheric), got a good view of the Eiffel Tower and arrived in Caen about 9.00 pm. Having a night in a Novotel before catching the 8.00 am ferry back to Portsmouth in the morning. Here I am, with my wife and babies only 3 kms from where my Grandfather is buried having been killed here a few days after ‘D’ day. How the world moves on!

Don’t know if you are into New Year resolutions but I am. Going to shift that excess stone in weight, join the gym (again), spend more time with my family on the boat, plan business trips to be as stress free as possible. No early starts, hotels the night before for my sanity! All this is, of course, dependent upon getting the ‘all clear’ from the full body scan. If I do then back to work and all systems go, if they find anything nasty then I’ll do everything apart from the work. Also need to ‘beef – up’ my prayer life afresh!

I know I’ve said this before but knowing your days might be limited is strangely liberating, almost exciting. Feels like living on the edge. The days of honking and sleeping are soon forgotten though at the time are not nice. Remind me should things get nasty that I’m ‘liberated and excited’ won’t you?

Thanks for checking in guys! God Bless. Dave