From three feet up the trellis to seven feet in seven days is extreme, to say the least.

Hi there, we are still here, live and kicking, just had a seven day break and didn't need to advertise to the world that our little patch of paradise was going to be home alone. We have returned to dried up pots on the terrace and bolted lettuce in the poly but everything else is fine, including HOSS's health after a stay at the Kennels.

We joined the Port Solent Yacht Club Summer Cruise and met four boats in Cherbourg and another two in Alderney so we were a gang of 14 plus a dog called poppy. We spent two nights on the buoys bobbing about in Bray harbour and two nights in Beaucette marina in Guernsey, had a cocktails night, a BBQ, a pub dinner with girls verses boys at the dart board but more importantly for Mike and I we met up with our friends and talked boats, family, gardens, life in France and life in the UK and we have a bunch of people who will come and visit now that they have heard all about our life here, so that is great.

Beema behaved well though she did have a battery failure whilst out on the buoys which presented us with a few strategic issues, but the chandlers in the tiny harbour was able to sell us a battery and even delivered it to the boat for no extra cost so we were up and running and once again Mike excelled himself pulling out meters and tools I didn't know we had on board to diagnose the problem and solve it. I am so lucky that a mountain is only a mole hill when Mike is about.

We have both had a good change of air and have pitted our wits against tide, time and weather. Mike did some serious navigation planning that worked, so no change there then, and I got my chart work and how to behave on a yacht skills polished up, and you know what, we really enjoyed the challenge. We left the flotilla on Friday morning in drizzle and mist which reflected our sadness to be leaving them so soon, but our holiday was for one week and they are all off for another few days before having to take that 14 hour slog across the Chanel back to old Blighty. If they make it to the French coast we will drive over to see them but it's all down to the weather.

Getting home to the garden was a little more daunting, as we drove in through the gates we saw that all our pot plants were in a state of wilt but the poly and the allotment were fine and I took a good crop of broad beans and a cabbage to reward myself for not over reacting and taking the initial heart stopping realisation that everything had died in seven days in my stride. We both fell into automatic mode and watered all the sad and depleted plants before we even unloaded the car.

I spent time rummaging through my e-mail boxes, an old and tiresome habit from work days and was delighted to see that Chris and Sam were making plans to come over to visit. It only took one phone call, and the dates were firmed up and we have a crowd for the end of the week, just in time to get the lawn cut and the weeds put back in their place, they so take over when you turn your back, but, so do the runner beans, from three feet up the trellis to seven feet in seven days is extreme, to say the least.