Thank you for all your Christmas cards, which are really appreciated and I am still putting off the inevitable task of removing them from their display, proudly on a ribbon all around my lounge. I had a relatively quiet Christmas Day, opening what presents I get these days, after walking Arty on the Common and then cooking a Christmas lunch for one, creating more leftovers than the food that I actually managed to eat. In the late afternoon, I had three visitors, for whom I had massively over-catered and my memory of the evening gradually fades into the general merriment.
The next thing I remember it was Boxing Day and I spent it dismantling and putting away everything associated with the festivities of the day before, (except the aforementioned cards), and packing the car with everything that Arty and I might need for a trip to France and back, and then immediately up to Mid-Wales.
So we caught the 10am ferry from Newhaven and, for the first part of our seasonal jaunt, I drove us to the beautiful old port of Honfleur...
...where I knew I could indulge my fascination with reflections...
...despite the overcast skies...
...because it's such a beautiful little place...
...and, stepping back from the harbour...
...there are the quaint and narrow streets, around which, the evening before, I had driven in complicated and experimental circuits, much to Arty's consternation, looking for a place just to stop, let alone park, in the general vicinity of the centrally situated and, as it eventually turned out, eminently comfortable accommodation that my trusty gangster's moll of a satnav, "All the way Annie", was convinced and insisted, rightfully as usual, that she had found, every time we passed it by...
...so, after the god of parking at last decided to smile upon us...
...I left the car where it was and Arty and I explored on foot (all six of them!)...
...and, while Arty enjoyed a rare opportunity to network doggily lower down..
...I happily window shopped...
...trying to take in the variety of such interesting and beautifully made...
...but ultimately useless and sometimes seasonal tat...
...on offer in these picture-postcard streets...
...which all seem to lead back to the bars and restaurants around the harbour...
...from where there is ample time to reflect...
...even at night...
...when the celebrations of Winter...
.
...are not only reflected...
...but also illuminated.
Look out for Part 2 of this blog, coming soon! And follow us west!
Love,
Philip Xx