Month: September 2013


A postcard from St Martin

It’s the 5th of September. The kids are back at school (well not my kids, who are respectively in Norwich, Spain and Ghana as I write), the weather is about to turn from one of the best summers to wet and windy. Autumn is coming.

And of course the postcard turns up, late.

postcard

your postcard: caption, please.

With a wry smile I bought this in St Martin, the most chi of the chi chi islands, that somehow has made the “trouser donkey” its chosen method of extracting even more tourist euros from tourists desperate to buy a rememinder. The stamp got hijacked for a condolences card and the post card is still with me for another year.

Caption Please

I had fully intended to embellish the postcard with an approporaite caption. After all, what rich material: donkey with trousers & big ears, local lass, possibly related, showing off to camera, caught in a field of hollyhocks. Rich material indeed methinks.

But it was never written. Perhaps you can do better? Reply to this post as a comment and a Bottle of bubbly for the best caption.

But back to St Martin, Ile de Re….

I was going to tell you about the wonderful ambience, cycling all around the island, shopping in the fresh fresh food & spice market, drinking big drinks, hiring a cat and on and on. But as I sit in my study in Broad Chalke it seems best to make this post into a photo postcard and leave you with a few pics.

Wish You were here

Wish I was there, wish you were there with us.

Filibuster is now resting for the winter. From November 18th to february 20th the Arzal Barrage is closed for repairs so only up river is a possibility during that time.

We might go across to collect the many things left on board, to stock up with French wine which is so much cheaper than in the UK. Let me know if you would like to join us. The boat has central heating and average temperatures since we left seem to be 4 or 5 degrees warmer than Salisbury and almost as much again than Pembrokeshire.

I’ll leave you with this final panorama – taken the day we left for the UK (28th August).

 

 

arzal last day pano

Arzal Marina, just after sunrise on the 28th August

And that really is it. No more posts or postcards for this season. Adieu, au revoir. Bye, until the next time 🙂

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