it's Christmas so it must be France

Off again. Exchanging the snow of the UK to that of France. Why? Something about the ambience, the misty light, the somnolent villages and of course, the mountains. No doubt if I were French, I'd want to spend Christmas in a sleepy village in Scotland. The thrill of somewhere different never palls. This time, instead of basing ourselves in the Grenoble area, we are looking after a French couple's house in Lyon. So we won't be quite so close to the mountains. Instead we'll be in a beautiful city which has an atmosphere of its own. Like Grenoble, Lyon has two rivers. Unlike Grenoble, Lyon has hills. Unlike Grenoble, it isn't surrounded by mountains. You can't have everything. There will be regular forays into Grenoble and the national parks nearby. Our friends are there. And our memories.

For once we - or rather I - have been well organised. Probably because my partner has been in Norway all week - lucky to return this evening, in fact, as many flights out of Amsterdam airport were cancelled because of snow - and I just had to get on with it. A friend is looking after our flat and our two kittens, so some housework has been achieved as well. As in the summer, we aren't travelling light but the luggage has changed, bikes and plastic dinghy replaced by skis and sledges, t-shirts by fleeces, sandals by walking boots. Tomorrow's timetable is ambitious. Drive down to Dover in time to catch the 8 pm ferry to Calais, snow in the south of England permitting. Emergency supplies include a sleeping bag and rugs, a bag with sandwiches, cashew nuts, Belgian waffles and doughuts. And my partner's camping stove always goes too, so that at least if we are stuck in snow drifts he can brew up coffee.

Our timetable on Sunday is less ambitious, though again there's been heavy snow in the Lyon area, so who knows?















Uncertainly yours

Jane