Is it possible? Temporarily, perhaps. Sometimes planning things at the last minute pays off. I haven't blogged for over a month, due to being on holiday. And as many of us know, holiday times can be the busiest. We've just finished housesitting for two weeks for a French family in Grenoble. Our remit was to look after their three cats. In addition there was a small swimming pool to maintain (yeah, it can be tough), strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes to water, grass to cut, the odd phone message to pass on. Hardly onerous tasks. The weather was lovely - we were lucky, in France it's been a mixed summer as it has in Scotland. Loads of cycling down (for the fitter family members, up) mountain passes, beautiful drives through somnolent villages of charming, stone built houses and geranium bedecked balconies. Catching up with friends and eating well - too well.
We'd planned to venture into Italy after our housesitting finished. But we'd been so busy it was only two days before we left that I got round to seriously checking out accommodation. Big mistake, I realised, as affordable places had been booked (obviously by sensible people who plan well ahead). Hence a big chunk of Saturday was taken up with website checking, sending emails, waiting for the 'sorry, fully booked ...'), intermittently throwing myself into the pool to cool down or flopping down on a lounger wishing we'd got our act together sooner.
But, there is a happy ending, because, suddenly I stumbled upon an advertisement for a chalet in the Val D'Aosta which looked stunning, was reasonably priced, and amazingly more or less suited our dates. Turns out there'd been a cancellation. If I'd checked this out earlier we wouldn't have got it.
So, here we are, in a tranquil old village overlooking the mountains. I can't express the beauty and charm of the place adequately, so I hope the photos can.
Contentedly yours
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment