One of the great advantages of working part-time now is the flexibility to arrange a few days away. So this week my wife and I have managed to escape the rain at home and visit friends living in southern France. There is a work link, because he is an Old Mancunian, but this wasn't work. We enjoyed a drive through the Camargue to the coast, seeing lots of horses, few flamingoes and even fewer tourists. The sky was reliably blue and the beaches were empty.
We admired the house our friends have had built and talked a lot about the work that remains, most of it outside in the sloping garden. We drank the odd bottle of very good, very local wine and enjoyed the absence of emails and phone calls. We ambled round Arles, admiring the architecture and sampling some delicious cooking from the kitchen of an internationally renowned chef.
And, yes, we spotted an elephant balancing on its trunk as we emerged from one of the most spectacularly sited underground carparks in the world, immediately outside the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Our tour round the Palais was excellent, the rooms full of atmosphere and well, not over, explained by commentary and signs.
So, three great days and, no, it wasn't raining when we got back to Liverpool's John Lennon Airport ('Above us only sky') but it was before we got home.
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