Now I'm not one to complain.......

.....but that was a terrible Christmas break! Roughly an hour after I arrived in the south of France my hire car was broken into outside the restaurant where me and LF were having a cup of coffee and my bags stolen. That I'd left my rucksack in the car was possibly foolish, but I wasn't expecting crime in such a nice little seaside town. Gone were my passport, driving licence, chequebook, iPad, iPod, personal papers.....the lot. Spent the next few hours in a French police station trying to make a report to a bunch of gendarmes who didn't speak English. Got a new hire car and eventually arrived in Menton a bit depressed. The next day LF had her purse stolen in the supermarket, cash, cards, driving licence.....

The next week of torrential rain did nothing to either lift our spirits, or wash away the dog shit that literally covers every pavement. I had to make a trip to Marseille to get a temporary passport to get home with, a 5 hour round trip through gloomy wet countryside - I have to say I was never so happy to arrive at Heathrow airport as I was this weekend. I've now spent the last few days trying to organise replacement documents for us both, not least a passport to allow me to return to work in Holland. Oh, and no travel insurance......

Still, it could be worse, imagine living there!