Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

Week 3 of the school year, and it has at last rained for 3 consecutive days (with a splatter of brilliant blue skies in between the drenching rain), but here I am, sitting in my office with a cup of steaming grapefruit water and a box of tissues at my wrist, and a pot of pea and bacon soup on the stove for lunch.

Autumn rain, and I am sick. With a cold. True story.

It reminded me of what I wanted to write to you the day before school started: Things We Learned This Summer!

1. The Gorgeous Summer of 2013 was not a fluke.  Hot Alsace summers are in fact, quite common.  This bodes well for the future know that we know this certainty.
2. I learnt that I can pack a day-pack efficiently enough to spend the morning and lunch at the swimming pools.  This includes towels, change of clothes, and a picnic lunch. It had to be efficient so that we could cycle to the pools.
3. Speaking of picnic lunches, I have discovered the solution to them, particularly if its 35degrees,and I don’t have space to pack ice-packs to keep ham sandwiches cool. (Bugger you Compass Group for your food safety drill- I will never be able to make a chicken mayo sarmie without counting the minutes its been out of the fridge).
4. Also, with the summer that was, and competing with wasps, we discovered that cut up melon/fruit for picnics wasn’t going to work.  You just end up looking like a windmill running around flapping your arms.
5. The girls learnt a new confidence level in the pools!  Aided by swimming goggles, Beth ditched her religious arm-bands, and discovered under-water summersaults.  Alex realised she can’t be outdone by her baby sister, and can now do the same.
6. Speaking of pools, we learnt that swimming noodles and boys are not a good combination.  It turns out that noodles serve better purposes as weapons, and not flotation devices.
7. And again, of the pool, I am not the most mis-shapen person at the public pools, and I don’t really give a rats-arse about walking around in a bikini anymore.
8. If you want time in the park, it’s probably best to be there for lunch.  After 2pm, the sun is high, and you don’t really want to be out in it.
9. It turns out that there is actually such a thing as too much Champagne/Cremant/bubbles.  Your purse eventually screams “STOP SPENDING MONEY”
10. It’s a pity that children don’t quite understand that when it comes to ice-cream, but then, what would summer be without copious amounts of ice-cream?  Ice-cream is to summer, as gluwein is to winter. Well, sort of.
11. Alex discovered flip-flops.  I suspect my Mom is looking down at us in horror.
12. And lastly, waiting for public transport in summer is a nag.  It really is so much easier to take the bikes out.

And the signs that summer is over?

The overloaded coat-rack with rain coats and light jackets (for now), and the washing line with multiple socks.

Bleugh.