Yep, still going through summer holiday pics!

Right now, I'm sitting in a pretty chilly flat and feeling fairly... reminiscent of the summer holidays, shall we say.

I think the workload is about to kick off for my MSc (which is fairly easy going considering that we're at week 7 of term 1 - how did that happen?!) I'm really enjoying about 90% of it with the other 10% being the absolute bane of my life (why do lecturers always have to edit your essay topics until all the joy has been squeezed from them?!) I've already been working fairly hard but I have a feeling it's going to get to the working-from-7am-until-11pm point soon.

On top of that, I'm having a very confusing and complicated battle with three different energy companies who are all trying to take my money and all refusing to let me submit meter readings. They are the absolute devil. To make it worse, we have night storage heaters so I can't even turn the central heating on in a defiant two-fingers-up to them.

So instead I'm daydreaming about cheese. Lots of it.



^Most unimpressed accidental photo subject ever.



If you've seen any of my previous posts, you'll know that I spent a week in Sarlat-la-Caneda with my family in August. It's an absolutely beautiful little town in the Dordogne. We rented a house about 15 minutes walk from the town centre (downhill at least; getting back up the hill after a bottle or two of the region's finest was another matter) with a swimming pool overlooking the valley - bliss.

We'd heard good things about the local food market from the house's owner so we thought we'd pop down and have a look.

Foodie heaven. But a very expensive and crowded foodie heaven, it has to be said!




We grabbed some bread, some cakes, some cheese and some olive tapenade (very balanced diet in my household, of course) and squeezed through the crowds, trying our best not to suffocate!

Top tip: the Dordogne is not off the beaten path.


In need of some air, we phoned up to reserve our boats and went canoeing for the day.

Which almost turned out to be a bit of a disaster when Michele took us to the wrong canoeing place by mistake. In the middle of the French countryside and with no internet connection, it looked like our day on the Dordogne was going to be ruined. We managed to get there in the end. No idea how but we managed it. I think I blocked the memory of those manic moments out.

But finally, finally, we managed to get out on the river for a bit of peace and calm.






Although as it turns out, I am really bad at canoeing. Really, really awfully bad at canoeing.

My shiny face ^ can vouch for the fact that I was putting a lot of effort in but when I stopped paddling to rest... well, Michele kept the speed up on his own. Demoralising.



But at least by the time we got back to Sarlat, things had quietened down a bit.

Everybody had different things on their to-do list so we split up into groups. Mum, Jess and Andrew went to look around an old manor house whilst Michele, Dad and I headed to a local brewery. Sadly it was closed and instead of hanging out with me whilst I waited for Mum (we were heading off for an afternoon shopping), the two of them buggered off back to the house and left me to my own devices.

So I had a very lovely hour to myself exploring the town.




And getting to see all the winding little alleys and pretty corners that are hidden from the main touristic centre.




I had an even more excellent time because I found a chocolate shop and stocked up on goodies, filling my bag with artisan chocolate and hazelnut spread and grabbing some handmade chocolates to nibble shove in my face as I wandered around the town, trying to look semi-sophisticated.





Michele had disappeared and left me for a very good reason though.

A reason that comes in the form of onion soup smothered in bread and cheese.


If you're ever in the market for a new partner, look for someone who knows how to cook. And loves cooking. And likes trying new recipes all the time and getting you to taste them (God almighty, he's been practicing focaccia lately, I am in heaven!)

I mean, you really can't argue with that:


With full tummies, we sat back, kicked our heels up and watched the moon come out.



I could get used to this..