The Holiday is Over

I usually spend my summer holidays between Italy England and France: the first two for obvious reasons and the last because it’s our favourite route to get from one to the other. France is also really well organised for camping which is how we like to holiday. It’s always quite a sad moment when we gradually drive back along the Riviera towards the Italian border… a sign that the holiday is well and truly finished.

And the first sign that things are really changing is the quality of the motorway service stations and the attention to detail in the dress sense of their customers. Happy go lucky T shirts and floppy sandals are suddenly replaced by immaculate coordinating (ironed) clothes. A cashmere jumper slung in an apparently casual manner over the shoulder usually in various shades of cream, chunky gold bracelets jangle subtly at the wrist. And that’s just the men!  You would think that couples planned their wardrobe together in the morning for they always match each other. The only difference is that the woman’s tan is often slightly more orange and she wears more gold than the man. Gold belt, gold bag…even the shoes are usually gold! Be they little ballerinas or strappy sandals or more comfortable sporty shoes they are always gold. After weeks in a tent in Provence in no shoes at all the gold shoes are quite hard to take. A sign that the ball is over. The holiday is over.

I shall be returning to France (without shoes) in August but this year have been able to have an extra holiday. It’s a long story but I spent all of last week with Marco and eve in Rhodes. We’ve just come back and when I’ve finished washing and ironing the colour coordinating clothes I shall tell you all about it.