We had another visitor to meet la petite this weekend - son oncle aîné arrived on Thursday evening, after a nearly-missed-flight scare caused by delays on that old dependable, the British rail network. He got to meet his new niece straight away as she was still indulging in the final, autopilot feed of the day. Then the following morning he got to observe how his petit frère coped home alone with baby. That wasn't the plan originally, because la bienheureuse had taken the whole day off. However, she ended up working Friday morning instead of Thursday afternoon, due a lunchtime shopping nightmare involving a closed tunnel, previously mentioned Lyon bouchons (traffic not gastronomic variety), a closed petrol station and a delivery van thoughtlessly parked in front of the entrance to our box garage.
She was back in the afternoon to take the baby in wonderland to the pèdiatre for her fourth month checkup. 800 gram weight gain, more needle torture but all A-okay even if the visit seemed rather rushed due to Monsieur le Docteur running rather late with his appointments. Afterwards we introduced le grand frère to his niece's habitual afternoon stroll along the river, though she didn't nap as usual due to it being somewhat later than usual. Instead she fell asleep on the bottle half an hour later.
On Saturday morning les deux frères left the ladies at home and, after 20 minutes of vigourous tyre pumping, set off for a cycle ride. Up the river to Parc Feyssine, then all the way back down to Parc Gerland, then homeward into a stiff headwind. At least it seemed stiff on a warm, sultry day to one particular 50+ year-old father. Must try and get a bit fitter.
A gentler excursion was thus on the agenda for Sunday morning. A two-wheeled amble round Parc de la Tête d'Or and home again before the heat became too much. We would have sheltered from the sun indoors the whole afternoon had la petite cooperated by having an afternoon nap in her cot, but the familiar motion of the pram was required to get her eyes to close, so off along the river we went once more.
Monday morning, la mère headed to work while l'oncle ventured out for some sightseeing. Commendably, he managed to last nearly five hours out in temperatures that peaked at 34C. Roast chicken, tarte tatin and rosé wine completed his last full day in Lyon, and this morning père et fille are home alone once more. Main preoccupation of the day in temperatures of 36C: keeping cool. Fortunately the forecast is for cooler weather tomorrow.
