And so, la petite voyageuese experienced her first trip on an aeroplane. We made it as easy as possible for ourselves by taking a taxi to the airport and a flight in the middle of the afternoon, a plan which worked to perfection. Short sleep in the pram while waiting for our flight to be called, mid-afternoon snack (yoghurt & milk) on the plane, smooth car hire pick-up and another short nap during the drive to Cambridge resulted in a baby in perfect good humour the whole day.
Chez J&C la petite was introduced to four more new faces and another baby (canine variety) before finally being put exhausted to bed. For us a sumptuous and highly convivial dinner awaited. Venison was consumed, wine quaffed, and an aluminium foil shapes competition judged before the dog finally alerted the parents to the sound of crying coming from upstairs. And so the evening ended for la bienheureuse as she spent the next two hours trying to calm a distressed baby. We put the unaccustomed late night disturbance down to the excitement of international travel and a rare late night bowel movement.
The next morning, oblivious to her parents' somewhat worse-for-wear condition, the little dear was awake and excitedly exercising limbs and vocal chords in her new travel cot at six in the morning. A slap-up late breakfast eventually followed before le grand gooner and I left the ladies behind to attend an important engagement at the sacred ground. The Wearsiders eventually became cannon fodder for the new Dutch hero as the green shoots of recovery continued their tentative growth.
A quieter (albeit enlivened by a hysterical eleven year old) but equally marvellous meal back at the Cherry Hinton nest was followed by an early night. No late night waking this time, but another early morning wakening, which this time was welcomed by la travailleuse as it gave her a few minutes with her daughter before heading off to the airport once more for a flight across the Irish Sea.
While maman was attending to business in Dublin, papa et fille enjoyed a quiet couple of days entertaining and being entertained by la petite beaucoup and her anglo-allemande niece-in-law. When the latter could be dragged away from the blaring TV or computer games upstairs she did an excellent pram-pushing job on Monday afternoon round the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall, which helped la petite sleep through a display of hearts by a pair of courting swans. On Tuesday afternoon, my kind hostess and her helper bravely babysat for an hour while I cycled on an undersized steed into Cambridge on a secret errand. The three girls just about survived my absence and a couple of hours later we were saying fond goodbyes as la petite and I moved base to the other side of Cambridge to allow the vivacious young lady's Mutter somewhere to sleep that night.
Professor Margarita kindly picked us up and offered us lodging for the night, put up la petite's bed and while she slept cooked another delicious dinner. La grande voyageuse returned from her Irish travels later in the evening, and the next morning la petite famille headed back to the airport once more. With a flight timed for just after lunch we hoped la petite coquinette would take her traditional lunchtime nap on the plane. Too much going on, too many interesting people to charm and a session of outrageous flirting with one of the stewards soon put paid to that idea. And predictably the descent into Lyon had a yelling baby soundtrack, though fortunately a man making funny faces across the aisle and the nouveauté of a rice cake to chew on soon quietened the little darling.
We landed in a damp Lyon, which was about 10 degrees cooler than we left it. The heating went on in the evening. Autumn has finally made an appearance.
