We left home at lunch time with Lola in the very safe hands of the lovely Kristina and Iain (house sitters extraordinaire). I think Lola would like them to adopt her as she really couldn’t care less when we get home and ignores us for a few days.

We stayed with Rosie in Margate – a town which has had so much change going on in the last ten years it’s hard to recognise it. Lots of small original boutiques with lovely things to buy. Great coffee shops. A huge choice of places to eat and a delightful seafront. Olivia Coleman appeared there a few weeks back, promoting her latest film Empire of the Light, a film inspired by Sam Mendes’ visit to the town.

We started the evening at our friends’ house for drinks. The house has been transformed and is outstanding with most of the original features kept and updated. After drinks, we ate at a Turkish restaurant, where I had mouth watering lamb. We ordered far too much which resulted in a take home bag for Brian, as an extra treat for his dinner.

On Sunday Rosie and I went shopping and picked up a few nice things, followed by coffee and cake in a seafront cafe, very reminiscent of cafes we went to as kids in the 60s. We picked up some freshly baked bread in the bakers, along with the biggest fruit buns I’ve ever seen.

We left for France the next morning, having started the holiday with a lovely weekend in Margate.

By the time we arrived at Eurotunnel, the rain was lashing down. We dashed across to the pet control and Polly’s passport was duly stamped. We bought bacon rolls and coffee and boarded within 20 minutes. By the time we arrived in France, we had eaten the rolls, drank the coffee and had a five minute snooze. On to Bruges, arriving there by 2pm, where we stayed at the Hotel Tulip de Medici, a short walk away from the main square. Walking down to the square we noticed that Christmas was still in full swing here with lots of decorations left up. We dined at the Surf and Turf, a restaurant we often use. Belgian stew for me and rabbit with mustard sauce for Ed.

Next morning, we were up and away early, heading for Austria, via Germany. Auf Wiedersehen fur jetzt