Being vegan in France... oui?

So, as a newly turned vegan our recent trip to France was my first venture abroad with my fussy eating habits. Did I make it, did I manage to stay vegan in France, home of fromage galore...?? Well you can find out in the latest note on my FaceBook page here www.facebook.com/aveganvirgin

But if you'd like a clue to the answer...

 I managed to find a couple of vegan restaurants...!

A typical menu

                                                                                                     A typical salad

Mother's Pride

Today my son is 17 years old. He is now old enough to do many things including start driving – proper cars, not just the little ones with pedals (it did make what to get for his birthday easy – those lessons are booked).

Unlike most other years I am having a quiet day, we are having the usual birthday BBQ next weekend - which is actually just as well given today’s torrential rain. So while he’s off with his girlfriend I am indulging in a little maternal reflection. I am somewhat surprised (how CAN he be so old?), a little apprehensive (he’s going to be going out into the big wide world on his own so soon?) and a lot proud.

Of course he isn’t perfect, who is, but I am so proud of the thoughtful, good humoured, kind, rounded young man he’s growing into.  We disagree on things, we have arguments, but we talk a lot, we laugh together and he still surprises me at times.

Last week, like many others, his AS level results were not what had been expected or predicted by the school (thanks Mr Gove). After the upset he decided to start the courses all again, retake the whole year, knowing that he wants to do better and knowing the career he wants in the future will be affected. This is the first time he has had any issues with schools and exams (I know, I’ve been a lucky mum!) but he handled the disappointment and decision making with a mature positive attitude.

After a trip to Edinburgh this week he brought me back presents including Edinburgh Rock – and had made sure it was vegan. And a pencil in my favourite colour purple. And a coaster with a campervan on it because he knows that I really want one (we often discuss my dream of travelling round Europe in one)!

Despite our sometimes heated debates about social inequality, when we were on holiday recently he stopped to give a homeless person sitting with his dog some money. I couldn’t stop myself giving him a hug for it.

He has a great group of friends, a lovely long term girlfriend who’s family adore him, he knows what he wants to do and where he wants to be. I smiled so much when a few weeks ago, unprompted and out of the blue, he declared how happy he was and how much he loved his life.

And that is all a parent can ever want to hear.

Happy birthday baby boy!

 The Ferrari I got him for his birthday...

Home again home again jiggedy jig...

Back safe and sound after our French fun. Taking forever to catch up with things! Will be back blogging soon but in the meantime here's an article my fave foodie mag Appetite published about my continuing vegan ventures :)
And if you want to keep up to date with those specific shennanigans you can like the Facebook page www.facebook.com/aveganvirgin

Lost in France so far...

In Paris we visited various cafes of course as well as saint Chapelle and the Conciergie then the Pompidou Centre covering miles of pavement along the way. So much so that I actually wore my feet out. Never ever have I felt feet so sore nor felt like such an old woman. I blame tramping streets looking for the Apple store (& indulging son) a task hindered by not realising how the French system of street numbering works... Paris is of course busy, beautiful and just so fabulously French. Je t'aime. 

We then took a train to Orleans. Not sure what to expect I was surprised - in a good way. From the market stalls selling books to the compact size and friendliness, this is a place I could have stayed longer than a day in - although we had 'done' the sights in that time. Joan of Arc is of course big in these parts with a statue, museum and house to her name. And the odd cafe or two. 

We were then heading off to Loire Valley. Picking up a car in Orleans I drove straight onto the busiest section, had a near miss with a tram, apparantley went through a red light (I didn't see the tram let alone a traffic light!) and got stopped by a spectacularly humourless police man. Let off with a stern telling off, thankfully the rest of the journey was less eventful. We arrived safely at the gite, greeted by Madame whose instructions and warnings made it sound like a 5 star establishment rather than the basic slightly shabby place it actually is (she also stung me for extras including sheets and cleaning and refused to take a card payment so has less than endeared herself to me) But no matter, last night was the first time for a while I felt very relaxed, slept amazingly well and woke quite refreshed. We've been exploring the local towns and chateau, the food and wine is good (except its no place for a vegan and I have been seduced by the local cheese) and we are as they say Having A Lovely Time. 

Sent from my iPhone

Losing control - and passports

I sometimes think that I am quite a laid back, easy going, chilled type of person - though others may disagree with me, in fact I have heard the term 'control freak' uttered in my direction on more than one occasion.

As I tell my son (usually when he objects to my interrogation about his plans, timings and social arrangements) I just like to know what is happening, I need to get things done and I like to have a plan. It's not control freakery it's just good management. When you are juggling many things, especially when you live on your own and there is noone else sharing the load, this makes perfect sense. In a work environment I am used to being in charge, making sure things are done and delivered, being ultimately accountable.

I did however slightly worry that I may have a tendency for OCD when last week my mum helpfully hung some washing out for me but IN THE WRONG PLACES. I hate the fact people could see my underwear so that always goes along the bottom line of the rotary dryer with the larger items hung from the top lines hiding the pants. And surely everyone knows you fill a whole side up with garments before starting to peg them onto another side... But I digress... As I say I am NOT a control freak!

I do like organising holidays. I much prefer to book my own flights, accommodation and everything in between. Again I don't think this is control freakery, it's just the preference I have for more independent type of travelling that suits where we like to go and what we like to do.

This year we decided to head to France, (not being a control freak, I consulted with son, it was a democratic rather than a dictatorial decision). So over the past few weeks I have sorted a trip that involves flying to Paris, staying there a couple of nights, a train to Orleans, pick up a car there, to a gite for a week in Loire Valley then back home via another couple of nights in Paris. It's just me and number one son so I reckon this gives us enough city time to keep him entertained and me enough chilling time to be able to relax without either of us getting bored or restless (and we are both quite happy mooching about as we call it and equally able to pass the time reading or being entertained with an iPad).

I'd booked the final bits just last week, found a book in the library on the Loire Valley, dug out an old guidebook on Paris and got some maps. The thing I love best about preparing for a holiday is coming up with places to visit or things to see and do (it's called good planning not control freakery remember). This was what I was looking forward to doing when I woke up in the middle of the night a few days before we were due to fly off and suddenly realised son's passport hadn't yet come back from the passport office. Cue a few days of increasingly irate and desperate phone calls to the passport office number, escalating stress levels and several nights where I was forced to drink wine to try to get a wink of sleep. Even son's laid back 'it'll be here' started to wane a bit when it still wasn't here two days before take off. Actually I hadn't even been able to speak to anyone in the actual passport agency (the poor call handlers who can only take details and say 'someone will ring you back' were the ones getting my angst ridden calls because their colleagues weren't ringing me back at all - in fact I am still waiting for that much promised call back..)

This was stressful for many reasons of course but one of them very definitely being it was Out of My Control. Horrors. Apart from emailing (three times) phoning (I actually lost count of how many times I pressed re-dial) and sending my son to the passport office (just the once - fortunately it's not far)- whether or not my son was going to be able to come on holiday felt horribly, horrifyingly beyond my control.

I came up with options for plan B of course (as a good planner - not a control freak - does). These were: I'd not go at all (and waste all that money), go on my own (I don't mind going solo but it's not the holiday I would've chosen to do by myself), or find someone to go in son's place (I have one friend who I know could possibly have done so at very short notice - but then my mother volunteered herself...which made the situation even worse!). But I couldn't solve the problem of my son maybe not coming with me, it was out of my hands - and I can't remember a time I have ever not been able to make things right, solve problems or sort things out when they involve him.

This is a tale of woe with a happy ending though. The passport finally arrived on Monday afternoon, bringing with it an outpouring of relief, cheers, celebrations. We are back on track, maps are out, itinerary is being sorted - and we are off to France today! And the lesson learnt, for this control freak, sorry - top planner, is check whether your passports need renewed many months rather than weeks in advance in the future.

Au revoir mes amis!

(and this is me when the passport finally arrived....)

Hairy house

I'm testing out using email to post to my blog so here's a pic of a rather excessively ivy clad house I spotted yesterday. I think it looks hairy and uncomfortable like an out of control beard....

Good things even in One of Those Weeks

While I now usually post five fab things about my week on a Friday, I believe it's better late than never - so here's some good things about my week this week, and it can be Smashing Saturday instead of Fab Friday...

This is a particularly interesting thing to do today as last week was One of Those. It started with getting turned down for some work I'd put a bid in for and really hoped to do, in the middle of it I had a *phone call* from school (in 12 years I have NEVER had a phone call from school!) to say son had given his notes to another pupil who'd copied them verbatim and put them in to be marked by the exam board who were none too pleased. Then the week peaked when I woke up in the middle of the night Thursday/ Friday and realised that son's passport renewal that I'd sent off several weeks ago hasn't yet come back from the passport office. And we're going to France this Wednesday.

So just a little stressed and distressed this week - although more positively, I have more work opportunities to go for, I spoke to son's teacher and he isn't the one in trouble he was just a bit over generous, and - you know what - the sun is now shining and I'm soon heading up to a cottage in Northumberland for a walking, eating and drinking girly night. The passport saga does however continue. After a day and a half, more than a dozen phone calls I am still waiting for someone to call back and let me know where his passport is... I am though breathing deeply and chanting 'it'll be fine'...

But now to the good and the things this week I am grateful for...
1. My new neighbour - I have a little pond in my garden, nothing fancy like the type you could keep those huge fancy fish in, just a little hole in the ground with some water and green stuff in it - but it now has been given the seal of approval from a froggy friend who has decided it's good enough to move into. Welcome Kermit!

2. Lovely libraries - I spent nearly a whole day in my local city library this week, first time I've really used it beyond popping into the cafe or for some sort of talk or event. Despite being nostalgic and a bit sad about the loss of staff stamping books (all self service don't you know) the facilities, building and staff are all pretty fabulous. It is now going to be one of my regular haunts too as without distractions I got a lot of writing done.

3. Proper pubs - I met a friend in one of those dying breeds, a proper pub where as you open the door you are greeted with a wall of aroma, the unmistakeable smell of stale beer, where whatever time of day it is it's quite dim inside, where the half dozen blokes resting on the bar are unmistakenly regulars, and where there is a no nonsense bar maid in sensible shoes in charge. In my yoof there were so many proper pubs like this, I even worked in some of them, but of course one of the drawbacks of development is that so many of them are now gone or changed into chain pubs, wine bars, or glitzy gastronomic places. I love proper pubs with proper beer.

4. My favourite flower - lots of things are growing fabulously in the garden thanks to the deluge of constant rain and if you can see past the humungous weeds many of the flowers and shrubs are blooming. One of my favourites is this clematis, I just find the colour and shape of the flower pretty perfect. The arch it normally climbs up came a cropper in recent winds but I have another one to put up and in the meantime it carries on flowering regardless. A lovely, pretty piece of pleasure.

5. My final fab thing of the week is - yep - those kittens. I have already posted a pic so won't spoil you or bang on about them again, but they've been fabulously soothing!

How many fab things have you found this week?