It’s hot again, very hot. France is under a ‘dome de chaleur’ and the mercury is hitting 42°c plus in the far south. We have hidden indoors for the last two days.

And the poorly one? Doing very well, it has to be said. His balance is still a problem but he is much stronger in mind and body and walks with a stick in the house, so long as I am there in case of wobbles. His lovely physiotherapist keeps telling him ‘slowly’ and ‘listen to Lynne’…fat chance!

The bed in the living room has been taken apart as we have slept upstairs for the last three weeks which made life much easier while our younger son and grandson visited. Petit fils thought it was great eating breakfast with Dada side by side on our bed.

A saga with wheelchairs meant that at one point we had four in the house but now we are down to two and the fancy anodised green one was very useful on outings with petit fils although walking around the Parc Animalier was a challenge. Younger son’s muscles were put to the test, although petit fils did his bit!

The brilliant friends swung into action again and put up two grab handles in our shower so ‘i’m only the chauffeur’ can wash himself which makes a change from sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl which was how we began.

It’s two months since he came home from hospital and there’s been no call to return for the re-education the doctor talked about. In fact, we saw the neurologist last week and the diagnosis is vitamin deficiency (really?) which we find a bit odd but he wouldn’t be pushed into a deeper discussion and just promised all movement would return and to continue with all the tablets and physio. I am hoping we will get a copy of the letter he dictated to our doctor as I heard covid mentioned several times!

Our older son came back for a proper holiday and was chuffed to see the improvement in his father as he sped across the kitchen on his Zimmer!

With the help of various wheelchairs, borrowed, rented and bought, we have managed to join in with village events, visit local restaurants and feel part of normal life again.

Our first outing, soon after he came home, was to our fete de la musique and there were some shocked faces as I pushed Lou across the street. More recently, at our village vide grenier, several people came over to say how happy they were to see him looking so much better. That was so lovely to hear and did wonders for our morale.

Yesterday we gathered all the tools and he put up his own grab handle in the ‘visitors’ loo. The kind of job I can’t and won’t do. Gardening, yes, and I’m very pleased that all the vegetables that I planted under supervision from Mr McGregor have come to fruition. There was a lot more to do than just sticking them in the ground!

The cucumbers weren’t bitter and the aubergines yummy and still producing. The courgettes went mad, as usual , and there’s ratatouille in the freezer.

The pool was my biggest headache but with the loan of pumps from friends and several hours of wading about in a green swamp, I got there.

I kept telling myself that I would be so happy to be able to float about in clean water on a hot day…and I am.

And, of course, the family really appreciated it while they were here. Petit fils finally swam without armbands so all that back breaking scrubbing paid off.

So here we are. Life is different and there are challenges but, for the moment, we’re both in one piece and grateful for what we have. On y va!