The thing about taking even the shortest period of time off work is that it takes so damned long to catch up on your inevitable return.

This is is what I am finding this morning, having had a day off on Friday so that I might spend a weekend with my Wife-to-be and her parents in the delightful setting of the Champagne region of La Belle France.

Despite the weather forecasts, it turned out that I would have been better prepared if I had packed my sunglasses, rather than my waterproof jacket. This is not a complaint, my friends, especially as ‘waterproof’ is rather a misnomer for the aforementioned jacket.

It was the most relaxing weekend I can remember for a long time, staying in a lovely hotel in Vertus. The décor was decidedly dodgy, but the cuisine at Hôtel le Thibault IV was outstanding. I even sampled snails for the first time. Yum!

On Saturday, after taking in the delights of Epernay and Reims, we stopped off at a local landmark. Atop one of the region’s many hills stood, what I suspect to be France’s most successful lighthouse. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that this lighthouse did not possess any great powers of illumination. Perhaps the reason for the lack of wrecks of unfortunate sea-faring vessels was due to it’s location, approximately 250 km away from the sea! The building did, however, house an informative museum.

All in all, it was a tremendous weekend, for which I thank D and M enormously.