Visits over

My Mum and Dad went home yesterday, which allowed Debrah, who came out on Saturday, and me to have a couple of days to ourselves at last - guests left on Sunday afternoon too and no new ones until Wednesday.

Before they went back to the UK, my parents took us all out for an expensive dinner at the Michelin starred 'La Barbacane' at the Hotel de la Cité. It was certainly expensive, and too expensive in my opinion for the standard of the food. I know I am being picky here, but although La Barbacane is excellent, it isn't exceptional and for the prices they are charging it needs to be exceptional.

I would far rather spend my money (or my Dad's money) in Le Parc - more entertaining, surprising and exciting. That comment would really rankle with my friend, Xavier, the general manager of the Hotel de la Cite, because the chef at Le Parc used to be the chef at La Barbacane and I believe there was no love lost when he departed to set up his own establishment.

Still, that's just my opinion and not everyone would agree. I'm not sure my parents would agree - I think they would feel safer in the four star international hotel surroundings of La Barbacane than in the fun and slightly flippant avant-garde surroundings of Le Parc.

No matter - they had a good week despite the problems for my Dad of getting in and out of the apartment. There are people that would say I shouldn't have made them stay here because of the difficulty of the stairs, but these are the same people that would probably stop my Dad going out at all or doing anything. It was tiring for him I know but so is everyday life at home. It was a change of scene for them both and a good rest for my Mum, which is equally if not more important. My Dad does have a way of dominating the proceedings - he gets all the attention - but my Mum needs just as much help and support because she has been looking after him for these past fifteen years of his reduced mobility.

I am worried about my Mum. She is 80 this August and has lost a lot of weight in the past year - she looks so frail suddenly - partly because of mild diabetes that she has recently had diagnosed and, of course, the strain of looking after my Dad all these recent years. She is stubborn and headstrong and opinionated (oh - that sounds like me) but I would never want her to lose her independence which is why I would never want them both to just stay 'at home'.

After they had left Debrah and I enjoyed 48 hours of lovely isolation with each other - talking and planning what we are going to do next and how quickly we can make those plans happen so that we are not sitting in different countries half the time.

How did we get ourselves in this stupid position? - oh yes, that was my fault. Damn me and my stubborn, headstrong, opinionated attitudes.