I remember in May when I saw all the outside seating areas being erected outside the bars and restaurants in the sixth arrondissement.

It made me think that summer was on the way.

So now in October I see the signs that – despite the lovely sunny weather we are currently enjoying- winter is surely just around the corner.

On a school outing au bord de la Saône this school group stopped to look at and discuss something.

They were looking at the Green Cube of course and talking about its design which the teacher said meant there was lots of room and lots of natural light inside.

I didn’t feel it was my place to disagree.

You might remember the mammoth task I had to undertake to declare my earnings to the tax office in May.

Well, having thought that they must have lost my dossier as it has taken so long to hear back – I finally received an email informing me to check the government website.

And when I did – amazingly I discovered the tax office owed me money!!!

Thank you again to my French teacher and colleagues who helped me fill in the form correctly and helped me to avoid paying any unnecessary taxes.

I checked I had understood everything correctly with Euronews’ head of the pay department.

“They are the experts,” she said. “You should trust them.”

Oh yes, I am happy to trust them on this one.

With our eldest son in town we went to Avignon to meet up with his French family.

Avignon was of course home to the papacy in the 14th century. So we had a wander round the gardens of the enormous papal palace.

We also saw the bridge from the nursery rhyme.

Sur le pont d’Avignon,

On y danse, on y danse

Sur le pont d’Avignon

On y danse tous en rond

As mentioned, we were not alone. There was a little chatty girl with us.

Alma is now 22 months old and babbles away in French.

She has formed a very strong bond with Cath and Matthew which was lovely to see.