Being back in a house meant there was also a garden that needed looking after.

It hadn’t been tended to for a while with an overgrown lawn and lots of arbustes and arbres that needed attention.

There is un cerisier et un figuier

I had un sécateur and un escabeau so I got to work trimming les arbustes.

But I didn’t have une tondeuse – so I had to take a quick trip to Leroy Merlin to buy one. Fortunately the lawn isn’t a perfect pelouse so I didn’t need a very flash tondeuse just a basic model.

When I got home I needed Cath’s sister’s help again as it is an electric lawnmower so I needed une rallonge très longue to be able to tondre la pelouse.

J’ai coupé tout sauf ce coquelicot.

I was also keen to start growing some vegetables.

Donc j’ai semé des graines de tomates, de potimarrons et j’ai acheté aussi des jeunes plants d’aubergines.

Alors maintenant on a un petit potager.

After cleaning up the apartment we headed along the autoroute de soleil for Aix-en-Provence.

When we got there the removal men had beaten us to it in their big camion. So the emménagement began.

There were a few things to fix, a few minor breakages but by about 20h30 it was all done – apart from le four which needed connecting to the electricity. I need to buy some sucres to wire it in.

After the men had gone Cath’s sister, who lives nearby, came by with a few things to eat so we celebrated with a few glasses of wine.

And before we knew it moving day had arrived.

We had packed up as much as we could and were putting ourselves in the hands of the removal men

There were some anxious moments of waiting and worrying.

It didn’t start well as some cars had ignored le panneau telling them not to park outside our building. Then the men were late.

But once la grue arrived things moved pretty quickly.

The landlord had been clear – everything had to go out of the window – and everything did go out of the window.

Le frigo, l’étagère, le canapé, trois lits – tous.

And within a few hours the flat was empty.

I’ve got to do l’état des lieux next week but have agreed with the landlord that we can do it virtually.

With less than a week to go in Lyon we are making sure to make the most of its culinary highlights.

So we were going to visit another one of the restaurants that celebrated chef Michel Roux Jr recommended to us when we ate at his now defunct restaurant La Gavroche a couple of years ago.

We have been to La Mere Brazier – excellent.

We have been to Chez Paul – not so excellent.

So we were going to go to Miraflores – another on Miche’s list, but in the end decided it was a bit too pricey.

Instead it was back to one of our local favourites Le Brassiere des Brotteaux. I thought I should have the steak tartare – probably my last one in Lyon.

The day of our déménagement has been fixed – for Thursday 9 May.

Just like when we moved in the landlord insists that everything has to go out through the window.

This time, we were both mightly relieved to see the panneau arrive telling people they can’t park outside on the day of our move. When we moved in, our removal men decided it wasn’t necessary and were lucky to get a spot outside the house for la grue.

It meant everything had to come through our neighbour’s flat. Hopefully it will work better this time.

We have begun packing up a lot of things and cancelling utiilities contracts – je veux résiliér mon abonnement, s’il vous plait.

As my two years in Lyon draw to a close one thing I didn’t do too much of was swim.

The main pool in town – la piscine du Rhône – is a fantastic Olympic-sized outdoor pool right next to the river but it is a madhouse in the summer so we only went a couple of times.

But it is much nicer outside the période estivale and since leaving Euronews I have had a bit more time on my hands so I bought a 10-swim card and have made the most of it this last month.

As today was my last swim I went for a 2km swim – 40 lengths of the pool. It was sunny when I started with swifts swirling around overhead. It really is an idyllic location for a pool.

It was a good send off and a reminder that I must join a pool in Venelles – even if the sea won’t be too far away.