Today we united the French and British branches of our families in Montélimar.

We chose the location because it was halfway between our respective homes in Lyon and Marseille.

It was great to catch up with Sally, Hanna and Lauren – and of course Alma – who charmed Matthew and Nathan.

We also bought some nougat obviously.

Cette semaine nos fils sont arrivés à Lyon pour leur premiere visite.

It was lovely to see them. They were only here for a few days but we’ve missed them.

We took in a few sites – the main challenge was finding places for a vegan to eat in meat-mad Lyon. But we managed. We’ll see them in a few weeks for Christmas in London.

If you are squeamish please look away now.

I think the Lyonnais with the most dangerous lives are the rats who live along the banks of the river Rhône.

Here’s why. Almost every day on my cycle to work I see a dead rat that has been squished by a passing bike. There is a bike lane all along the tow path and bikes whizz along at quite a lick.

Today I saw two such fatalities on one commute for the first time. As a dedicated blogger, I took some pictures to illustrate these dangers.

CLICK AWAY NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THE EVIDENCE.

Je me suis rendu compte qu’il y a un an Cath et moi sommes venus a Lyon pour la premiere fois.

Le 15 Novembre l’année derniere était le jour que nous sommes venus a Lyon pour voir si nous pouvions demanager ici.

Apres des entretiens et un petit sejour à Vieux Lyon, on a decidé que Lyon était une poste ou on peut vivre et alors, un an plus tard, nous voici,

Et ça veut dire que je ecris ce blog depuis un an. Je vous en prie mes 615 visiteurs.

During my lunch break I came across this – firefighters in the river. It looked like a training exercise. Formation riviére.

Karim Benzema?

Paul Bocuse?

Les freres Lumieres?

Parlons de l’empereur Claudius.

I only learnt recently that the Roman Emperor Claudius – of I Claudius fame – was born in Lyon – or Lugdunum as it was known then.

Hence la Rue des Tables Claudiennes in La Croix Rousse in Lyon.

And what’s this lurking just below that street?

A second Roman amphitheatre – this one is the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls.

It used to be next to the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls – a monumental structure where the representatives of the 60 Gallic peoples met each year.

That was founded by Claudius’ dad in 12BC and it became the first national parliament.

So:

• the fourth Roman emperor

• the first to be born outside Italy

• tutored by Livy

• began the invasion of Britain in 43 which eventually established a new Roman province, Britannia, which was part of the empire until the early 5th century AD.

• Inspiration for books by Robert Graves that became an award-winning BBC series.

Yes, that should do it – le Lyonnais le plus célèbre.

The World Cup is just around the corner and the signs are growing on the streets and in the shops of Lyon.

Be rude not to join in….

As today was 11 November- and a bank holiday in France – Cath and I took a trip to Nécropole nationale de la Doua, the war grave cemetery in Lyon.

It’s a very beautiful place and very moving. None more so than the wall where the Nazi firing squad killed members of the resistance.

They included Jacques Mautret and Henri Thomas – both 16-and-a-half years old when they were killed.

Jacques was caught after an overheard conversation in a café and was accused of blowing up a direction-finding car. He was killed on 4 February at 5pm.

In his last letter to his sister he wrote that he regretted that his niece would never know her uncle. So sad.

We also found some Commonwealth graves – including Flight Lieutenant JS Jack Towsey. His Mosquito was shot down over Hameaux les Gaboureaux, when he was 29.

The first weekend after I arrived in Lyon I was exploring Vieux Lyon and stumbled across a cafe that sold hot chocolate – some of them were quite pricey. But I thought it would be worth returning one day to try one.

Today – exactly nine months to the day – was that day.

The café is really nice and the hot chocolate wasn’t bad either – and not that expensive.

We will be back.