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.

As we got back to Lyon I dashed into this supermarket which is open late into the evening.

As I got to the counter to pay there was a customer talking to the shop assistant and I heard him say Fulham!

I jumped in of course saying that was mon équipe.

The customer then said Fulham were 10th and I said no they are 14th. In fact they are 13th but I was closer.

He then said they were une petite équipe – but he was just trying to see how I reacted.

That is my second Fulham encounter in the 6eme in recent months.

They can’t be une petite équipe quand même.

Before returning to Lyon there was time to drop in to see Iris. She is getting bigger but is a lovely, peaceful baby. She let us both have a cuddle.

It was time to head back to Venelles to clean our new house ahead of the removal date and to hopefully get some broadband fitted.

We took un aspirateur, une pelle à poussière, une serpillière, and lots of cleaning products to tackle a house which is really quite dirty.

When we arrived we spotted this at the gate.

Then we got to work, cleaning the walls, toilets, bathrooms, bedrooms, stairs, windows, kitchen – the lot – even la piscine.

The weather wasn’t great – it was chucking it down all day. So we concentrated on putting some elbow grease into years of limescale in the toilets and rubbing dirt, grease and crayon off the walls.

It now looks a lot better – even though some walls are still a bit of a mess because of bad paint jobs in the past.

Unfortunately the broadband wasn’t sorted – the technician came but a mix up with where to connect the cables meant they have to come back next Tuesday.

At lunchtime we went to a lovely bistro in Venelles and I celebrated our hard work with a lovely desert.

We were in our flat when we heard some loud music coming from the street outside. When we opened the window we could see some sort of march taking place.

We went out for a closer look and Cath worked out that the flags were Armenian and that it was a march of remembrance for Armenian genocide memorial day which commemorates the victims of a series of massacres and starvation by the Ottomans in 1915.

The next day I bumped into them again on the Presque Île.

We spent the weekend exchanging emails with Facebook support groups and trying to source the drugs that might save Ula’s life.

The British short hair breeder was a huge help and managed to source some tablets to hopefully start Ula on the road to recovery.

I then ordered the liquid medicine from someone in China and, convinced I’d fallen for a scam, we waited.

In the meantime we attempted to shave Ula’s sides to make the injections easier to give.

The drug she has to have is GS-441524 and is very effective in treating la pif.

We gave Ula the first of the pills and then a lovely woman in Lyon from the Facebook group came round to show us how to administer the injections.

It isn’t easy – Ula doesn’t like it at all. Normally a placid cat she turned into a growling, snarling, biting one when we try to give her the medicine.

Our first attempt on our own was a bit of a car crash, the second time a bit better.

We have to get better because she needs the injections for at least a month. The total treatment lasts 84 days!!

Wish us luck.