So we have taken a two week holiday in Sicily with our eldest son Matthew joining us for a few days.

In France les grandes vacances are a very important rite.

In 1936 a leftist government, Le Front Populaire, signed into law the first French paid vacation – les congés payés. All paid workers got two weeks paid holiday. For the first time.

Nowadays workers are entitled to five weeks congés payés. At Euronews it is paid in arrears so last year I had barely any holidays.

So this summer – like the rest of France – we took two weeks off and headed for Sicily.

Bonnes vacances a tous.

Les jeux olympiques auront lieu à Paris. Si vous voulez des souvenirs, ils sont à vendre.

Cet homme pratique son swing sur un bateau dans la Saône.

It’s been a while.

Cycling home I saw what I thought were three Handmaids from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel.

As I got closer I realised they were Segway riders ready for the rain. Blessed be the fruit.

You may remember I recently saw an animal in the Rhône which I thought was a beaver but which colleagues told me was un ragondin.

Well today there was no doubt as I saw quite a few of them – out of the water.

Coypus are an invasive species and there are signs up asking people not to feed them. But people were feeding them bits of their baguette sandwiches!

A lunchtime walk along the Saône

Comme l’année derniere la canicule s’est arreté avec un grand orage.

Malheursement cette fois j’etais dehors quand ça a commencé.

Quand je suis rentré chez moi, J’ai compris qu’il a plu là-bas aussi.

It was a nice sunny day so Cath and I decided to try a bit of sailing/steering/driving a boat along the Saône. We had spotted a company that let you take a boat out without a licence at Confluence so after a very brief chat about the rules of the waters and how to drive the thing, we took to the waters.

It was quite straightforward to be fair, stay on the right, go under the yellow triangles on bridges and steer the whole time.

We only took the boat for an hour so we had time to travel up the Saône to Vieux Lyon and then we had to turn back. We saw some lovely sights on the way.

It did get a bit choppy when another boat went past – our little craft got tossed about a bit. But it was great fun and a nice way to see the city. We even saw my place of work on the way back.

I also learnt a new word – le point mort – neutral gear. I learnt it just in time.

S’il vous plaît messieurs, venez à le cube vert.