Sisters 2003

Sisters Caroline and Fiona visited in August 2003 for about 10 days. Caroline brought her 3 children, Max, Lucy and Gilbey, and Fiona brought 14 month old Eva. A heat wave, with temperatures rising to around 37 °C (99°F) every day meant that we spent lots of time in the pool (28°C) rather than going to the coast which was probably even hotter than here and certainly more crowded and polluted. After four months without rain, huge forest fires were burning in the neighboring 'département', the Var - the first photo, taken from our terrace, shows a Canadair aircraft on its way to drop several tonnes of water on the Mont Vinaigre which you can see smoking in the background. The fires have destroyed several thousand hectares of forest so far and have come within 30km (20 miles) of our home. Most of the fires are set deliberately, we're sad to say.