I've been friends with the bloke in the orange shirt for 33 years. Last year he sold his business and moved to a quiet part of the Dordogne with his wife and dogs.
We waited until they were settled (and had the house live-able) and then decided - now is the time to visit.
It's too easy to procrastinate, to put off visiting friends for a few months which easily drift into years. None of us know how long we can keep doing that.
So while we were visiting London, we left our wee dog Maggie with Liz's family, hopped a cheap-ish EasyJet to Bordeaux and here we are. The photo was taken in Piégut just before one of their local French cycling club outings. It's a multi-cultural affair with French, Belgian, Portuguese and British languages circulating through the peloton.
The temperature topped 35C and it felt fantastic to roll along on almost traffic-free French roads. It's a far cry from our early cycling days, thrashing around on mountain bikes with my mate in Northumberland and Scotland. And yes, we do know exactly how lucky we are to have our health, time and just enough money to enjoy it.