After all the busy-ness of the past two days we all need a quieter day today and so plan to do almost nothing.

All we have on our agenda is lunch, food shopping and dinner. To achieve the first two of these we head off to Hesdin where we sit in the sun (the weather is stil glorious) and I eat steak tartare and enjoy a colonel (lemon sorbet covered in cold vodka).

Then it's off to the supermaket where weirdly we run into some wild animals. 

French circuses still have animals in them and it seems one is due to start here soon. In the meantime, to drum up business, the animals are parked by the side of the road and in the supermarket carpark.

I am not sure if I approve of animals in circuses but honestly all that is forgotten in my amazement at seeing an enormous sleeping lion just a couple of feet from me. I had never realised just how beautiful and magnificent they are. What a sight.

Also here to see are camels, tigers, monkeys, donkeys (slightly less exotic) and what my niece describes as 'a very woolly jumper with a head'. The description is perfect but after a bit of puzzlement we work out it is an alpaca.

Wildlife stared at, we do our weekly shop and then head home to sit in the sun, play cards and catch-up with years of family news.