Luke and Xena

Travelling abroad is so complicated at the moment with all the Covid regulations and Brexit changes. I woke up at 5am this morning worrying about all the necessary pre-travel things I have to do before we go to Switzerland next week, and it is an ever changing scenario. Only last week the Swiss embassy website was saying it would accept visitors from the UK if they were fully vaccinated 2 weeks before they arrived in Switzerland - when I checked recently the 2 week  requirement seems to have fallen away and now you are considered fully vaccinated from the day after your second vaccine. I worry about what else is changing that we will not know about and then get a nasty shock at the borders. If we did not have to check on the apartment we would not travel right now, but we really need to get there to do that - I already know that we will spend the first day there clearing out the fridge, freezer and store cupboards of food that is out of date. Just hope there have not been any nasty surprises like leaks over the winter.

This morning Xena went to the vet to get the travel certificate that is now required to travel abroad, as her pet passport has become obsolete now that we are no longer part of the EU. The vet recommended that we apply for a European (Swiss) pet passport for her, which is the advice that the government is giving to vet practices to pass on to their patients! The travel certificate that is required is a lengthy document (9 pages for France, our point of entry) and the vet says the clauses keep changing so it takes them ages to complete the forms as they have to check every little detail so it is far easier if we get a European pet passport. I will speak to the vet in Switzerland about this when we get there.  

Luke came home last night as he had a dentist appointment today and could not waste part of his working day travelling down from London, so it was easier to come home last night. I took a photo of him and Xena before he left to go back to London after his appointment.

Goodness but our Olympians are doing well with 48 medals so far, they cleaned up the sailing medals and Hannah Mills has become the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time. 

We have friends coming for dinner tonight, so I had better start preparing the dinner - I am serving a beetroot, asparagus, feta and walnut salad to start followed by chermoula roasted tuna with peppers, chickpeas and aubergines.