Day of the tent

An early start today as I had to take Rambo to have a blood test at the vets at 9am. He has been chipped and had his rabies injections so once the blood test has been done he will be able to travel, if necessary to the UK. A cool morning but a nice drive through the village and the forest for about 8 kms before joining the main road. Saw some swallows lining up on the telephone wires getting ready for their long journey to warmer climes for the winter. Just at the point where we meet the main road there is the big Bonduelle, vegetable canning factory, where the sweet corn that was harvested here is being processed. The vet is in Grenade sur l'Adour, a nice little town on the banks of the river Adour. The vet was charming and chatty and we were with him for 40 minutes. Talked about horses, hunting, English in France, thought we were going to be with him for the morning! Put Rambo back in the car and went to get a morning paper and was tempted to buy a pain aux raisins for Nigel and a croissant for myself. Back home and we sat outside and ate the goodies along with a cup of coffee. The sun is shining and the temperature rising quickly.
Last week we bought a trailer tent that we saw advertised. Although we are within day trip distance of the sea thought it would be good to have the tent so that we can spend 2 or 3 nights at the beach in the spring and autumn. So the weather being good we thought we would have a practise at erecting it. We bought it from friends of the owner and had tried to put it up at the time but the chap who was showing us how to do it didn't have a clue. Well, it did take us most of the rest of the day to work it out but now that we have done so it should be much easier next time. It is very spacious and has a sitting area, a kitchen area, a bedroom and a large awning. It has another awning that fits onto the side but I doubt we should ever use that. As I was making lunch I also mixed up some bread dough so that it would be ready for the magic hour of 2 o clock. We have low rate electric from 2-5p.m and from 2am to 7am so try to use the oven, the dishwasher and the washing machine during those hours.
We finally finished "playing " with the tent and had it packed up again by 5.30pm. A good feeling to know that we can do it! Not too many cross words either!!

Next day

A surprisingly cool day for this time of year. After breakfast I took the dogs out. Just up the lane from here is a turn off onto a cart track which goes through the fields which are planted with maize. The track eventually goes back into a lane which leads, past a duck farm with several hundred ducks in the field, future foie gras, and into our part of the village. The walk takes about half an hour and the dogs are able to have a good run.

Back home Nigel is planning the built in wardrobes for our bedroom as well as trying to decide where is the best place for the satellite dish for the TV. We haven't missed the TV as yet but with the nights drawing in I'm sure we will be wanting to watch it. We do have French TV at the moment but I have to say that their programmes are not very inspiring!!

I'm meeting Lily for lunch, in Mont de Marsan, so a change of clothes, wash and brush up and off I go. I met her at 12.30 at Gandis a very nice Indian restaurant in the town centre. A great novelty for us as there was a dearth of such establishments in Ariege. The owner is very pleasant and always has a warm welcome. A set lunch menu is 7euros60, very good value indeed. I have to say the service is rather slow but we were able to sit and have a good laugh and chat. After that we went to the "maison d'Associations" a centre for clubs in the town. We have joined a local club that had its first meeting of the season. I particularly wanted to join so that I could continue to play Scrabble but they offer all sorts of other things as well. They have outings to various places of interest, a monthly lunch, cinema outings and a weekly walk in the area. Lily wanted to join as they also provide Spanish lessons. She was introduced to the lady who does them and I had a difficult job keeping a straight face!! The lady was white haired with a very white face and dressed completely in black, I have to say that she looked as if she had come straight out of the Adams Family!! Apparently Lily has met her before and she was horrified when she realised that she had signed up to take lessons from her as she had French lessons from her in the past and the lessons folded after a couple of weeks as she was so bad!! Anyway it was good to meet quite a lot of people there and I'm sure that I shall enjoy the Scrabble sessions.

Back home late afternoon and Nigel is making progress with the wardrobe.

Rainy and cold so no work in the garden today.

life at castandet