March

It has been an extremely bad month, weatherwise. A few springlike days but an awful lot of rain. On speaking to local people it seems that this is not normal and we also hear that it has been very wet in Ariege as well. Some days we have had persistent rain and other days torrential downpours. Easter was early this year, the weekend of the 22nd, and it was cold,wet and miserable. On Easter Saturday we went to a vide grenier (car boot sale) in Geaune, not many stall holders there and they all looked fed up! We had a nice meal, though, in the Auberge there which cheered us up somewhat. Today, the 29th, the sun is shining and the sky is blue, what a change from the past few weeks. The garden is looking very green and no doubt will now spring into life after all the rain.

Hunters Lunch

Saturday the 1st of March we went to the "repas des chasseurs", the hunters lunch, in the village hall. The starting time was 12 noon but of course there were aperitifs to be had before we finally sat down to eat at 1.30pm. We counted the tables and chairs and there were almost 150 people there. It was of course a gargantuan meal. Soup for starters, then hunters platter with salad and pate. This was followed by "civet de sanglier" a stew made from wild boar, then roast sanglier and haricot beans. After a pause we had cheese and salad, then apple tart soaked in Armagnac. The whole meal took about 4 hours. We sat with Michel, our elderly neighbour from down the lane and a couple of his friends. This couple were very chatty, or at least she was!! It turned out that she renovated our house back in the 1960's before going on to renovate another house up the road. After that she renovated several houses in the Dordogne before moving to Biarritz and then back to Mont de Marsan. How can I put this delicately??!! From a distance she looked to be in her sixties but close up I would say she is nearer eighty, very well preserved, made up and dressed elegantly. I am not sure when her husband came into her life but in all the conversation we had about the house renovations he was not mentioned. No doubt I shall find out more in the fullness of time as she asked if she could call in at some time and have a look at the house as it is now.