Bridge

On Saturday the 4rd May we had a bridge tournament for beginners at the club. In fact it is simultaneous and all bridge beginners in France compete at the same time. I have to admit that I find it quite scary! There were only 2 tables, 8 of us, at our club. I felt that I played better than I did at the first tournament but still didn't manage to be in the top 4. Never mind, once I had settled down I did enjoy it. Afterwards we had all taken food and after the obligatory aperitif we had a meal. Our other halves were invited for the evening but sadly Nigel wasn't well enough to come. It was good to meet the other students partners and to be together in a social situation as when we go to classes there is no time for chit chat. I got on very well with the wife of A, a local dentist, who is in my class. He is a very nice chap but not very chatty or outgoing, the complete opposite of his wife who was very chatty and with whom I got on very well. A long afternoon and evening as we played from 3pm to 6pm and I finally was one of the first to leave at 9.30pm.

April, early May.

The wet weather continued throughout the month but I managed to escape it and went back to Devon for 10 days. Less rain there but very cold and frosty, even had a blizzard!!
When I returned it was nice to walk round the garden and see what had happened whilst I was away. There are lots of Iris in the garden and now that they are coming into flower I am pleased to see that there are several different varieties and colours. We went to an open day at a nursery garden in Mont de Marsan, run by the handicapped. It was very impressive and they had a very good selection of shrubs and annuals. I bought some herbs for the garden as I was very short of them here only having fennel and a very old rosemary. By the end of the month the weather had changed and we were into hot, sunny days for a while. Suddenly the whole agricultural community seemed to wake up and within a few days vast areas of ground had been spread with manure, ploughed and seeded with maize. Lily and I went on an orchid walk arranged by the county. They have bought 8 hectares of land, on a steep, south facing escarpment, which has ideal conditions for the orchids. After many years of agricultural exploitation the area is now unfertilised and grazed by sheep at certain times of the year which is giving the orchids a chance to re-establish themselves. There are 40 types of orchid in les Landes and 30 of those are in the Tursan area where the site is situated. We saw about 5 different species one of which, serapia lingua, is growing in an abundant patch on our lawn!!
As I write, Monday 5th May, the rain is teeming down again after a very hot and sunny weekend. I am not complaining though as it will give ideal planting conditions for all the summer vegetable plants that I want to get planted out later this week.