Bulls and horses.

Whilst David and Christine were here we went into Eauze in the Gers our neighbouring county/departement to a display of course landaise and horsemanship by a group from the Camargue. The morning started with the "abrivado" or the arrival of the bulls. A group of camarguais horseman rode round the perimiter of the bull ring surrounding two of the famous black camarguais bulls. Then we went into the bull ring where there was a demonstration of the course landaise and the course camarguaise. The troupe of horsemen, and one woman, then gave a demonstration of the agility and training of their horses which is necessary for them to have when they are herding the bulls on the Camargue. They made it look all so easy but of course one cannot see the aids that they are giving their horses to do this work. I have seen this group twice before when they came to Ariege and I was so impressed with them then. It was a pleasure to see the togetherness of man and horse.

Course Landaise and bullfighting.

Contrary to what many people think bullfighting is very popular in this area and is exactly the same as in Spain where the bull is killed. Many of the towns in the area have several bull fights during the course of their annual fete.
However les Landes is famous for the course Landaise which is a much milder version of bullfighting in its most simplistic explanation.
There are teams of men who are divided into "handlers", "dodgers" (ecarteurs)and "jumpers" (sauteurs)(my translation) During the season points are awarded and the top team along with the top dodger and top handler are awarded the championship. Cows, as opposed to bulls, are used and it seems that the more courses that they go to the more crafty they get! A cow, with a rope attached to its horns, is released into the ring and manoeuvered into position at side of the ring. Then the dodger places himself in the middle of the ring and encourages the cow to charge him. At the very last moment he turns away from the cow as she continues her charge across the ring. Similarly the jumper encourages the cow to charge him and then as she reaches him he jumps over the cow. A very simple explanation but I hope that I have given you some idea of what happens. Occasionally there are also courses without the rope which of course are much more dangerous for those participating. Several courses are on each weekend and many people follow them avidly, a real passion of les Landes.

Christine and David's visit.

One of my oldest friends, Christine, and her husband David arrived on the 31st May for 10 days. Christine and I have known each other since we were 16 so we have a lot of shared memories! They had driven down from Yorkshire to Poole to catch the ferry and then down here, having a night in the Loire on the way down. N is feeling much better now but still not 100%. Once again our visitors were to be somewhat disappointed with the weather but we still managed to get out and about quite a lot and also have some lazy time in the garden when the sun shone. I went down to Pau for the day with them they had a day at Capbreton (by the sea) when amazingly the sun shone. The dogs had more walks than usual as C and D like walking and exploring the local area. On their last day we all went out for lunch to the Hotel du Commerce in Estang which is about 15 miles away. It was recommended to me by a friend of our Dutch friend Nelleke and is indeed very good. I had taken N's parents there, when he was in hospital, and they too were very impressed with it. It's a nice drive there, through the vineyards of Armagnac, and they provide a very good 4 course lunch for 11euros 50. They left early the next morning, before we were awake, to make the long journey back to Yorkshire. If you read this Christine I am really missing you and the help you gave me, it is quite difficult having to empty the dishwasher again!!

Medical matters

Monday the 12th may was a bank holiday here (Pentecost)and N was very ill, he had been going downhill for some time and during the night he had agonising pains in his right side. I rang the duty doctor who asked us to go and see him immediately. When we got there he was very concerned and said that we should go to casualty straight away. He rang the hospital in Mont de Marsan and also wrote a letter for us to take in with us. It was very quiet in casualty and he was soon taken away to be examined. I waited for 3 hours and then it was decided that he should be admitted. The casualty department was very efficient and the waiting area was more like a hotel than a hospital. Comfy seating, lots of magazines and indoor plants. I don't understand why French hospitals don't have the disinfectant smell of English hospitals! I came back home to pack some things for him and then went back to find him in a very comfortable 2 bedded room with ensuite facilities. No other person in the other bed. He wasn't in the correct ward, pneumologie, as there was no room in there at that time. By the time I got there he had been settled in and was on a drip and feeling much more comfortable. He said that he was very happy to be there, that he felt safe there. Next afternoon he was moved to another 2 bedded room in the pneumologie ward. He shared the room with a man in his nineties who had a heart problem (don't know why he was in that ward!). A very pleasant chap who was very chatty and had loads of family visitors. Over the next few days N was seen by the doctor who prescribed the correct antibiotics for him and gave him many tests and x rays. I went in to see him every afternoon and he was soon feeling very much better. We had hoped that he may be able to come home on the Friday but there was some anomaly with the x-rays and they decided to keep him in for further tests. On the Saturday he was moved to a single bedded room which was very comfortable.
Sunday saw the arrival of N's parents, Peter and Thelma, at Bordeaux airport. I went up there to pick them up and we came back here via the hospital so that they were able to visit N. It was an easy drive up to the airport but it is much further than the trip I used to make up to Toulouse to pick up visitors. At least there was not the hell of the Toulouse ring road to cope with !!
Monday to Thursday I took Peter and Thelma out and about as well as visiting N in the late afternoon each day. A shame that the weather was not as it should be at this time of year, rain, rain and more rain with just the odd half day of sunshine when they could enjoy sitting out in the garden.
On Thursday Nigel came home. So good to have him back! He is much improved but obviously rather weak. We tried to impress upon him that he needs to take it easy for a while, not easy!!
Thelma and Peter left on the Monday after perhaps not the best of holidays for them with N being in hospital and the weather not behaving itself.
We visited Dr l'Heureux, N's consultant on the Tuesday. She is pretty sure that he has BOOP, bronchial obliterans organising pneumonia, and suggested that he may have to have a lung biopsy to confirm this. N was not happy about this and she said that she would be having a meeting with his hospital pneumologist to discuss his case and would keep us informed. She called the next day to say that they had decided that he should finish the course of steroids that he has been taking and then have a scan in a months time to see what was happening. So we now wait until the end of June and the next scan to see if we have a diagnosis. I think that we are very lucky to be here as the medical treatment is so good and efficient.