4 Etoiles de Pau 2010

For the fourth year in succession I made my annual pilgrimage to the international 3 day event. This year I was only able to go to the dressage day on the Friday. I arrived in good time and parked my car in the usual place over the road from the event. It was so strange as there were so few people about, hard to believe that such a prestigious event was taking place nearby. The main road into Pau, which I had to cross, was extremely busy at that time of day but crossing it posed no problem as 2 gendarmes sprang into action as soon as they saw me and strode into the road to stop the traffic and let me cross. I did feel like giving a royal wave to everyone but managed to stop myself in time! Walking down the long drive to the main area I once again felt quite alone, hardly anyone else around. Once I got to the shopping area most of the stands were still closed but there were a few people around the dressage arena waiting for the first test to start. I watched the first few tests and then when there was a break I went and had a welcome cup of coffee and did some people watching, always a fascinating pastime at this event! I spent the rest of the day between the dressage arena and the practise area. I think that, of the two, I find the practise area more interesting as there are always several of the riders riding in there before their test. Lunch was a sandwich and a glass of wine and more people watching then I went back to the practise rings. At one point Willim Fox-Pitt walked past me and leant against the rails, only a few yards from me to watch on the big screen, Emily Baldwin doing her test. It was difficult to appear nonchalant at the proximity of such a great horseman but I did restrain myself and contented myself with sneaking glances at him from the corner of my eye! an hour r so later I found myself standing quite close to him again, this time he was geared up for his test and looking oh so smart. At the end of the day the Belgian rider Karin Donkers had the best score.
The event was won by the German rider, Andreas Dibowski with William Fox-Pitt taking second place and also holding on to the lead of the HSBC FEI Classics. The full results can be found on the following link.
http://www.event-pau.fr/
and many photos herehttp://picasaweb.google.com/drnmarsh951/Pau4EtoilesDressage2010#

Repas du troisieme age or old folks lunch!

We were invited to join in the 3rd age lunch this year, given by the commune and served in the village hall. The invitation said aperitifs at 12 noon and sit down at 12.30. From previous experience we know that nothing starts on time here but did think that by getting there at 12.30 we might not have to stand around for too long. When we arrived there were a lot of people there so we reckoned that we had timed it just right. Jean-Marc our neighbour was helping out with the bar so after saying hello to him we let him pour us an aperitif. Looking around the hall I did feel quite young! The venerable age of many of the people there seems to confirm the statement that people in SW France have a long life span. Several people came up and said hello to us, we still haven't got the hang or the confidence to do what we should do which is to go round the whole room and shake hands with everyone. Roland and Jeanne, our neighbours who used to produce Armagnac, arrived after we did and seemed to take forever going around and greeting everyone

By 1pm people were beginning to get seated and I asked Jeanne if we could sit with their little group as we didn't really know anyone else. She introduced us to a couple who live in the village and are from the Lille area.  Jeanne was the last to sit on our table and asked if we could move up one place as she didn''t want to be sitting next to Roland, her husband!! So I was next to Jeanne, then Nigel, then Roland and then the Lille couple. Nigel and Roland managed to have some conversation despite Nigel's basic knowledge of French and Roland's deafness. There were 3 very elderly ladies, well into their 80's, sitting opposite us and we learned that they had all been at school together until the age of 12. What a different life they have led, only at school until the age of 12 and never moving from the village. I suspect they have had very hard lives compared to mine.

Jeanne is my age and she told me that she was married at the age of 19 and that Roland is 11 years older than she is. I reckon that she too has had a hard life. Until their son Thierry took over the farm they grew vines and produced Armagnac as well as rearing capons. Jeanne still sells Armagnac at the weekly market in Grenade. When Thierry took over the farm he pulled out the vines and started producing beef cattle. Thierry is now about 40 and has never married so Jeanne and Roland aren't really retired as they need to help him out . I felt quite sad, talking to her, as I felt that she was not happy with her lot. Unlike many of the women in the village of her age she is vivacious and always dresses well. When I say that she dresses well I mean that she always looks up to date whereas many of the older ladies wear shapeless frocks and cardigans!

There was a trio of musicians, all three in their sixties, two accordionists and a guitarist and they were playing and singing until we were all seated and served with our first course. They had their meal and continued playing when coffee was served and until everyone left. Towards the end of the afternoon the mayor, Roland and another man from the village joined in with them as well.

The meal, as ever at village occasions, was substantial and there was a choice of red, rose and unusually white wine as well. We had soup followed by calves sweetbreads, duck (of course!!) salad and cheese, followed by a pear and chocolate dessert. We had never eaten calves sweetbreads before and Nigel was reluctant to try them but was persuaded to have a small portion. We were told that they were expensive and very good. I ate most of mine but can't say that I was over impressed with them and would certainly not select them from a menu if there was a choice.

After the pudding and before coffee was served I moved my chair down to the bottom of the table and had a chat with the couple from Lille (whose names I can't remember!)who were very pleasant and friendly. I got the feeling that they felt as much "foreigners" as we did being from the far North!! The mayor came round giving us all a drop of Armagnac to finish off the meal and we then said our goodbyes until the next time.

Vide Grenier in Castandet.

Most villages hold a vide grenier each year, they are a cross between a car boot sale and a jumble sale, and are held as a fund raising activity for the village. We usually go to one each week as it gives us an opportunity to see surrounding villages as well as the chance to look for bargains! They start at 8am - we are never there that early!- and continue until 5pm and quite often a cheap lunch is served which makes the whole day a social occasion as well as a commercial one.

This year we decided that we would have a table at the Castandet vide grenier and try and sell some of our valuable rubbish as well as supporting the village. In truth we had nothing of great note to sell and most of the stuff was in a box in the attic. We packed the car on Saturday evening and set off at 7.30am to get to the village hall and unpack before 8am. There were places available both in the village hall and outside in the car park but we had opted to be inside as a table was provided and of course in the case of rain we could protect our valuable wares! It didn't take us long to unpack the car and take our things in to the hall where Nigel starte to unpack the and I went to park the car.
When I got back to the hall Nigel had unpacked most of the items and the early birds who were hoping to find a valuable worm had started looking around. We made our first sale very quickly - a euros worth of books- and then we settled down for a long wait before our next sale. We were fascinated by the couple who had the next table to ours, he was a large man who was selling a plant based hangover remedy and some BBQ tongs. I remarked that we had seen him at a similar event the previous week so I suspect he sets up his stall each week. I hope that it isn't his full time job as his things weren't exactly flying off his stall! He demonstrated how good his BBQ tongs were by grabbing a sausage shaped piece of wood and  flipping it over. Quite how it would work if one wasn't so practised and was trying to manipulate a greasy sausage I am not sure. Many people must have had the same thoughts as we did as he didn't make many sales in fact, to our knowledge, he only made a couple of sales of the tongs and none of the hangover cure.

Our friend Helene had a couple of tables adjacent to ours and she was one of the last to arrive accommpanied of course by the dreaded Florian! Helene does several vide greniers over the season and has some quite nice stuff to sell so her stall looked much more impressive than ours did. Florian was quite well behaved for a start but, I suppose understandably, deteriorated as the day went on. He kept disappearing and Helene kept worrying about where he was and what he was doing. Later in the day the inevitable happened and he rushed in holding up his trouser leg to show us the cut on his leg. I felt like asking why he hadn't done it earlier, it would have saved us the suspense of waiting most of the day for it to happen! After Helene had rushed him off to bathe the leg he then went into miserable mode and curled up under the table sobbing and whining for quite some time.

The morning dragged by but we were quite happy watching the potential customers pass by with only a cursory glance at our rubbish before passing on to hear the unending spiel of the BBq tong man. He and his equally large partener had settled into conversation with another large couple at the opposite table thereby effectively blocking our way out. Each time one of the other of us wanted to move away we had to go through the routine of asking them to move and let us escape. We took turns at leaving our post and wandering around the other vendors to see if we could spot any bargains. At lunchtime Nigel went and joined the long queue for a sausage sandwich, the demand for which was high, as the sausage grillers were having a problem keeping up with the customers.

At 2pm more eager bargain hunters started arriving for the afternoon session. I was detemined to try and get rid of some of our stuff so I wrote a poster saying that everything on the stall was priced at 2euros, 1 euro or 50 cents. Despite this generous offer not a lot more was sold although we did get rid of a large table lamp, for 2 euros, which took up a lot of space in the attic. Nigel of course thought that I had sold it for far less than it's value but he had to admit that it had certainly seen better days. Nigel's attitude to selling is far different to when he is buying when he makes ridiculously low offers but he was soon to meet his nemesis! He had 3 old leather belts with attractive buckles which he had had for many years and didn't use any more. He had sold one in the morning and the other 2 were on sale for the princely sum of 2 euros each. In mid afternoon a young woman, early 30's, dark hair and flashing eyes, saw these belts and tried one on around her waist. It was obviously too big but she slid it down to fit around her hips and posed whilst gazing coquettishly at Nigel! Suddenly the hard sell attitude vanished and he was putty in her hands. They went through the "are you eenglish" routine and in a mixture of basic French and English went on to the bargaining phase. He soon reduced the price to 3 euros for the 2 belts and she then started the "looking for change" routine which went on for some time. She eventually managed to scrape together 2 euros 80 and, with a winning smile, said would that be enough and of course he said yes. Oh dear, a pretty girl, a bit of flirting and he was virtually giving them away!! Helene and I were in stitches watching the whole routine but she went away happy and Nigel was happy with the attention that she had bestowed upon him!

I believe that that was our last sale and as 5pm approached we packed up most of what we had unpacked in the morning and said our goodbyes to Helene and our neighbouring stall holders. It had been an entertaining day if not a profitable one. I think that in the end we made a profit of about 2 euros after we had paid 6euros for the privilige of being there plus the cost of the sausage sandwiches, coffee and wine.

Next week we shall be back to being prospective purchasers and Nigel will be  back in hard bargaining mode.

When Sue and Peter came to stay.

My friend Sue, who I have known since we started grammar school in 1954, and her husband Peter visited us for a week at the beginning of September. They live in a beautiful part of the UK in the Cheshire Peak District and I stayed with them for a couple of days last year. Although we don't see a lot of each other we have always kept in touch by phone, letter and now e mail. Whenever we meet up it is as if it has only been a few days since we last saw each other and there is always lots of chat and laughter.
They had visited us several years ago when we were at Carol and I was now keen to show them around this part of France.
 Theu flew out from Manchester to Bordeaux and caught the train down to Mont de Marsan where I met them on the Thursday evening. On Friday, after a lazy morning and lunch I took them up to the pretty little town of La Bastide d'Armagnac. It is a very old, picturesque little place and one of the highlights is a drink at one of the oldest bistros in France which is hidden away in one of the narrow little alleyways.
http://www.saint-justin.eu/saint-justin_b07.php
The bistro Tortore is run by Colette Tortore who is now 78 years old and has been there all her life. It was started by her grandfmother in 1885 and has been in the family ever since. Sadly there is no-one else in the family to continue the tradition as Colette has never married. Colette was very pleased to chat to us and to show us her albums of photos and newspaper cuttings.

Sue and I on the train to Marqueze.

On Saturday we all went (Nigel as well) to the museum of Landaise life.http://www.landes-tourisme.info/marqueze-ecomusee-de-la-grande-lande-1157-a.html  This park in the middle of the forest displays the life and traditions of the area. Access is by an old train from the village of Sabres a rather rickety ride of 10 minutes. There are a number of different old landaise houses which have been carefully dismantled and reassembled in the park and are furnished as they would have been over a century ago. It was easy to spend a lot of time wandering around and taking in all the history before we caught the train back to the station at Sabres where we then went into the pavilion where there is an extremely interesting permanent exhibition of life in les landes over the past couple of centuries.
On Sunday morning we all went to the vide grenier at the nearby village of le Vignau. There were a lot of stallholders both inside and outside and we all had a good time hunting for bargains. Back home for lunch and the Sue, Peter and I went to visit the chateau de Ravignan which is about 10 kms away
http://www.armagnac-ravignan.com/eng/presentation.html  There was only the 3 of us and one couple with a small child and our guide was very friendly and chatty. After the tour the others left and we were treated to a visit to the cellars, where hundreds of thousands of euros worth of Armagnac is stored, and then to a taste of the wonderful stuff!

After lunch in Eugenie.

On Monday we went into Grenade, I picked up my paper and we sat and had a coffee and watched the world go by before going on to Eugenie les Bains for lunch.
http://www.ville-eugenie-les-bains.fr/

In the gardens at Eugenie.

After lunch we walked around the gardens and gazed at the expensive and well known hotel, Les Pres d'Eugenie which is run by the celebrated chef Michel Guerard. We would have to win the lottery to stay or dine there! On the way back home we called in to have a look at the Rugby chapel in Larriviere, always a stop on my guided tours of the area!
The weather had been a bit too warm over the last few days but on Monday night we had some welcome rain which continued until lunchtime on Tuesday.  After a relaxing morning at home we went to have a look around Mont de Marsan and once again sit outside at the table of a cafe and have a drink and watch the world go by.
Wednesday dawned damp and cloudy but it wasn't a problem as we had planned to go over to Marciac, meet up with Kate and Peter and have lunch on La Peniche, the boat that is moored on the lake there. However, before we were able to leave we had a bit of a drama. We had noticed over a period of several days that we had one or two hornets, each day, crawling on the sitting room floor. Luckily they were quite dazed and easy to kill. We couldn't understand where they were getting in as the windows are double glazed and the ceiling is insulated. Peter happened to notice, on the Wednesday morning, that there were a lot of hornets flying around and going into the chimney. The chimney has a liner and it seemed that they were nesting between the liner and the chimney. The fire was set so Nigel lit it in an attempt to smoke them out. It wasn't wholly successful as several fell down on to the hearth and Nigel and Peter were kept busy swatting them. As the fire died down we left to go to Marciac in the hopes that the house wasn't full of hornets when we returned!
We arrived in Marciac in time for a quick look around the market before joining Kate and Peter at La Peniche where we had a good lunch with lots of chatting.When we arrived back home the hornets were still buzzing around the chimney and Nigel wanted to light the fire again but I thought that more serious measures were called for. I popped across the road to ask Alain what we should do. Apparently now the fire brigade doesn't generally deal with this sort of thing but he said that I should call them and stress that the hornets were in the house and that I am allergic to their stings. I came back home and called them and convinced them that it was a dire emergency so the controller said that she would send someone round. Two volunteer firemen, a male and a female, arrived in half an hour and took stock of the situation. The male half of the duo donned his protective suit and his partner zipped him into it. He then climbed up his ladder and spent quite some time squirting some noxious substance into the chimney as well as spraying any hornets that were trying to get back to their nest. Before he left he said that there was a possibility that they may return as he hadn't been able to get in the chimney to destroy the nest and that if they did return to call them again and they would come back. Thankfully we have seen no sign of them since.
Not quite the entertainment one wants to provide for one's guests!
Next day we were up and about early as Sue and Peter had to catch the 8am train to Bordeaux at the start of their journey back home.

Piano Recital.

On Sunday the 22 of August we went to a piano recital, given by a young Spanish pianist Carlos Apellaniz, at the Chateau de Lacquy.
http://www.armagnac-express.com/vsop.htm
We had never visited the chateau before so we were pleased to have the opportunity to see it.
The recital was advertised to start at 6pm prompt and despite the fact that we are used to things happening much later than advertised we decided that we should get there in good time. We arrived about 5.40 and there were quite a lot of people there already but we were able to get seats near the front. The recital was to take place in a marquee which had been erected on the lawn in front of the chateau.
True to form people were still arriving at 6pm but about a quarter of an hour later the comte and owner of the chateau gave a short introductory speech to introduce the pianist who then emerged from the chateau to bow and take his seat at the piano. All the pieces that he played were by Chopin. In the first half he played 2 Scherzos and a Ballade. In the second half he played Sonata no 35. The music was very pleasant although the accoustics were not good being as we were outside. It was amazing to see his hands flying over the keyboard producing such beautiful sounds and he played everything from memory.
As well as thoroughly enjoying the recital we were given, during the interval, a good opportunity to "people watch!" It was fascinating to see the different types of people there, I suspect there were more "posh" people there than we have seen in all our 3 years in les landes! Surprisingly, the comte himself looked quite unassuming and if we hadn't known it was he we wouldn't have suspected that he was indeed who he was.
After the recital we were invited to go to another marquee on the lawn to have a drink. Despite the fact that the chateau produces wine as well as a fine Armagnac the drinks on offer were orange juice, Perrier water and tonic water!

Weekend in Ariege.

We had 2 days back home after our trip to the Dordogne before we were packing up again! This time we were going  back to Ariege to stay with our Dutch friends, Martin and Mieke, who had invited us over for a party they were giving on the Thursday evening. We arrived early on the Wednesday evening and found that Martins brother and wife and another couples were already there,  with their caravans, on their way back to Holland after their holidays in Spain. Also there was Rafael from Barcelona and his Dutch wife all of whom we had met previously. As we were eating dinner on the terrace M and M’s daughter, Anna, and her husband Keri arrived also on their way back from Spaiin.
The party was to be held on Thursday evening and a pig had been killed for the festivities, Martin and some of the other men started a big fire in readiness for the pig to be roasted later in the day. I helped Mieke and the other ladies prepare the accompaniments for the meal, there was plenty to do as they were expecting about 30 guests!
Rafael had brought a whole leg of Serrano ham which he started to slice and we all helped ourselves to some delicious pieces of that! The butcher arrived in the afternoon and he and Martin set up the equipment for the pig roast and added the hot ashes  and soon the pig was turning on the spit. People started arriving from 4pm onwards and we set up trestle tables in the barn. Then followed a very pleasant evening with lots to eat and drink in a wonderful atmosphere of bonhomie. All the guests, apart from us and Rafael, were Dutch but thankfully most of them spoke very good English. We had met many of them before so it was good to see them all again.
We were up in good time, the next morning, to say goodbye to Anna and Keri who were leaving to continue their journey back to Holland. Then N and I went to Fossat to visit Ann and Mark, a couple of Australians, who are staying at Caoutelle the house which belongs to some English friends of ours. Back then to Landry  where we all spent a relatively quiet afternoon and evening after the previous days celebrations.
The 2 Dutch couples left very early on Saturday morning, well before any of us were out of bed. After breakfast Rafael and his wife left and N and I went down to Artigat and had lunch at l’Escale before going up to Carla Bayle. We had a look around the art exhibition there and then sat in the shade and had an ice cream  as it was very hot. We visited the gallery of Olivier Ledoux who does some fantastic wood carvings. http://www.olivier-ledoux.com/ and had a chat with him. He has recently completed an amazing sculpture on a new roundabout by the bread factory in le Fossat.http://www.lefossat.com/spip.php?article313 . On the way back we called in to see Mike and Jik and caught up with their news.
Back at M and M’s we were awaiting the arrival of some friends of theirs who they knew from their time in Nicaragua. They arrived in the early evening. They were a family of four, Rene who is Chileanwho is Dutch and their children Gana (16) and Isabelle (11). Denise works for an international aid agency and had met Rene when he came to Holland as a refugee . They have lived in Ecuador and Nicaragua and are now living in Amsterdam. They had been down to Spain for a couple of weeks, a sad holiday as Rene has cancer and it will probably be their last family holiday.
M and M had told them before they came that the 4 of us would be going to the fete de Bajou later in the evening so after chatting to them for a while we got our glad rags on and  left for Bajou. When we lived in Artigat the fete at Bajou was always our favourite and it seems that it is one of the most popular in the area as tickets have to be booked well in advance. It was good to see so many old friends there. Ruud and Kitty were there, we had not seen them since last year, Peter Paul and Mitzi who are now well settled and running a gite business were there, Mike and Jik and Corry and Hans were there as were Yves and Colette my old Scrabble friends. Mitzi had reserved places for a party of us and we took up 2 trestle tables. It seemed an age before the food arrived, everyone was getting really hungry but the wine helped with the waiting! It must have been close on midnight when we had finished eating and we all went outside to enjoy the dancing and the disco - young and old alike! It was very bizarre to be dancing in the shadow of the church in the small square presided over by a statue of the Virgin Mary!! What did she think?? There was a “confetti battle” where bags of confetti are thrown to the crowd and  the recipients of them rush around throwing confetti over everyone they can get close to. Nigel appreciated the music and was happy to dance the night away until we left at 2am. When we got back to M and M’s we shook out as much of the confetti as we could before going in the house and to bed.
We all slept late the next morning and breakfasted on the terrace. N and I spent the morning playing cards with Gana and Isabelle. They were extremely nice children and their command of Dutch, Spanish and English was impressive. We all lazed around in the afternoon before getting ready to go for a meal at the ferme auberge in Lezat. Mieke had booked a table for us all for 7pm but when we got there it appeared that there had been a breakdown in communications as they are only open on a Sunday lunchtime1 Plan B was to go to the ferme auberge in St Ybars where, luckily, they had room for us.
So, another festive weekend was over and we waved goodbye to Rene and family as they left for Amsterdam before we too left to return home.

TFF Fest.

and Rambo came too.

The France forum is a forum dedicated to expats who live in France and anyone with an interest in France which was started just over a year ago. It had been decided to have a gathering for members to meet "face to face" and get to know each other. It was to be held in the Dordogne, on the farm of Irene and Fabrice who we have known for some time, on the first weekend in August. We decided to camp and went up on the Thursday so that we could give irene and Fabrice a hand in getting ready for the weekend. We arrived about 5pm and after setting up the tent settled down to chat, on the terrace, over our evening meal. It was good to see Irene and Fabrice again and to meet the delicious Marco, an young Italian who was staying with them. The first night under canvas was OK but our bed left something to be desired from the comfort point of view and I was delighted, the next day, when Irene loaned us a mattress!
On Friday morning N set to work mowing grass and pruning back branches and brambles and I helped Irene with tidying up around the house and terrace.Fabrice got the keys for the village hall which we had hired for the weekend and we took some things down there in readiness for the weekend. There were 3 arrivals in the afternoon one who was  camping and a couple in their camper van. Later in the afternoon Irene and I went into her neighbouring village to go to the butcher and then met up with a friend of hers who invited us back to her place for a drink where we met up with another friend. A pleasant interlude.

Fabrice enjoying a pastis.

Meanwhile back at the farm the aperitif hour seemed to have started. One guest who was due about 7.30 was bringing lots of food so we decided to abandon any thoughts of cooking and wait for his arrival. Luckily he arrived, somewhat later than 7.30, and had made a large and tasty tartiflette which soon disappeared. That was followed by his home made far Breton (a yummy Breton type of cake with prunes).
What with the luxury of the borrowed mattress and the evenings food and wine intake a very comfortable night was spent in our tent.

Breakfast time.

Irene taking photo of me taking photo of her.

After breakfasting al fresco N went to see what odd jobs he could do and I took myself down to the village hall to prepare some dishes for the evening.Back to the farm to find several more people had arrived and their offerings were soon on the table and we got down to the serious business of eating and chatting. After lunch I sneaked off to the tent for a lie down so that I would be fresh as a daisy for the evening's celebrations! When I emerged from my siesta several more people had arrived and everyone was sitting around chatting and getting to know each other before dispersing and getting ready for the evening.
A very pleasant evening was had by one and all. Lots of eating, drinking, chatting and dancing.
Another al fresco breakfast on Sunday morning and several people left for home whilst the rest of us prepared for yet another day of eating, drinking and chatting. Lunch was organised and set out in the village hall and the afternoons rain and thunder didn't dampen any ones spirits. Everyone helped with the clearing up so the village hall was left as we had found it and then most people took their leave. There was just N and I left along with one more couple and of course Irene and Fabrice. No one had any energy left and none of us needed any more food so we retired to the tent well before 9pm.
We were away next morning leaving irene and Fabrice with some well deserved peace and quiet!
A good weekend which left us with many memories.

Fete de Castandet

Another year, another fete! The local fete is always held on the weekend nearest the 14th July. On the Saturday evening our friend Helene invited us round for aperos before the evening's events along with Corinne, her daughter,Florian, her son, Gerry, a mutual English friend, and his daughter Eva. It was very hot so we were all able to have a swim in Helene's pool before relaxing in the garden. We then went to the village square where the evening's event was to take place. After a drink at the bar N decided that he was going to leave but I stayed as Helene woould take me back home. The highlight of the evening was an inter-village competiotion between 2 teams of young people, one from our village and one from a neighbouring village. An arena had been set up with tiers of seats around and the competiotion took place in the arena. If any of you can remember the old TV programme "It's a knockout" please try and imagine something similar but with the added attraction of "vaches landaises" - the large, horned cows that are used for the local "courses landaise" !!It was a hoot and I was sorry that I didn't have my camera with me. Try and envisage 2 teams of 4 trying to play football with a large cow trying to charge them! And that was only one of the "games" that was part of a couple of hours of the competition.
The next day there was a proper course landaise in the arena and I had intended to go along with Helene, Florian and Corinne but it was very hot (38C) and I chickened out at the thought of sitting in the sun for a couple of hours.
Monday was the last day of the fete and we were all going to the large meal which celebrates the end of the fete. Gerry and Eva called in here en route and we met up with Helene and family at the village hall. Helene had secured seats inside but we had found seats at a table outside as it was so hot in the hall. After some discussion, when we were adamant that we were staying outside, everyone decided to join us and relinquished their seats in the hall. It seemed, as the evning went on, that we would have been much better off if they had stayed inside as Gerry and Helene spent most of what should have been a pleasant relaxing evening jumping up and down searching for and screaming at their respective childres!

Long weekend in England.

Three days after Titch left I too was on my way to the airport at Bordeaux for a long weekend in England. As I was only going to be away for 4 days I took the car up to the airport. The purpose of the trip was to go to a party to celebrate the 50th birthday of Pam, one of my henhouse friends. The henhouse is a group of 20 or so ladies who met on line 6 years ago due to a shared interest in smallholding and horticulture. Pam, who lives in East Sussex, recently bought, with the help of Jo another henhouser, several acres of pasture and woodland to grow fruit, veg and flowers. Pam has spent a year clearing and planting and the party was to be held there.
I flew to Luton where Ali, another henhouser met me. I have met Ali before at a previous henhouse gathering at Jo’s in Yorkshire. Ali lives in Northampton and on the way to her home we stopped off at a garden centre to meet up with Ros, yet another henhouser, who I had not met before. It was good to meet her and sit and chat over a cup of tea. Then we said goodbye to Ros and drove up to Ali’s where I met her hens and had a look around her garden. I had put in a special request for fish and chips and her husband, Andy, arrived with them after he had finished work. What a treat!
Next morning Ali and Andy packed up as we were to be camping and they kindly lent me a tent. It took about 3 hours from Northampton to Pam’s via the M1 and M25. Quite a culture shock for me as I am not used to traffic jams and busy roads!
When we arrived at Smithlands there were lots of Pam’s family and friends already there as well as Jackie ( henhouse) and Phil who had come from Wales. I had never met Pam before but after all the years that we have been on the henhouse I felt that I knew her well. After a welcome cup of tea Ali and Andy put up our tents. Soon the rest of the henhousers arrived, Jo and Simon, Laura and Peter and lastly Holly with her adorable cocker spaniel puppy. We set up a table close to our tents and drank champagne and had lunch. There was just one glitch! Ali had forgotten to pack the adaptor which we needed to blow up the airbeds! Ah well, I’ve slept on hard ground before so I can again - I have plenty of padding!!

Laura, Jackie and birthday girl Pam

The afternoon was spent talking but despite the fact that it was mid June - the 21st- it was quite chilly. There was a campfire going but so many people around it that we decided to despatch the men folk to collect wood and make us a fire too. That done the rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly. There were a lot of non-henhousers there - Pam’s family and friends- and in the early evening we all gathered together to toast Pam’s birthday. We had a look around the garden that Pam had made, what a lot she had achieved in just a year. The most spectacular plantings were of Sweet Williams, lots of them and some stunning coulour too.

Back to our campfire and the BBQ’s and more food came out. Ali cooked us a beautiful steak that had come from a Highland cow raised by Sue another henhouser and it was delicious. Lots more talking before the evening ended. Jackie and Phil and Jo and Simon were staying in a local B and B, Laura and Peter were off to stay in Brighton and Holly back to her home.
I went to my tent and zipped myself in and crawled into my sleeping bag and soon was as warm as toast. It was good lying there listening to the other people chatting and laughing as well as the sound of someone playing a flute. I slept reasonably well despite the hard ground, the worst thing was having to disentangle myself from the sleeping bag and undo the tent zips in the middle of the night to attend to a call of nature. Luckily Jo had given Pam, for her birthday, the hire of portable toilets which were much appreciated by everyone!
I was awake by 7 the next morning and got dressed and made my way to the fire which had been kept going all night. The kettle over it was boiling so I made myself a welcome cup of coffee. Pam was there with Jack, her grandson, so it gave me the opportunity to sit and have a good natter with her before too many people appeared. Ali cooked a wonderful breakfast, bacon and eggs which was much appreciated. Jo and Simon called in to ay goodbye and Ali and Andy packed up the tents and the car and we said our goodbyes to everyone.
We drove back to Northampton and in the evening I took Ali and Andy for a meal at their local pub. They had both looked after me so well and I hope that they will come over here one day so that I can reciprocate their hospitality.
Monday morning was an early start and Ali dropped me at the airport at 8am on her way to work in Luton. I was back home by 3.30pm after a wonderful weekend with some very good friends.

When Titch came to stay.

My friend Titch came over for a week in early June. We are good friends having known each other for 20 years or so, so it is always good to spend time with her. She has a very busy life and I always like to try and make her relax whilst she is here, not easy! Sadly this year the weather wasn't very good so she didn't have much chance to lie in the garden and "sosk up some rays" However, I think that she found the calm and comfort of our spare room quite relaxing particularly in the afternoon around siesta time.
The plan was that I would meet her, off the airport shuttle bus, in the centre of Bordeaux as we were spending the night in Bordeaux. However, my friend Helene, had to go into Bordeaux in the morning so I got a lift in from her. We had lunch together and she dropped me off at the airport. Titch was quite surprised to find me lurking in arrivals! We csught the shuttle into the town centre and checked into our hotel. I had booked us a room at the hotel de l'opera which is right in the centre. It was not expensive but, thankfully, clean and adequate with a rather shabby charm!
We went out and had a drink at one of the many cafes in the square and then had a look around the nearby restaurants to see where we would eat later in the evening. I had done a search on the web so we were off to a good start as there are so many restaurants in the area. We decided to eat at the Mabley which was not too far from our hotel and I popped in to make a reservation. Back at our hotel we showered and changed in readiness for our night on the town!! Titch wore a dress and high heels, I hate the fact that she can still spend most of her day in heels, not something that I can do anymore.
A short stroll and we were soon seated at our table. The restaurant was empty when we arrived but it soon filled up and our waiter was very jolly and helpful. Four courses and a bottle of wine later we went back to the square and had coffee whilst watching the world go by before returning to our hotel.

Titch by the Garonne

Next morning we bought ourselves some patisserie and decided to walk down to the banks of the Garonne and find a place to have a coffee. Whilst we were walking down there a young woman was walking the other way and when she was almost in front of us she appeared to bend down and pick something up off the floor. She approached us and showed us what she had picked up which seemed to be a man's wedding ring. She asked us if it was gold and I took it off her and had a look, it appeared to be hall marked and I said so and handed it back to her. She then said that she hadnt time to do anything about it and started to walk off. We looked at each other and thought that we ought to hand it in somewhere and she then came back and asked us for money for food. What a scam!! I was so angry that I just threw it at her and it rolled off down the pavement. We carried on our way without a backward glance. After a welcome cup of coffee at a small cafe we went and sat by the banks of the river to eat our pain aux raisins and croissant.

We then strolled along for a while before crossing a wooden bridge over the busy main road and into the Place de Qinconces with its magnificient fountain and statue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_des_Quinconces
We spent quite some time there marvelling at the wonderful sight before walking on to the tourist office and buying cards and souvenirs before going for another coffee and watching the world go by and then back to the hotel to check out and leave our luggage to collect later
Then it was time to hit the shops in the rue Ste Catherine which is the longest pedestrianised street in Europe. We had a very pleasant break for lunch in a small restaurant situated in a small square where we were seranaded by three men of a certain age who were very entertaining. Another look around the shops on our way back to pick up our luggage and leave for the station to catch the train to Mont de Marsan.
I thought that I had left plenty of time and knew where to catch the tram but the best laid plans and all that!! The tram line that goes to the station was not running due to an accident, something which is almost an everyday occurence apparently. We were told to get the tram to the Place de la Victoire and then catch the bus from there to the station. The tram was crowded but we did manage to do the journey and arrived at the station with only 10 minutes to spare before our train left. We didn't have time to buy tickets and rushed to the platform where we had to find the station manager who would sort out the lack of tickets for us. One of his lackeys told us that he would be there shortly and that the train next to where we were standing was the one going to Mpnt de Marsan. What an idiot!! It was actually on the next platform and we saw it leave at that moment! Ah well, that's life. The next train was in an hour and half so we bought ourselves some sandwiches, rang Nigel to tell him of the delay, bought the tickets and went across to the cafe for a drink and to wait until the train was due.
I had a very daunting experience the next day when we played bridge together at the club in Mont de Marsan. Daunting because Titch teaches bridg and is a very good player. It was not helped by the fact that it wasn't just a normal afternoons friendly bridge but a nationwide competition. Not surprisingly we came last although Titch was kind enough to say that it wasn't all completely down to me but I didn't believe her!
On Friday Titch and I went to Dax for the day. Of course the first thing that we did was find a terrace on which to have a restorative coffee and watch the world go by. After a good look round the town we had a lazy lunch before another stroll around the town and a visit to the post office to buy stamps. Titch could not believe how long one has to wait in a French post office! A salutary experience for her. As we finally came out of the post office the heavens opened and the thunder cracked and of course our umbrellas were in the car. Luckily the downpour didn't last long and we made it to a cafe where I had a fruity, non-alcoholic cocktail and Titch had a disgustingly large ice cream confection before going back home.
On the Saturday Titch's son, Doug, wife Lucy and their 2 children called in. It was quite by coincidence that they were holidaying not far from here and I was so pleased to see them as I had not seen Doug for many years and had never met his family. After a chat and a look around the garden we all went out for lunch at a ferme auberge not far away, http://la.ferme.aux.cerfs.pagesperso-orange.fr/ where we had a very substantial meal before saying goodbye to them and returning home.
Sunday morning saw us visiting a car boot sale at Fargues and then another one on the way back home. On Monday I took Titch into Grenade to visit the museum of Rugby Titch had then hoped to have lunch at the hotel in Grenade where we had had such a memorable lunch during her last visit but sadly it was closed.
All too soon it was time for her to leave and I took her into Mont de Marsan to catch the train back to Bordeaux and thence to the airport. Thankfully we were well in time for the train this time and she already had her ticket! I was sure that she could have caught the later train but she was adamant that she wanted to get to the airport in good time. In the end it didn't matter as when she got to the airport she learned that her flight was cancelled due to a strike by air traffic control! I offered to go and get her as the next flight was 2 days later but, surprisingly, Easyjet paid for her to stay at the nearby Holiday Inn until the next flight.
There is a slideshow of our day in Bordeaux at the bottom of this page.

May market.

I often go to market in a small town called Villeneuve de Marsan. It isn't a town that would be on a tourist itinerary just a typical French town. On a Wednesday, market day, it comes to life. There is still a small poultry (live) section and at certain times of year a foie gras market. In May the variety of plants on sale is astounding, vegetable plants, herb plants, annuals and perennials.
Due to the unseasonable weather this year, lots of rain and large variations in temperature I have lost most of my tomato plants which had been potted on for planting out this weekend. So, yesterday I set forth for Villeneuve to buy some replacements. When I got there it seemed that everyone else in the area was there for the same thing. The car park was crowded and the streets seemed to be full of elderly men driving elderly Renault 4s and equally elderly ladies treating the road as a pedestrian precinct! I did manage to negotiate these hazards and was lucky to find somewhere to park the car. Everywhere there were people carrying bags or boxes of plants. I managed to make my way through the crowds and join the queue at one of the vegetable stalls. The queuing was somewhat aggressive but I managed to hold my place. Patience is a virtue that I have learned since I came over here and whilst waiting my turn I looked around and watched the people.Where else but in France would someone say excuse me can I just get through to kiss my friend! The three people who were manning the stall were working at an amazing speed - no time to chat with so many people to serve. At the back of the stall were huge piles of boxes full of plants, mainly tomato plants - the French certainly love their tomatoes and even if they don't grow any other veg seem to find room for at least a couple of plants. Finally it was my turn to be served and I triumphantly bore away my plants. I was also tempted to buy a few annuals, I doubt if anyone could pass by such an amazing display of plants and not buy a few.

Holidays 2010

Holidays for three of us this year, me, N and Rambo! We left home on April 27th, mid afternoon, in glorious hot - 25C - weather. Cristel is going to be looking after the tomato plants that I potted on and will also water the garden if the hot weather keeps up. First stop was for 4 nights at Martin and Meike's in Ariege. Good to see them both again and to see Meike much better than we have seen her for a while. Ramo seemed to remember being there before and he and one of the dogs, Chai, must have remembered their previous "arguments" as they both kept well clear of each other! On Wednesday morning we went to Fossat to visit Ann and Mark a couple of Australians who are renting Jez's house and had coffee and a long chat with them. They are friends of Graham and Judy another couple of Australians who we knew well when they too were renting the same house. Then we went into Fossat and had a pleasant lunch on the terrace before N dropped me off in Artigat. There I met up with Meike and spent the afternoon at the Scrabble club, it was good to see my old Scrabbling friends and they too seemed pleased and surprised to see me again. On Thursday Meike and I went up to Andorra to do a shop and have lunch. We had good journeys there and back and were back at Landry by 3.15. In the evening I went with Martin to see the horses who were up at Janirou and then we met up with N and Meike at les Etoiles the old home of Sjef and Leonoor. It has been bought by Baas, Dutch and Julie, English and they are doing a lot of work there. They had a couple of Irish girls visiting them and we spent a couple of hours there drinking aperos and chatting. As we were sitting there I remembered that it was exactly a year ago since I was last there, with Leonoor, just after she and Sjef had split up and just before her return to Holland. I felt quite sad,
Thursday evening a couple of Martin and Meikes friends arrived, in camper van, to spend the night before continuing on to Spain. N and I went to Mike and Jik's for dinner and spent a very enjoyable evening with them. When we got back to Landry drinks were flowing! We both had a drink with the 4 of them and then made our excuses and went to bed whilst they continued well into the night.
On Friday morning we went back to visit Dominique and Ines at Carol, Jean-Marc was working. They have done a lot of work since we were last there. Where the old pig sty was they have installed a huge boiler and hot water tank. The boiler works on wood of which they have plenty and radiators are installed throughout the house. They are now in the process of converting the rear of the house above what was N's workshop and bathroom. It will make another bedroom as well as dressing room and bathroom. Dominique is expecting another baby in November so they will need the extra room. Outside there is now a manege for schooling the horses although I am not sure how Dominique has time to do that as she is working full time again. The garden is still a mess but they are still finding the time to grow some vegetables.
After saying our farewells we went over to Sainte Suzanne to visit Tim and Tina - always good to see them and catch up with their news. Then back to Artiat where we had lunch at l'Escale. We did sit on the terrace as we had Rambo with us but the weather was definitely cooling down. Back to Landry for a lazy afternoon before packing most of our belongings ready for departure the next morning.
So, Saturday the first of May, we set off for Provence. Our first stop was in St Gilles, clost to Arles, where we had lunch with Phillip and Christine. Phillip was married to a childhood friend of mine who died a couple of years ago. He has recently met Christine and she is charming. It was nice to have a lazy lunch and a long chat before leaving for the last stage of our journey to Massanne. The weather was definitly getting cooler and rain was forecast.
We arrived at the camp site, just over the road from a small beach on the Etang de Berre, at 5.30. The mobile home was fine and we soon unpacked and made ourselves at home. There is a small bar and restaurant just over the road so that evening we went over there and had a pizza. We ordered one each and they were huge so we brought 2 large pieces back home with us. The meal was accompanied by "entertainment" from a Dutch lady who had imbibed rather too much of the local brew!
We awoke the next morning to the sound of rain! We had breakfast and soon the rain stopped. I had a look on the internet for any vide greniers (boot sales) and found one nearby. When the rain stopped we set off to find it and got ourselves mixed up in a cycle race! Luckily we were just going through before the cyclists and found ourselves waved through. After browsing around the vide grenier we went back to the mobile home and had, guess what, pizza for lunch! Later in the afternoon I decided that we ought to find a seaside resort to visit.After looking at the map we decided to go to Sausset les Pins. We set the sat nav and off we went, through the town of Martigues and down to Sausset. Just before arriving at Sausset we went through the village of St Julian where we found another vide grenier so we stopped there to have a browse. Sausset is a nice little town with a large pleasure boat marina. It was very busy as the weather had cleared up and I suspect it is a popular place for day trippers from Marseille and the surrounding area. We had a walk along the beach, watched some surfers, and then repaired to the terrace of a cafe by the marina for a beer. It was very pleasant sitting there watching the world go by and we may well have stayed there to eat later on but for the fact that the waitress"forgot" to bring me my 5 euros change! Once reminded she looked somewhat shamefaced to say the least. In he end we ate at a Buffalo Grill on the way back home, France's answer to American dining!
The area that we are staying in is very watery! The Étang de Berre is fed with fresh water by the rivers Arc, Touloubre and La Cadière-d'Azur and – since 1966 – by the Canal de la Durance. Two canals link it to the sea: the Canal de Caronte leading towards Port-de-Bouc and the Canal du Rove which leads towards L'Estaque. However the underground portion of the latter is blocked by a rock fall. In central Martigues the road goes over the Canal de Caronte giving the town a seaside appearance.
On Monday we made our first visit to Nadine and her mother which was the main reason for us holidaying in this part of the world. We met Nadine when she sold us Carol, our first French home, and we became very good friends. Sadly her mother had a stroke a couple of years ago and Nadine is now her full time carer, not an easy time for either of them. The journey there took about 40 minutes, most of it on dual carriageways similar to that of the Toulouse ringroad - that is to say extremely busy roads and some horrendous drivers! They live in les-Pennes-Mirabeau between Aix en Provence and Marseille. We were so pleased that we had the sat nav as it would have been very difficult to find. After leaving the town we got to large commercial centre, drove past that back into wooded landscape and then to the housing developement where they live.
http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/bouches/pennesmirabeau/pennesmirabeau.htm
Their house is on a corner plot,hidden by high hedges and in a quiet area.It was so good to see Nadine again and she was so pleased to see us and of course Rambo! It took a while before Rambo and Nadines 2 dogs, Tommy and Ouska, made friends but they were all right in the end! Mme was up and in a wheelchair in the sitting room. Nadine and N went out, down to the supermarket, and I chatted to Mme. She seemed very bright and mentally not as bad as I had expected. When Nadine and N returned we had an aperitif and then lunch. In the afternoon we chatted and I showed Nadine and Mme photos of Carol. The nurse came to put Mme to bed about 6 and I helped Nadine get acquainted with her laptop. It rained all day so we weren't able to go out for a walk with the dogs. We got back home before dark laden down with leftovers from lunch which was very good of Nadine as I didn't have much to do to serve them up.
We woke on Tuesday morning to torrential rain and high winds - wonderful!! Luckily we are well prepared for the weather, we have the laptop with internet connection, Scrabble and books! Later in the morning we went to Auchan on the outskirts of Martigues for a few essentials. I also bought a pair of rubber boots as I had not brought any wet weather gear with me! In fact I spent the week in one pair of jeans and one or other of the two sweatshirts that I had brought with me! All my summer clothing stayed in the wardrobe waiting for warm sunny weather that never arrived!
We had lunch in the Auchan complex and then came back home via St Mitre les Remparts. It had stopped raining so we were able to explore the old town.
Wednesday was Nadine's 60th birthday so went went over to see her again. I had framed some photos of Carol for a present for Nadine and she was very pleased with them. Mme was in bed this time and she stayed there whilst we went out for lunch with Nadine. After lunch we spent the afternoon and the early part of the evening with them. Mme came out of her bedroom, in the wheelchair, for a while until the nurse came in to put her to bed. Nadine said how much brighter she had been whilst we were there, we said was it not possible for her to go to a day centre sometimes, somewhere where she would meet more people but apparently she refuses to go anywhere, not even into the garden. It was very sad to say goodbye to them both, Mme said why did we have to go, why couldn't we stay, when would we go back again. Nadine just looked so sad and exhausted.
Thursday, no rain but dull and cold. Went to Arles, walked round had lunch there before driving through the Camargue to Ste Maries de la Mer.Beautiful area but so busy and so many tourists (like us !). I fancy that a lot more land on the Camargue has been given over to rice production since we were last there. In the evening we had a very pleasant and reasonable meal of quail and chips at the bar over the road.
Friday another dull cool day but with the odd sunny period this time. The best part of the day was, for the first time, being able to talk and to see my grandchildren on Skype!! I had persuaded Rob and Julie to set it up for me. What a joy it was. We then went to les Baux de Provence an ancient village perched on top of huge rock outcrop.
http://www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/
We had lunch on the terrace of one of the many restaurants and at times the sun even made an appearance! Then back to our holiday home to pack and prepare for our departure next day before a final meal at the bar over the road. On our return from the restaurant I had another chat with my NZ family it being Saturday morning there and Dannielle's birthday.
Saturday we were away by 10am and set off back to Ariege where we were to spend the night before the last leg of our journey back home. On arriving at Landry we were amazed to see piles of broken branches. Apparently it had snowed - snow in May!!- the previous Tuesday and the wet, heavy snow had settled on the trees and broken off many of the branches. We had a pleasant evening with Martin and Meike and left on Sunday morning. We called in at Mike and Yiks to pick up a half lamb for the freezer - one of theirs that had been killed the previous week - before heading off to call in and have llunch with Kate and Peter on the way home.
Finally back in our own home at 6pm. Good to go away but good to get back as well
Hopefully, you will find a slideshow of our time in Ariege and Provence at the bottom of the page.

Funeral.

One day in April I received a phone call from a lady in the village who I have only met a couple of times. She told me that the mayor's mother had died, that the wake (veillée) was that night and the funeral the next day. It was obvious that we were supposed to participate somehow and I asked her if it was necessary for us to go to the wake. Thankfully, as we had never met the deceased, she said that no that wouldn't be obligatory but left me with the impression that we should be at the funeral. The conversation then went on to all deaths in the village as I was asked if we would like to be notified each time there is a death. I asked, tactfully, if it would be OK if we were just notified of people in our part of the village, Perron, and was told yes that was OK and she will give me a call when any happen!
I confirmed this with Helene and asked her if N should really be there as well to which she replied that he should be. Helene asked if she could go with us and we arranged to pick her up and she said she would get a small floral tribute for us the next morning.
So all spruced up and soberly dressed we picked Helene up at 1.45 the following day along with 2 small floral tributes. When we got to the church there were a lot of people there both inside and out. Following Helene's instructions N waited outside whilst Helene and I walked to the altar to place the flowers. Somewhat embarrassing as there were already so many people in there. Am not sure that the flowers were necessary as if everyone had taken some there would have been many more. We then collected N and seated ourselves at the rear of the church. It was the first time that we had been in the church in Castandet and I found it to be quite plain compared to many other catholic churches that I have been in. Soon the bells tolled and the coffin was wheeled (yes wheeled!) in followed by the family of the deceased. The parish priest, who we have met socially is in his 80's and a very pleasant chap, gave a long address and the service continued for about an hour. We left before the internment, Helene advising us that it wasn't necessary for us to be present. In a strange way the fact that we were almost ordered to attend gave me a feeling of belonging to the village. We must have done alright as we have recently received a card from the mayor and his family thanking us for our attendence and condolences.

There is such a thing as a free lunch!

On Sunday the 11th of April the whole village was invited to a free lunch given by the fair commitee of Castandet. Apart from the pre lunch aperitifs everything was free. Aperos started at 11.30 but being used by now to the length of time that people will hang around the bar we didn't arrive until 12.30. Even then it was probably another hour before we sat down to eat. It did give us time though to chat to various people. Helene and her son Florian were there as well as Bernard and Pascal both neighbours of ours. Apart from them though and us we were the only ones representing our part of Perron. We met Nadine who is on the fair committee and she was verry chatty and pleasant, insisted that she bought us an aperitif.
We finally sat down to eat sitting with Helene and Florian. Florian was up and down like a yo yo and spent more of the meal time rushing about, outside with the other children,rather than eating. The meal as ever consisted of starter, entree, cheese, salad and pudding washed down with copious amounts of red or rose. As coffee and armagnac was served the singing started! One of the younger ladies had a microphone and she wandered around with it catching the sound, at one point she and a very elderly gentleman were smooching and singing. Then came the piece de resistance! One of the chaps started to sing
"Iam the music man and I come from down your way and I can play
What can you play?
Pia, pia, piano" etc etc this then goes on to include the miming of many musical instruments with the chorus being sung in between each one. Obviously he was singing it in French! Most people soon joined in myself included as ,amazingly, this is a song that I used to sing in the pub back in my youth!! By this time N was beginning to find the noise too much and decided that it was time to leave. I was enjoying myself and decided to stay as Helene would give me a lift back home.
It was perhaps as well that N left as soon afterwards Florian came rushing in screaming his head off. He had fallen, or been pushed, and had cut/grazed his leg. Helene immediately went into panic mode and asked me to look after him whilst she went home to get all the necessary first aid equipment! I am afraid, that hard mother as I was, I would have told him not to be such a baby and to get on with it! Anyway he sat next to me, sobbing, until she got back with a bag of stuff. She whised him off to the toilets to wash it, came back and sprayed his leg with antiseptc, at which he started screaming again. Then she dissolved an aspirin in water which he refused to drink and went off outside again to play with the other lads. So two outings with them which have ended in "injuries" and tears. What will happen the next time!!h

Somewhat surreal.

I had to pay a visit to the doctor this week - nothing important just my regular bi-annual visit. Our doctor is very young and I suspect had not long been with the practice when we registered with him. The practice is in the small town of Grenade-sur-l'Adour (http://www.tourismegrenadois.com/Grenade.htm) about 12 kms from here. For the first couple of years he moved from consulting room to consulting room but now he has finally got his own consulting room and waiting room which are quite separate from the others with an entrance at the rear of the building. The approach to his surgery is via a narrow little alley, the impasse des Ramparts, which is lined on both sides by very old houses. Next to his surgery is the 14th century church (or the rear which is certainly showing it's age!)
One goes from this rather beautiful little alley into what can only be described as a very modern, aseptic waiting room which has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life! There are no magazines, when I inquired as to why he told me that they harbour bacteria - I didn't like to ask him if the rather elderly magazines in the other waiting room had been disinfected! Sitting there this week reading my book, I can't wait anywhere without some reading material, I listened first of all to the church bells tolling the hour and then became aware of the sound of the radio playing in the background. The music I heard was Leonard Cohen singing Hallelujah! Such a contrast between ancient and modern.

Trip to the mooutains.

I have made a friend in the village, H, and we have started seeing each other once a week or so. We sometimes play Scrabble and chat and other times have a day in town browsing the shops and having lunch. We first met her at a boot sale and got chatting and discovered that we both lived in Castandet. After a first marriage and 5 children she divorced and remarried and at the age of 42 had a 6th child, F. Sadly her husband died suddenly when F was only 4 years old. The other children are now grown up and have flown the nest and F is now 12 years old. H and I get on very well, she has a good sense of humour and we laugh a lot.
At the end of January a day trip to the mountains was organised by the village, mainly for those who wanted to ski. H asked us if we would like to go, Nigel declined but I thought it would be a good day out. So we booked to go, H and I and F and his friend N, the cost was only 15 euros and that included breakfast and lunch as well as the coach fare - not bad value. We had to be at the mairie for 6am so it was a very early start for me. Not being too sure when breakfast would be served I got up in good time to have coffee and cereals before I left to pick up H,F and N en route to the mairie. We left Castandet at 6.15 and arrived at La Mongie at 8.45, the coach having to stop on the mountain to put snow chains on as there had been a big snowfall the day before.
Everyone got off the coach and added several layers of clothing as it was very cold. Breakfast appeared from within the coach and a table was set up. Thermoses of coffee were put out as well as fresh baguettes, ham and cheese oh and red wine for those who wanted it - a bit early in the day even for me! By the time we had eaten F and N were pretty wet through from rolling in the snow and as they were wearing jeans and didn't have a change of clothing I could already see disaster looming!
The skiers picked up there skis, others went to hire skis and we went to hire a couple oof sedges for the boys. Getting to the sledging area was quite a challenge. Firstly it was not very obvious where it was situated and then when we did locate it the fresh, deep snow was not easy to negotiate all of us tumbling over several times. Thankfully the boys were able to occupy themselves with the sledges for an hour or so, getting even wetter in the process. H and I had a go as well, great fun but sadly I am not as agile as I used to be and getting to my feet is not as easy as it used to be. No springing up, more of a stagger!
After an hour or so we went and sat outside one of the many restaurants and had a welvome hot cholcolate and a sit down. The sun was beginning to warm up and had it not been for the constant whinging of the 2 boys it would have been a pleasant interlude.
Then it was back to the coach where everyone met up for lunch. I must say that whoever catered for the trip did a fine job in both the quality and quantity of the food provided. There was more bread,cold meat, pate and cheese as well as 2 huge platters of potato salad and pasta salad. More red wine of course and soft drinks. The only thing that I could complain about is that there was no seating! Had I known I would have taken a folding chair.
By this time the 2 "angels" were soaking wet and whinging dreadfully but they wanted to have another go at sledging so off we set again to negotiate the stagger through the thick snow to the sledging area. When we got there they set off again and H and I sat on our bags on the snow desperate to have some comfort after all the standing around that we had been doing! Sadly the afternoon sledging session was more stressful than the morning session. Having mastered the art of it the boys were now looking for more excitement and this culminated in F escaping our watchful gaze and trying to sledge down a virtual precipice that was out of bounds. On seeing this H yelled at him to stop but he of course took no notice and launched himself down the steep slope. Of course disaster struck and he came off the sledge and started screaming that he couldn't move his leg. We managed to disentangle him and get him up on one leg, screaming all the time. H was sure that he had done himself some serious injury so we set off with N dragging F who we had got down the slope and onto his sledge towards the first aid station. When we got there he refused to go in - I would have dragged him in if he were mine!- but no we then set off for the shop and restaurant area to gather our resources. At this point he was managing to hobble along and I was pretty sure that he hadn't done himself a great injury. On arrival at the shop/restaurant area I was pleased to see that there were lots of deck chairs on the terrace and the sun had warmed the area nicely. At this point I opted out of the childcare and said that I would sit in a deckchair, have a beer and enjoy the sun. H went off in search of trousers to buy so that the boys wouldn't be wet anymore taking them both with her. I then enjoyed the best hour of the day watching the skiers on the slopes, enjoying my beer and soaking up the sun. When they returned she said that F had been almost hyothermic but thankfully she had been able to buy some trousers for them and he was warming up. His leg seemed much better in fact I swear that he kept forgetting to hobble when he thought that no one was looking! Thankfully it was soon time to go back to the coach and leave for home. There was only one casualty, our neighbour S who has been knocked over on the ski slope and suffered a pulled muscle. It was good to sit in comfort on the coach, all I wanted to do was to relax and recover but with the radio in the background blaring out a frenzied commentary on the rugby match and H chatting away there wasn't much hope of that! When we got back to Castandet we were invited to partake of an aperitif much to the 2 boys disgust - in fact F stamped his foot and said that he would walk home and disappeared into the gloom. When H finally found him hiding at the back of the mairie she gave in and I took them home. What a relief it was for me to then come back home to blessed peace and quiet! Not a day that I would like to relive.

January in Castandet.

The first event for the New Year was a visit to our neighbours, Jeanne and Cristel, to celebrate Epiphany. We had not got back for their usual celebration with all the immediate neighbours but were invited to go on our return. We ate petit fours and cake of the Kings and drank champagne. We had a very pleasant afternoon with them and chatted a lot about times past in Perron. We came home laden down with petit fours and cake of the Kings, enough to keep us going for several days!
Next was the annual mayors reception to wish everyone a happy new year and to hear the mayors speech. As is usual there was quite a bit of hanging around before the speech and this time was taken up with new years wishes. The form is to shake hands, or kiss, everyone whether one knows them or not and to wish them "Bonne Annee and Bonne Sante" - quite timme consuming! After the mayors speech when he wished us all happy new year and good health, spoke of events that had happened over the year and thanked numerous people the annual aperitif was served. Last year we also had a sit down meal but funds must not have allowed that this year and only nibbles were served to accompany the aperos.
Event number 3 was a Jazz evening and meal given by the village music school. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening. There was an ensemble of 4, 3 musicians and a singer, and they played and sang whilst the meal was served. One chap who we have seen at previous visits provided some entertainment as well, by getting quite drunk and barracking the jazz quartet!

Christmas and New Year in Devon.

It was a big event, this year, for us both to go back to Devon for the festive season. I have been back once for Christmas since we came here but this was the first time that we had both gone back since we came over here in 1997.
We had snow the day before we left, not a lot, and the weather forecast was pretty grim both for France and the UK. Friday the 18th, the day before we left, I had to take Rambo to the vet to complete the paperwork for his passport as he too was going with us. After that I packed the car, Steve had requested that we took wine and cheese, so with all that as well as our luggage and the whole of the boot area left free for Rambo the car was as full as it could be!
We had a good journey and an overnight stay in Cherbourg before catching the ferry to Poole. Rambo travelled well and once disembarked we were on our way to Kilmington.
It was so good to see Steve and Sasa and start our holiday with them. Steve had booked us into a cottage in the village for the first 10 days as Jennifer and Margaret would be down on Christmas Eve. The cottage was tiny but comfortable apart from being rather chilly as the weather was so cold. Rambo stayed with Steve and Sasa and soon made friends with their dog, Scout.
The weather remained very cold for the length of our stay and at times the side roads were virtually impassable due to ice, It was quite a thrill to shop in Tesco's - and be able to buy the things that we hadn't realised that we had missed when at home in France!
Christmas day was very special, Steve cooked a beautiful breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon served with champagne and orange juice. After opening all our pressies N and I and Jennifer and Jason went for a long walk, mmore than a couple of hours, in the woods. Christmas dinner, cooked by Steve, was quite late but well worth waiting for!
On Boxing Day, Steve, Sasa, Jason, Jennifer and Scout walked to Dalwood whilst N, Margaret, Rambo and I drove there. We had a walk through the village and fields and met up with the others afterwards for a drink at the Tuckers Arms. So many memories!
Jennifer and Margaret left on the Monday. Nigel spent a night with his parents, I spent the night with Titch. In betweenn all the other activities we managed to visit old friends, have a trip into Exeter, go to the pub quiz and of course go to see Chippie. Jennifer and I met up withn Jackie and Laura and went to the Christmas carol service in Dalwood church - more memories.
Unfortunately, Jennifer wasn't too well when she was there and N caught whatever it was and he wasn't too well for the last few days that we were there. We had all planned to go to the Old Inn to celebrate the New Year but N opted to stay at home due to feeling unwell. It was a good evening which ended with a very impressive firework display to herald the New Year
All too soon it was time to leave and make the long journey back home. Always sad to say goodbye but once on the road we were looking forward to being back home.
After spending the night in Cherbourg we were on the last long lap home where we arrived at about 7pm. I had phoned Alain, our neighbour, and asked him to put the heating on for us so it was nice and warm when we got back.

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