Fiestas

A much larger and busier market than usual as it's the cherry festival this weekend. To keep everyone happy there were brass bands (no, not the Grimethorpe type) doing the rounds of the bars. The atmosphere was lively and business was good. As everywhere was packed out we came back to the auberge for lunch. This afternoon there is more music, cherry stoning and cherry spitting competitions but instead of being there, I'm here catching up with "Chitchat". Well, in my place would you do any different?Tonight we're off to the bar for a salsa night so it's fingers crossed that it doesn't rain. Well, the rain held off but as we were outside, it was a bit parky. No matter, a good time was had by all!

Happy Campers

Nono and Evelyn arrived yesterday from cht'iland in their enormous campervan and joined us for a day out today in Spain. Went down to L'Escala where we had coffee and a stroll in the sun; Empuries where we strolled some more and looked through the fence at the ruins and St Marti where we had lunch at the "Mason de Condi".

Back in the Swing

Spent a good part of the morning on the terrace of the bar catching up with this one and that one, in fact anyone that passed by. The sun was shining and all was well with the world. It's good to be back home. After lunch Christian went to pick up Linde while I had coffee with Michelle before preparing apéritifs for 11 of us, ie, the usual suspects plus Jean and Françoise, Andrée and Pierre and Linde who was on a 24 hour turn around.

Home Again

Arrived home yesterday after a week in UK. Our friend David died suddenly so we went for his funeral in Leicestershire where we stayed with Irene and Kelvin before heading off to Warwickshire. There we caught up with all the family, did a bit of shopping, ate the new season's asparagus, had a free afternoon tea at the Howard Arm's and dodged the rain. Ryanair brought us back safe and sound in time to join Jean-Jacques and Michelle chez les Kluska for a late supper.
Today we toddled up to the village hall to watch the trampoline club in action. As it finished at apéritif time, Joelle, Michel, Alain and Monique came back to ours where the apéritifs became dinner and so on and so on...

Open Doors

This weekend, throughout the Department, local artists opened their doors to the public. Two did so in the commune, although there are a lot more artists than that. Went to one in the morning with Michel whose brief within the Mairie is culture. We'd thought about having a picnic up in the other village where the second one was but the threatening weather put us off.Instead we pooled picnics with Joëlle and Michel on their terrace.

The second artist, who is also a writer, had a wide range of styles and spoke movingly about her cancer which inevitably influenced her work. Back to the village where we called in on Jacques and Yaneth with a wee birthday gift for Lisa. At last the electricity is on in their house and they're getting installed. A coffee and the Colombian equivalent of a Tia Maria later we were invited next door to Michel and Joëlle's to finish off the picnic and watch Charlotte Rampling in a film called "The Swimming Pool". Not as odd as a lot of French films but it left you searching for answers all the same.

Little Villains!

What else do you do on a wet Saturday night when there's nowt on the telly but head for the village hall to see the latest offering from the kids theatre group, "les petites crapules". The Mairie was there, the proud parents and grandparents were there. Pity I didn't understand too much of what was going on but at least I clapped for all I was worth and in the right places too. It was getting the jokes that I had trouble with but some might say, "it was ever thus"!

Doing our bit

Between us we finally managed to translate the French civil marriage ceremony for a Franco-Irish wedding next Saturday. Weatherwise, a dull day but that didn't stop us having dinner on the terrace of the bar. Well, we felt sorry for the chef as there was no sign of anyone else coming to eat. How we sacrifice ourselves in support of local commerce!

Ground Force

Woke up to the news on the French tv of Ranger's defeat and consequent violence from the supporters. We have Paris St Germain so can't afford to be too smug about it all. Ironic that the pre-match worries were about violence from the nationalistic St Petersburg fans! The news from China is grim but at least the goverment is being more open, unlike that of Burma. We've heard that all our friends are ok but no more than that. Apparently Total has given a sizable amount of money to the relief effort, well with all the profit they're making, you wouldn't expect anything less.
Didn't linger long watching tv before we got up as we were going to Figueres. Bought cucumber and lavander plants, picked up the clothes I had altered (ah yes, folks, the weight is still coming off!) and by some nifty 4x4 manoeuvres avoided a huge traffic jam. Had lunch in our local Auberge as there wasn't time to go home and cook before Christian was on duty at the Mairie. The afternoon was warm and sunny and Joëlle, Michelle, Andrée and I finally signed the papers for the garden and parted with our cash. From the look on the faces of the sellers you'd think that we hadn't given them enough. Linde will sign when she comes back from her field trip to Niger and Mali. Had a cup of tea afterwards but I think it at least merits a glass of bubbly. Will need to do that when we're all together at the end of the month.

Cherry Picking

Last year there was a shortage, this year a glut. A friend let us loose on his orchard where the branches of the trees were bent low with the weight of the cherries. Picked about 10kgs ~ gave a lot away, ate some, froze some and pickled the rest. Yummy!

Nothing special

A bit of a non-day. Christian has been busy at the Mairie and I've drunk tea on the terrace of the bar ( yes, the sun is back) and chez Michelle; gone with Jean-Jacques and Michelle to pick cherries only to find that we were too late and everyone had packed up for the day and started to translate a marriage ceremony. Ah well, I suppose that everyday can't be action packed.

A grey day

Once we'd dried the chairs off at the bar, Jean, Françoise, Jean, Jacques, Kathy and us two had a coffee and talked houses as Jacques is interested in buying here; that is, if the house has a garden for the dog, isn't overlooked, has plenty of light, no noise and all at the right price! Came home to the sad news that a friend of ours in UK had died after a couple of year's of treatment for cancer. We'll miss him. Neither of us did much this afternoon so it was good that Michel and Joëlle came around for an impromptu apéritif dinatoire.

Dull outside, even the bar wasn't open for a coffee; quiet inside as Christian dozed and I pottered around with the computer. Tea with Philippe's Mum and an apéritif chez Jean and Françoise rounded off the day.

The rain in Spain...

A quick half-hearted trip to the market (how else would we know that today is Saturday?) with rain on and off. This weekend is the Whitsun holiday so the roads around here are particularly busy so you might well ask why we joined the nose to tail cars heading into Spain. Simple answer ~ lunch in a very picturesque village with Michel and Joëlle, their friends Christian and Nadette and Alain, one of the assistant Mayors and his wife, Monique. The food was typical grilled fare. When it cme to paying, the visa machine was unable to receive a signal so the 4 fellas trailed off behind the (woman) owner to the back of the church where apparently there wasn't a signal either. Well, that was their story! She then suggested that we go for a walk and come back and pay. As the rain had stopped we did. On our return the machine still wasn't working so we dug deep and managed to scrape up enough money to pay. Stopped off at the waterfall on our way back for a cuppa, had an apéritif chez Alain and Monique and then supper at Michel and Joëlle's. Must eat lightly tomorrow, must eat lightly tomorrow, must eat lightly tomorrow, must...

An "at home"

Although I needed to do a scuttle around with mop, duster and vacuum, there was still time to have a coffee at the bar with various friends who happened to pass by. Luckily it rained on and off so no guilty feelings about not going down to the garden. All was more or less ready in time and Christian wasn't too delayed at the official apéritif with the town hall staff. Had a good evening with Lone and Jesper, Danish friends and five bottles of wine!

On Parade

Despite the late night we had time for a coffee before heading up the mountains for the official ceremony at 9.30am to mark the end of the 2WW in Europe . Afterwards the children were given a "goodie bag" and the adults a "vin d'honneur" in the local hostalerie. Then it was back down the mountain to do the same thing all over again in the village though with more people.
Late in the afternoon three of us spent an hour in the garden as one of the others had watered in the morning. We only started planting less than a week ago and already the plants are taking hold and the radish and roquette seeds have germinated. Then it was the third "apéritif" of the day when Michel, Joëlle and their two visitors called in. I just dread the scales tomorrow and we've people coming for a meal!

Crossing the Border

Today we left the Mairie behind and had a day out in Catalunya Sud with Jean-Jacques and Michelle. Started the trip with a visit to the waterfall where we enjoyed a coffee before heading off to Figueres. A little bit of shopping in the sunshine and then lunch in the most incongruous restaurant (on a theme of ancient Rome)where we had lunch for an incongruous price (12.90€)! Home in time for a meeting for Christian and a late trip to the garden for the rest of us. The meeting was a long one and in need of something to eat we went with the Maire to the truckers' restaurant across the border where we ate a little while back. He even treated us! In bed for 1.30am thinking that two restaurnt meals in one day wasn't a reasonable idea. Oh well,(Gallic shrug) what the heck!

Happy Birthday, Mr President

One year down, four to go. You all seemed to like the presidential couple so much when they came to visit - you're welcome to have them back!
The news from Burma gets worse and worse. I wonder if it might trigger things off.
Here it's been a quiet day for me - a Blabla meeting , a few chores, tea with Michelle and a glass of wine at the bar with Jacques, Yaneth and the ever adorable Lisa. Christian has been involved with Mairie stuff most of the day so our day out tomorrow will b a nice wee change.

Outposted

This morning Christian and Michel headed up into the mountains to be on duty in the Mairie there. One or two people popped in to say "hello" but there were no problems to solve. At lunch time Joëlle and I joined them at the local auberge where the menu, though good, never seems to change much.
We've been thinking a lot about our friends in Burma as we watch the terrible pictures of the devastation there. How these people suffer.

Payback Time

By way of a thank you to Juste who helped us sort out the storage heater earlier in the year, we took him and Josephine out for the day; first to the golf course for an apéritif and then down into 'Catalunya Sud'/Spain for lunch in a medieval village. The weather became progressively warmer, the scenery was stunning and the meal good. Came home on the back road where took the photo in front of the monument to the Republicans who died fighting Franco.

Ratatouille

Today was the day that we really got down to some real gardening. Bought and planed: 4 different varieties of tomato, 4 different varieties of courgettes, different colored peppers, haricot beans, red onions, commonal garden aubergines, thyme, 2 varieties of basil and chillis.It was great to open the sluice of the irrigation channel and watch the water flow though to be on the safe side if the water dries up, we filled our 510 litre water butt as well. Feeling well satisfied with ourselves, Jean-Jacques, Michelle, Françoise and Jean came back to ours for a well earned apéritif which in Blue Peter fashion I had prepared earlier. By the time everyone left we were both too tired to do anything but head up the wooden hills for an early night.

Here comes Summer

The swallows are zooming about, the sun shining and the sound of the cuckoo can only mean that we're well on our way to summer. Still in gardening gear Michelle and I made the most of the late afternoon sun to sit on the terrace of the bar to drink a couple of glasses of wine and watch the world go by. Christian and Jean-Jacques joined us as did Jean. Die hards that we are, we stayed on to eat with Jacques, Yaneth and Lisa who slept happly swadled in her Mum's poncho. Made our way home at nearly midnight, tired but happy!

May Day

Every where in Europe manages to celebrate May Day on the 1st of May; why can't Britain? Anyway, today is a public holiday which sadly for those poor souls who work, this year falls on the same day as Ascension which is also a public holiday. Don't think that it's anything to do Sarkozy who wants everyone to work harder and longer but you never know!!!!! It's also traditional to give a spray of lily-of-the-valley to bring good luck. Let's hope the one that Christian bought this morning sees us through the year.