Yet Another Funeral

In contrast to the funeral last Thursday, this one was just packed with mourners. we didn't go up to the cemetary as Colin and Sheila were due to arrive from Girona airport. despite a few hassles with b&ggage, they arrived safe and sound and were ready to partake of a glass of wine chez Jean-Louis.

You win some, you lose some

It's a long time since we've made the effort to go out on a Sunday but as the rain was off and there was a food fair in Figueres, we sallied forth. The weather wasn't the best, cold to say the least and the town was deadly quiet but on the plus side it was pretty easy to find a parking space. As for the food fair, it was a great disappointment. Very few stands except for "bunyols", the local doughnuts and someone making sausages. Decided to try a restaurant on the way home that recently changed hands and here we weren't disappointed.

Food was good with fresh ingredients, service pleasant and the dining areas had vaulted ceilings and stone walls all in a setting with views all around. 17.50€ all in, a bon rapport qualité/prix as we say and what's more, the weather had brightened up.

Another funeral

Rain was forcast but although it was couldy, rain didn't seem imminent so when it finally came while we were at the market, we had no umbrella. The temperature took a dive and we scurried back home toute suite. In the afternoon I set off with Jean, Marie-Lourdes and Monique for the funeral of Jean, the guitarist's mother's (78). The rain came down hard, the church was packed and there was much emotion. On the way home we stopped off at the local funeral parlour to see the family of another villager who has died (78). His funeral is on Monday. Christian missed all of this as he was on duty at the Mairie, acting as conceierge for the expo on the Retirada. Our last duty call was to the clinic to visit Helene, Michel's Mum. A pretty sad day all around. Tonight the clocks change and tomorrow we plan to go out for the day which should be more promising.

Sortie Resto

The Association's first trip out to a restaurant and the day dawned bright and sunny. Of course we had to wait for someone who was 20 minutes late for the rendez-vous but no one complained. There were 31 of us altogether who headed north to the coast. It was the first time that Christian and I had been to Leucate and found the village to be quite a pleasant place; the seaside and enormous marina might tell another story. While some went off (Christian among them) to hear about the production of oysters and taste them, a small group of us found the village square and had a wee refreshment. Well, I had a glass of wine, the others had a coffee! The meal was good, fresh fish, wine, all in for 16€. Afterwards we all went our separate ways ; the Mairie contingent stayed on to drink more coffe and to talk about the political life of the village while Michelle and I sat on the terrace and enjoyed the sun. Came home by a long road along the coast to prepare oysters for supper.

Working hard, Playing hard

Time is just whizzing by faster than ever! The blog has been way behind as are the reports I need to put onto Blabla, as is the ironing and cleaning. Have only been to the garden to take down the compost and shake my head at how dry it is. Most of my time is going on arranging Sant Jordi - it's hard taking the lead when you don't speak French fluently. Christian spends the greater part of his time at the Mairie with at least one meeting a week in Perpignan. Still all this "do-gooding" is interspersed with fun things too.

13th March - 26th March
Apéritif dinatoire chez Geneviève ( a local artist) and Philippe's on Friday the 13th . The first time we'd ever been to theirs so it was interesting getting to know them. Hope they felt the same! Saturday it was the commune's hommage to the "Retirada". Particularly poignant as inevitably large numbers of Catalns and Spanish fleeing Franco came this way. In the afternoon there was a talk and book signing by a local author, poetry, song, apéritif and meal. A late night but worth it. Needless to say there was a sluggish start on the 15th which was a great excuse to head off at lunch time to the local auberge. Next came St Patrick's day and we met up with Linde who with her Rhode Island connections was keen to celebrate. We were the only two along with Jean-Louis but bit by bit the atmosphere picked up as more people, oblivious of the day's significance, arrived. Wednesday, a meeting to discuss the possibility of setting up a support group with women in the Congo where rape is routinely used as a weapon of war.

Thursday, 19th and another lunch at the auberge, this time with folk from the Mairie and in the evening another procession, this time to mark the end of the war with Algeria and another apéritif. Can't believe that it's a year since the last one.

Finally, some space to have a day out together came on Friday, 20th. The sun was shining, there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road so we ambled along to Figueres for a stroll around the shops before going to our favourite resto for lunch which was open! But .... David and his family have gone travelling and another couple have taken it over in his absence. They were just as charming, the food was just as good but there was no sign of a menu so we had to pay the full whack!

A fine weekend and we're starting to stop by at the bar for a glass of wine on the terrace to soak up the sun and watch the world go by. Saturday was a quiet day but Sunday was busier with the kids carnaval in the afternoon and a concert given by the local choir in the church in the evening. The Maire and his wife came back to ours for an apéro which just kept going, so Monday arrived as a bit of a struggle.

23rd March and today it's Alain's birthday so ...... how did you guess? .... another apéritif; this time in the bar. Then .... how did you guess? .... Alain and Monique came back to our place to finish the evening.

Tuesday: The mairie as usual for Christian and for me a walk around the village delivering letters to drum up support for Sant Jordi. Jean, the guitarist called by at apéritif time, so of course we could only be but hospitable and so ended another day.

Wednesday, half way through the week already. Tea with Josette and then dinner at Diana's with Maggie, Trevor, Robin and Bruce. Christian was quieter than usual, difficult to get a word in edgeways but fortunately there was plenty of booze to go around. Come to think of it, Robin was quiet too.

Today it was all rush, photocopied at the Mairie, made the coffee and put in an appearance at the "language exchange", went to a funeral, met a local artist to show here a little chapel for her expo for Sant Jordi, had a couple of glasses of wine on the terrace at the bar in lovely sunshine, all before 12.30. The funeral of an 88 year old neighbour who had spent the last two years of her life in a care home was a sad affair. About 20 of us, no family. It doesn't bear contemplating.This afternoon, I did my "wee wifey" act and made a couple of cakes for Christian to take to the Mairie this evening as a belated birthday gesture. Me I stayed home with my knitting glad to sit and not have to think!

Scots Wha Hae!

2.3.09Good old Ryanair was on time so it was a quick get away from Girona airport. Jacques came around to eat with us so Andy and Maureen were thrown straight into the social whirl but of course they coped!.

3.3.09
A morning walk around the lake and then in the afternoon we set off to buy wine for our Danish friends. Great getting to taste and buy with other people's money. The two vine yards couldn't have been more different; a sleek pristine modern set up and a ramshackle 2 person affair. The Brit who ran the latter was a bit of a poser and who refered to one of the wines as a bit "feral". well, how can you take sime seriously when one of the wines is called "Number One". We, of course could hardly keep hold of our (juvenile) sniggers while we waited for a "Number two" which, by the way, never came.

4.3.09
A reasonably early start in cloudy grey weather with a miserable forecast for the next couple of days. I was obviously in one of my 'let's zig-zag France" moods as we went to Simorre, near Auch via Cordes sur Ciel. a lot of driving for Christian but great views and a good lunch in a brasserie in Gaillac where Christian walked into a sign post and grazed his head.

The b&b , an old farm, was just great. Huge rooms, lots of character and a good meal.

5.3.09

Happy Birthday, Christian!

He doesn't look a day older. Weather still glum and at one point it even tried to snow but we're made of stern stuff and headed off to the market in Auch. Managed not to get wet and found a nice restaurant for lunch after which it started to brighten up a bit. Wandered around Fleurance and Maurzevin in the afternoon before another good meal in the evening. We asked for foie gras , cassoulet and chocolate cake and all were delicious; Breakfasts were good too so this is definitely one for the address book.

6.3.09

Arrived back home in good time to prepare for our visitors in the evening and the vernissage before hand. Kathy and Gilles, Jean-Jacques and Michelle, Jean Ortiz, Michel and Joëlle, Marie-Jo and Claude, Joséphine and Juste came and made it a really pleasant evening

7.3.09

Another celebration, this time 22 years of our meeting in the "Riverside" in Glasgow. Of course we went to the market in the morning where preparations were underway for the carnaval cavalcade in the afternoon; there were another 21 like these two for one of the floats! Had to turn down an apéro with Gaby and chantal as we were invited to Joséphine's to eat wild boar - the second since Andy and Maureen have been here. No regrets about the apéro as Joséphine does a mean lychee, sparkling wine, cointreau and strawberry cocktail. Yeeeees! I had to leave early to help organise for International Women's Day. The evening was a calm one which I think, we all welcomed.

8.3.09

Thankfully there was no wind and the sun was spliting the sky. There must have been about a hundred people all told (mostly women) and Andy, Christian and Terry did sterling work serving everyone. A real success and lunch at Joëlle and Michel's was just what we needed. But there's no peace for the wicked as they say ... spent the afternoon in the kitchen getting ready for our next lot of guests, Linde, Jean and Françoise, Thérèse, Philippe and Danielle. This birthday seems to be going on for ever!

9.3.09

This evening it was dinner at Madeline's where we met Doudou who we'd heard a lot about. He and Andy are great pals so there was talk of poetry, literature, comerades and civil war history.

10.3.09

The weather continues to be fine and time is going fast. Went to the Exiles' Museum where we were all moved by what we stimulated to think about. Pity that we hadn't noticed on the way in that over 65s were allowed in for free - three out of the four of us qualified.

11.3.09

Andy suffering with a cold today so he passed on the opportunity to come to Perpignan with us. Christian went off to a meeting so Maureen and I toured the shops and sat in a couple of cafés to watch the world go by.

12.3.09
Andy and Maureen's last day so we did the time honoured trip to the waterfall where the café was closed, up to the Sanctuary where we sat in the sun and had a coffee before wandering around St Lorenç. So far so good ... but then we found that our favourite restaurant was closed so we ended up in one in the village which was just not in the same league. C'est la vie! Arrived at the airport in good time and came back and being reluctant to go indoors we took a glass of wine at the bar.

A Slow Start

A late night chez Kathy where we had a menu on a truffle theme. Properly scrambled eggs (ie, bain-mairie), roast monkfish accompanied by celaric mash with truffles through it, brie stuffed with truffles.... the only disappointment was that there were none of the chocolate kind. Anyway the good life doesn't last forever so the time came around to get the sleeves rolled up and prepare the house and fridge for Andy and Maureen's arrival. Things all went a bit pear-shaped in the afternoon with a mix up about the garden and now we're four not five!