Out with the Old

The week has gone quickly. It's been a time of all sorts of weather .. hot winds, cold winds, mist, sunshine, rain and we haven't ventured far from home. Christian has been perfecting his golf swing and I've been doing lots of odd jobs. Last night we went around to Jean-Jacques and Michelle's for a champagne apéro but apart from that all's been quiet on the social front. Things, however, are about to change ...

Bon Nadal!

Today we made a very slow start and for the first time in 13 year's that if we were home we didn't go to a restaurant for lunch. Just couldn't face a big meal after last night. Decided on a walk. Well, I decided, Christian reluctantly agreed but as we went past the bar we noticed that it was open so went in for a coulpe of glasses of wine. Not to be thwarted, however, I did manage to drag Christian around the village before we went home to lunch of the scallops that we didn't cook last night. The sky was blue and without a cloud. Our afternoon cuppa was accompanied by a piece of Christmas cake, the same that I've been making since Delia's Christmas cookbook came out, however long ago that was and the evening spent quietly in front of the telly with a box of chocs.

Yes Wii Can!

Santa arrived a fraction early having made a stop over at Amazon to to pick up Christian's new toy and ever since he's been practising hard to imrove his golf swing. My part of the present is the fitness (please, no sniggering at the back!) but that will come later. We have yet to negotiate who gets to play when. Managed to get to see Josette and have a cuppa with her before getting stuck in to this evenings preparations.

As is usual in France, our main meal is on Christmas Eve and this year we had Jean-Marie and Chantal, Jacques and Philippe. On the menu were oysters, foie gras, langustines etc., etc. and of course plenty of champagne. Just look how good the langustines are; Chantal can be rightly proud of her work of art. Finally got to bed at 4.30am leaving the front door open just in case ....

Run up to Christmas

At last a few days to catch up with the mountain of ironing that has been glowering ominously out from several baskets. It was made all the easier as my computer had something nasty lurking in it's system so I couldn't be distracted until Michel came and sorted it.

Empty Handed!

16th-23rd December:
I don't know why but this week I've been out and about without my trusty camera so all the exciting things that we've been doing are without illustration. It's been pretty busy and the kilos are being laid down fast and furiously.
Wednesday: Lunch with Gaby and Robert à l'alscacienne then home before Joséphine, Kathy and Juste were around for an apéritif and to choose the photos of our very own flamanco dancers for the photo competition.
Thursday the language exchange followed by tapas at the bar, a carol concert in the church in the evening and an apéritif followed by a chocolate fondue chez Juste and Joséphine.
Friday, lunch out with Anne and Henry. Went to the hotel Duran in Figueres for lunch which was very good apart from a bit of "cheating" on the 18€ menu which said that a drink was included. The "drink" was in fact a bottle of water! We shouldn't have been surprised as at this rather staid retro establishment if you want the menu of the day you have to ask for it. When we were last there the waiter was about to put down two sorts of nibbles when we asked for the menu; quick as a flash, he whipped one away and just left the olives! They are definitely off the list for the future.
Saturday and the great day of the over 70's Christmas lunch. Funnily enough they were a much livlier lot than the over 65s but Christian thinks that that is all down to there being more alcohol bein involved. Anyway, we ate, drank and danced our way through the afternoon and then stayed on to help clean up. All part of the rich tapestry of life!

Around the Christmas Tree

Very cold today, almost arctic and what better occupation than to defrost the freezer. Daily routine has to go on but I'm glad to say that that it isn't all chores 'cos everyone knows the saying about "all work....". This evening there was the Mairie's Christmas party with a super aperitif laid on and Papa Noël who came to fill the empty chair. Every employee and ex-employee had a basket full of goodies, all the children of the employees had a present and all the council members had a box of very swish chocolates. Once the apéro was over there was of course the clearing up to do ... chores at home then more chores, that's the merry-go-round of life . Chantal and Jean-Marie came back to ours for coffee+ so we were soon back on the pleasure track.

Flutters of Snow

How lucky we were to have had it dry for the market yesterday. Today it's even colder and it's been trying to snow. It's lying on higher ground but here in the village it's just wet under foot. Spent the morning taking down the posters and was on the computer all afternoon. Christian has recently tuned in to the updated "google earth" maps and found both our streets in all their glory. It's amazing but a bit worrying that you can see so much detail - and that's the version that's in the public domain.

The great French public has been much worried here by Johnny Halliday's health - every news programme carries the lastest bulletin from his bedside. Even Sarko has spoken about it. Boring or what and do I hear a chorus of 'who's Johnny Halliday anyway?'

This evening there was e debriefing about the Téléthon which ended with an apéritif which ended with an apéritif chez nous with Janine, Carmen and Jean-Claude.

3rd Christmas Market

I've been looking at the sky all week, hoping that the good weather would hold and it did. Temperatures dropped and during the day a snow alert was received at the Mairie for later on. Still at least it was dry and not too windy. Christian was enlisted to help set up the tables at 7.30am which he did with a good grace - he's a real wee treasure, isn't he? Glad to say that the market went well with a good atmosphere and only one complaint from someone who didn't sell anything and was freezing cold. Christian made and sold mulled wine for the website's coffers and we were next to the Association who were selling cakes and I find it hard to believe myself but I didn't have either a glass or a cake. It's amazing how far you can go on a bowl of porridge. Instead I saved myself for the paella which was prepared by the butcher and eaten outside. Mad or what? Had to send it back once as it was cold and when it came back it wasn't much better at which point we gave up. With both Father Christmas and St Nicolas in attendance, the kids were really excited and so was I when I won a couple of things in a raffle. We're obviously on a winning streak, Christian last week, me this. Maybe my one and only premium bond will come up for the first time... At the end of the day when all was cleared up we'd hoped to have a lazy evening but instead Flo (website supremo) asked us to eat with Father and Mrs Christmas at the bar. Thank goodness they were good company but I could have done without the extra calories.

Mountain Food

Did a photo shoot with Joséphine and Kathy in their flamenco gear so it was a good thing that it was bright and sunny though driving up to Jean-marie and Chantal's in the mountains was a bit of a trial for Christian with the low winter sun in his eyes. Our hosts have a fabulous house that really looks as if it's come out of a magazine and the views are are lovely but .... it is too far out of the village for the likes of us. Eventually we were joined by Michel, Joëlle, Philippe and Corinne for a lunch of foie gras, choucroute, cheese and two Christmas logs - one chocolate and one praline. Not for the faint hearted! Chantal is obviously someone who over-caters too! After the others had gone Jean-Marie and Chantal introduced us to the delights of Wii and the Tiger Woods golf game. I was surprised by how much fun it was and Christian is keen to get one. Talking of Tiger - what a mess he's making of things with his family and how much money will he lose now that advertisers don't want his tarnished image associated with their products.? Care, Care, do we care? Don't all rush to answer.

Mairie Annexe

With up to 20 people coming for supper this evening we put a supermarket trip into Christian's palm and nothing was allowed to interfere with it. Needless to say there was nothing ready for lunch so we took ourselves off to the auberge for some sustenance and did I need it. Spent hours in the kitchen preparing food for the chorale who were singing at the local church by invitation of Michel and the Mairie. If you've follow this blog you'll know that we've already done this before. In the end we were 14 so of course as I always make too much, there was loads left over. Shame we're out tomorrow and Sunday.

Oh, so Sedate!

Thursday again and as usual there was the language exchange in the morning followed by tapas at the bar. In the afiernoon it was on with the best bib and tucker for the over 65s tea party in the village hall except there wasn't much evidence of a cup of tea. Instead there was cider, fruit juice and sparkling wine to help down the abundance of delicious petit fours. it was oh too easy to have just one more ... Despite a one - man band doing his best to get things going, there weren't a lot of folk up dancing and the atmosphere was somewhat restrained. Maybe the over 70's lunch next week will be a more lively affair. It certainly was last year. Despite party frock and heels once everyone was gone we set to and helped clear up. I do more cleaning in that b----y hall than ever I do at home! You might think that a couple of pensioners like us had already spent a hectic enough day but all was not finished as we'd been invited up to dinner with Madeline. She had Bill (a Paisley buddy) staying and he kept us well entertained though I'm not sure quite what Annie, who we'd picked up on the way, thought about it all. As usual, Madeline did us proud and next time she'll definitely come down to us as we've a date in the diary for February.

Is Winter here?

The temperature is rising from 16° to 18° tomorrow afternoon and this photo was sent to us by Geneviève last week. The other photo of the Xmas decoration infront of the Mairie tells us that yes, indeed we are in December. Let's hope that Copenhagen manages to achieve something.

At last!

My back and neck ache and my eyes are square but the blog is at long last up to date! Feeling really pleased with myself.

Two's Company

While Christian moved my computer from the landing into the more easily heated small bedroom, I started to tackle the ironing. 16 shirts and several tee- shirts later, I've hardly made a dent in the basket. Still there's always next week or the week after. This evening was the usual "surgery" for Christian while I went and saw Annette over a glass of wine. There were only the two of us and this little fella in the restaurant. They'll be closing at the beginning of January for a couple of months ... where will I get my fix of duck breast from?

All over bar the Cleaning

There's no such thing as a free apéritif so we rose early and went up to the hall to help clear up. What a relief that it's over for another year. No, Christian has never tried this with me! Now it's on with the Christmas market organised by the village forum (ie, Flo and myself) so Christian and I went out in the afternoon putting up posters. Yes, they did arrive as promised!

More Téléthon

People are ready to take your money for the Téléthon at all hours so up we went to the village hall for a Catalan hunter's breakfast of bread, cold meats, cheese, red wine and coffee. In the afternoon I put on my village forum hat and with a lot of help from Christian did a bottle stall on which we made 186€ His good heartedness was rewarded as he won a microwave in the raffle! The British tearoom made 1,100€ which was a great effort given the economic climate. Straight after all that there was a choral concert for three male voices in the church . One of those voices was Jean-Michel ... you see I told you you'd be hearing more about him. It was just superb. They sang in French, Catalan, Corsican, Occitane and Latin and quite made your spine tingle. Rounded off the evening with an apéritif back up at the hall.

Feet First

Bought a super pair of warm winter boots which I can see won't come off my feet until March and then went to have a cuppa with Josette. Ashamed to say that it's been weeks since we've seen her but thank goodness she doesn't take offence. After that we went in search of the posters for the Christmas market at the printers. Jean-Michel, Catalan separatist and a hell of a character has promised that they'll be ready for tomorrow but the disorder he works in leaves a question mark hanging. Apparently he and the rest of his group leave France on the 14th July and they're interested in going to Scotland this year and I'm sure you'll be reading more about him in the weeks to come.

The Téléthon kicked off in earnest this evening with a bar, snacks and a variety show. We stayed a while and then decided to give the local bar some of our money as well.

Give us your Money

Went straight from the association committee meeting to sell more plant cuttings at the market where we later joined by the regulars from the language exchange for tapas. In the evening we were invited for an apéritif to Ginette and Jean-Pierre's, the aunt and uncle of our twinning guest Agnes. We were a bit apprehensive as we didn't know them and weren't sure that we'd have anything in common. You can imagine how our hearts sank when we arrived to find an empty table with only 4 small glasses and a few peanuts on it! Fortunately more things appeared and the evening passed well if somewhat sedately.

Smart or what?

This lunch time we were invited along with Terry and Anne to Nick and Lizzie's for a curry. Lots of interesting flavours to conjour with but the most impressive bit was my cup of tea. Just look at the used tea bag holder. The height of sophistication, I say!

Let the Dog see the Rabbit!

There's a fresh sprinkling of snow on Canigou and the wind is blowing strong. Decided to have a break from the village so we took ourselves off to Figueres and then tried out the restaurant in Fortia. It was an old stone place with character and the menu was incredibly cheap .. 10€ for 3 courses with wine. The starters were fine but the main course of rice and rabbit had only miniscule bits of rabbit in it and then they were mostly bone. Pity they don't charge more and up the quality. Also dining there were an elderly German couple and Christian's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw them putting their pieces of bread into a plastic bag .... maybe their dog is vegetarian or maybe like us, they had the rabbit!