Spreading the Word

Another early start, breakfast on the terrace and then around to a friend's with a local photographer who was taking photos of her paintings to use on a poster.As they were all under glass, this proved to be very difficult. From there Christian went to pick up his 2nd pair of specs (for 1€) and I went for a bit of beauty treatment. There was just time to have a glass of rosé together before we went our separate ways for lunch; Christian back to the auberge in the village and me into the square for lunch with Barbara, Jill and Yolande. The latter two are hopning to set up an Association similar to ours in their village. It was the first time that I'd eaten in the restaurant and the location with it's view of the fountain was reflected in the price. Barbara and I both thought 20€ was over the top but as we were being treated, we couldn't say anything about it.

St Bernard?

At the lake for 7.10am this morning and we each did our own cicuits at our own pace. I wonder if Eddie and Suzanne have been doing the same. We've solved the question of why cars should park outside the car park .... because the barrier had not yet been lifted. Simple really. As you will see from the photo we took a wee refreshment with us but it was neither brandy nor Ricard and in case you're wondering ... the cool bag is around Christian's neck so that he could swing his arms. Another sunny day stretches before us and the supermarket beckons.

Change in Routine

With the weather getting hotter we decided to go for our walk around the lake before breakfast, so we were up and out by 7.10am. Eddie and Suzanne have just left for the airport (boo hoo!), Christian is at a meeting and I'm about to go and pay my respects at a funeral so I'd better go and change out of my red dress into something more fitting.

Slow Sunday

Our visitors went off for a last trip to the beach while we sat for a couple of hours on the terrace of the bar enjoying the weather, chatting and watching the world go by. Tried in vain to find someone who might have recorded Wallander ... how sad is that? The afternoon was spent pretty lazily too. As was the evening come to think of it. As a change from tapas we had aperitifs (!) on the terrace at home before dinner and coffee at the bar.

Tapas and Telly

Thursday there was the usual after language exchange tapas at the bar.
Friday there was a trip to the wine bar for tapas.
Saturday there was the association's tapas evening, so you could say that the four of us are all tapased out! In between all these interesting little dishes there was the tennis to watch, the football and Glastenbury to avoid (what a difference 30 years makes!)and sadly the last Wallander to screw up recording.

Friends, Romans and Good Food

After our walk we all set off to L'Escala and Empuries which was a Greco-Roman settlement and boasts important ruins. The sky was blue and the wind had dropped. A good lunch in the Hostal overlooking the sea followed by a stroll, we did our best to show our friends a good time. They reciprocated by treating us to lunch.Came home to see a tennis match that was at 31 games to 31 in the 5th set and which went on until bad light stopped play when they had reached 51 games to 51. There was a wee Frenchie playing so of course we were cheering for him. Christian and I bailed out before the end to go down to the recreation ground for the fireworks and "feu de St Jean" kicked off by the flame that comes down from Mount Canigou and ends with the kids jumping over the dying embers of the fire.

Old Friends and New Tables

We had company on our walk around the lake this morning though some of us were more bright eyed than others. The new garden furniture arrived as promised. We toasted it in the evening with a bottle of cava while Suzanne hopped up and down keeping an eye on the meal that she was cooking for us. By the way, that's not the new table but the one at the lake where we have an after walk coffee.

Sporting Life

Eddie and Suzanne arrived safe and sound last night and quite courageously joined in with the Association's boules challenge. The Tramontane was still blowing but we found a sheltered spot to play and BBQ. Much to everyone's surprise, especially ours, Eddie and I found ourselves in the final. Sadly after leading 8 points to 2, we lost 13-11. I swear Eddie has played before. It's probably just as well that we lost ... well, how much of a beating can French pride take at the moment? there was a lot of discussion over lunch about the antics of the French team with Anelka being sent home in disgrace over insulting the coach and the ensuing refusal of the team to train. The Health and Sports minister, a rather over weight woman, gave them a good talking to so let's see if it has any effect tomorrow when they play South Africa.
This evening there was music in celebration of National Music Day in the square and at Jean's house where Michen was also playing. Our guests were sadly all done in and stayed home to watch Wimbledon ... yes, it's that time of year again.

Weekend Off

On the physio's recommendation, there's been no walking this weekend. We went to the market of course and on Saturday evening we joined Di and Barbara at Maggie and Trevor's for dinner.
Today, the sun has at last been shining but the Tramontane has been gusting strongly. A bit of a shame really as there was a craft and produce market with stall holders from North and South Catalunya. There was couscous for lunch which was delicious, a group of English singers and entertainment for the kids. The photo shows the Maire and his counterpart from over the border inaugurating the fair.The ribbon in the Catalan colours is traditionally cut into small pieces to give to people for good luck. We should be alright as we both got a bit!
Eddie and Suzanne arrive this evening and let's hope that the ride won't be too bumpy.

Getting Things Done

After walking for an hour, we took ourselves off into Spain in search of the ever elusive garden furniture and low and behold we actually found some to our liking. What's even better is that it should be delivered on Tuesday and for free. Christian found a pair of walking shoes, we did a bit of food shopping in prepration for our visitors and resisted to the temptation to have lunch out. Rain came on just as we went up to a local monument for a comemmoration of De Gaulle's call to the French in 1940 to resist the Nazis. A local resident of 94 years old was presented with the Légion d'Honneur but don't ask me why it's taken so long. Feeling cold and a bit soggy 15 of us went to eat at the restaurant up in the mountains and to toast the Maire's wife whose birthday it was.

Heart of the Matter

An association committee meeting first thing for me while Christian did his walk around the lake before going to see the cardiologist. He's pleased with how Christian is recovering but the leaking mitral valve needs careful monitoring. We were home too late to meet up for the usual tapas so the rest of the day passed quietly enough.

No Specsavers Here!

Went this afternoon to choose our new specs and came out of the shop with considerably lighter wallets! In the evening we took Margaret, Jean and David to try outthe delights of the wine bar. As you can see, they found it an ok place to spend the last night of their holiday.
Meanwhile there have been flash floods in the Var leaving 25 people dead and more missing and a lot of discussion about an "apéro géant". This idea has been taking off of late via Facebook etc which is used to get people together for an enormous apéritif in some public place or other. This week it's moved away from the more fun aspect with an invitation for "saucisson-pinard" (pork sausage and wine) on Friday at prayer time in a culturally mixed area of Paris. It's been banned.
Meanwhile, oil contines to leak into the Gulf of Mexico but no one is talking about the 11 people who died in the explosion.

Look Lively

The rain didn't deter us from our walk this morning and as it's been over two years since we've been to have our eyes tested, this afternoon we did the necessary and are now set with prescriptions for new specs. David, Jean and Margaret came for dinner while Daniel and Michel popped in for an apéritif. Fortunately the weather cheered up enough for us to have our apéritif on the terrace and the hastily rearranged chilli instead of salad was still ok. Well, if it's good enough for the Mexicans, it's good enough for us .

Here We Go

The first day of the rest of our lives saw us up and out walking around the lake by 8.30am.

On Yer Bike

Nothing special happened yesterday apart from our weekly visit to the market where we met Margaret, David and Jean for an apéro. which meant that Christian didn't have his permitted glass of wine with his lunch.
Today the was a Regional mountain bike competition staged in the village and of course we put in an appearance for the prize giving. Weather was fine in the morning and we passed an agreeable time on the terrace of the bar but in the afternoon the rain came on quite heavily. No photo of the cyclists, I'm afraid, the usual story of images of children not being allowed without parental permission, so you'll have to make do with this one of our local hero and one of his colleagues.!

Goodbye to All That

Five weeks is a long time to be away from the old homestaed but at last it's over, at least for the time being. It seems likely that something will have to be done about the leaking valve before too long. No doubt the visit to the cardiologist on Thursday will put us straight. With every 'goodbye' comes a 'hello' .... Christian had been in the house about 20 minutes when the Mairie telephoned to sort something out on the website! In the evening we went along to the latest vernissage where Christian took a lot of the limelight away from the paintings. He managed exceedingly well in resisting the apéritifs and kept up the good work at Margaret's where we went to with Judith and Trevor to round off the evening.

One More Dodo

Spent the morning doing association stuff - committee meeting, language exchange and tapas at the bar where 15 or so of us tucked into all sorts of goodies. Christian said "good bye" to his commrades Daniel and Francis (on his left) and "hello" to Robert and Gaby who drove me down to Banyuls for one last visit. After some rain this morning, the skies were blue once again thanks to a strengthening Tramuntane which sent the waves crashing over the rocks. What a beautiful spot to get your life back on track though in the future, if rumour is to be believed, it's earmarked to become a centre for top sports people. Well, it is on a prime piece of real estate!

Nous Parlons Anglais!

It was so difficult to get started this morning that I didn't manage to get downstairs until about 11.15am. Luckily apart from making my contribution for the end of year soirée organised by the Association's English Class, there wasn't anything to do that couldn't wait. Made a Mars Bar Rice Crispy Slice, heavily laden with calories and a ginger cake topped with lemon icing, both of which went down well. Margaret, who's here for a few days, came around for a cuppa and a catch up and this evening I sauntered down to the recreation ground for about 8.30pm. There were songs, lots of applause, thank you speeches and of course a wonderful array of good things to eat and drink.

'Ear, 'Ear!

A quick trip to our local clinic this morning and I can hear again. Thank goodness! It was so tiring having to strain to hear. I must now try and be more patient with my Mum...
Nick and Lizzie gave me a lift down to Banyuls to see Christian who as you can see is in good form and now able to do five circuits in an hour on his early morning walk. He's done really well as when he started he could only do three. The photo was taken on the balcony outside his room. Not bad, eh?
Home in time to get organised to join Anne, Terry and Barbara chez Trevor and Judith. Drinks on the terrace in the evening sunshine followed by a delicious meal of salmon. It will be difficult to go back to cooking and eating regular meals ... perhaps Christian can be persuaded to have a go from time to time. He always used to cook the main course in Scotland when people came for dinner and very good it was too. I hope that when he reads this he'll be flattered enough to head for the cookery books.

Retail Therapy

This morning I dug deep into my purse to find 1€ for the bus to Perpignan for the long promised day out with Jany and Joëlle. What a pleasure it is to have such a good deal! Of course we started off with a coffee in one of the cafés along the Quai Vauban and then went in search of a bargain or two. We all managed to find something to our liking and went to the Café Vienne for lunch feeling well pleased with ourselves. The afternoon was less productive but easier therefore on the plastic. Finished off the day once more on the Quai Vauban for a tea and a last natter before returning to the bus station for the homeward trip. After a copious salad at lunch time there will be no need to forage in the fridge this evening thus leaving me free to put my overworked feet up!

Weekend Pass

Once more with Christian at home for the weekend, we spent the time quietly enough with just a trip to the market and a coffee in the bar being the highlights of Friday and Saturday. Sunday it was time to once again for us to don the mantle of public responsibility. Went down to the recreation ground to see the Association's Fun Rally off and then it was off up to the other village for a 'D' day commemoration. Typically after a week of very hot weather, it rained but the old soldiers weren't deterred. With many of the regulars being in Normandy for the twinning exchange which of course included visits to the beaches, we were few on the ground. We stayed on to eat at the restaurant to represent the Mairie at a meal with veterans' association. Veal rather than duck was on the menu and every other word was "pardon." With my blocked ear I fitted right in with all the others who were hard of hearing. The differnce being that I hope to have my problem sorted out at the clinic on Tuesday.
Like the good wee trooper that he is, Christian left for Banyuls without complaint and I settled down to watch some of the tv awards (fewer channels = less choice). I didn't realise that so many personalities had died over this last year; Danny Larue and Brian Barron to name just a couple. Julie Walter's quite rightly won an award for her portrail of Mo Molem but I'm not sure of the one to Simon Cowel for his contribution to entertainment but what do I know? I guess all those people who vote for the likes of Susan Boyle would disagree with me ...

Alone At Last

Thursday morning passed as usual with an Association meeting, language exchange and tapas at the bar. and in the afternoon Anne and Henry came with me to see Christian who is now installed in a comfortable single room. Space and privacy. The weather is very warm, the sea blue but despite being born under the sign of Pisces, Christian shows no sign of being tempted into the water.

Say Cheese!

No visit to Christian today. Instead Michel, Jean-Jacques, Kathy, Juste and Joséphine came around for something to eat. I can hardly believe it but I gave them cheese on toast. This all came about as Michel had been talking to Juste and Joséphine about the Welsh Rarebit he'd had and the delights of cheddar cheese. As I had some in the freezer, I said I would do some for them to try. Augmented by ham, eggs and a couple of salads, followed by Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes, hot Spiced Cherries on vanilla ice cream, my guests were well satisfied! It just goes to show that the French aren't always food snobs well, not all of the time.

Cherry Ripe

Actually did a small amount of work for the Association this morning and while I was out in the village I met the Mayor's wife who invited me for lunch. Met up with André in the hangar of one of the village's main cherry producers where there was an apéritif going on after a hard morning's picking. Came away with a load of cherries which as you can see are just scrummy. André had invited Jean-Jacques for lunch which we ate out on their terrace. Given that we'd eaten well, we decided to pass on the offer of a lift and walk home. Had just enough time to get myself organised before heading off to Banyuls with Gérard. Christian had had a busy day but looks well and doesn't complain. He really is a wee darlin!