Couldn't face doing battle with the latest wave of tourists so just went to the bar where we spent a couple of hours whiling away the time chatting to people and we didn't even have to pay for either the coffee or the wine. In the afternoon we both went to a meeting at the Mairie in our respective roles to talk about a guide to footpaths in the area written in Catalan(don't ask - I'm still not sure why we were there!
Today we all piled into Christophe's people carrier and headed over the border. Stopped off at the waterfall before heading to the lake where we had a couple of glasses of cava while they all swam then lunch followed by another swim for the family and a siesta for us! Must have been the wine.
This morning we were early at the lake and saw the sun come up. As I walk around listening to the Michel Thomas tapes, I can't help but think about Eddie and how pleased he would be to hear that as the course advances the female student starts to leave her male colleague behind. All her mistakes had been driving him mad ... it's the silly little things that bring home the sadness.
The three day village fiesta is upon us again but this year we didn't wear ourselves out eating, drinking and dancing until the early hours. Instead we contented ourselves with the meal on the Saturday evening and a coffee in the bar afterwards. There were 30 of us from the Association and the meal which as last year, was pork and peppers. The organisers stick pretty much to same formula apart from this year changing the band who played. Pity really as by common agreement, they weren't thought to be so good. Sunday as usual, there was Sardane before lunch and the "llavant de taula" after lunch and more Sardane in the evening before another dance. A couple of glasses in the bar with Patrick and Nicole seemed like the better option so we gave the dance a miss which is a shame as by all accounts they more than made up for the disappointing night before. Ah well, you can't win em all and we did have to think about getting up for 7am.
As well as the usual stuff going on in the week we had several meals with friends; firstly on Sunday (18th)there was a return invitation to Michel's where we were entertained along with Alain, Juste and Joséphine.
A day when things didn't go according to plan. Firstly Thérèse rang at the last minute to say that she couldn't come to help as family had arrived which meant that I had to scoot around doing some cleaning as well as preparing dinner for six of us. Then Michel telephoned to say that he and Alain were going to be late, then Juste and Joséphine phoned to say that their son from Paris had turned up unexpectedly so they wouldn't be coming, then to cap it all, the skies opened and put pay to eating on the terrace. Still, there was so much food left over that Michel and Alain were able to leave with a doggie bag and I didn't have to think about cooking for the rest of the weekend.
Did the usual Thursday stuff during the day but in the evening we took Jany and Patrick to the lakeside restaurant by way of a thank you for her doing my hair the other week.
It was good to have a busy day after yesterday's news which for obvious reason had a two fold impact on me. As we had to be on board the military transport to go up to the other village by 8.15am, there was no walk around the lake. The weather was fine and being at nearly 1000m, there was a freshness in the air. All went off according to plan and apart from the Young People's Mayor reading an address, the ceremony was much like any of the others. There was of course the same thing down in the village but with a tenor to sign the Marseillais, the sardane and an 'apéritif républican' in the square. Lunch was in a military bivouac set up by the group who'd provided the vehicles and Christian took his turn to serve up lunch. It was exceedingly hot and he was very tired at the end of it all. In the evening, after spending the rest of the afternoon with Alain who did some fine tuning on the ipods, we met Diana and her friend Ian for a quick drink. Neither of us had the energy to go down to the recreation ground to see the fireworks but we had a good view of them from le nid(nest)and they were really superb. Worthy of any big town.
Desite the warm weather a group of 15 members from the Association ventured out to look at 12th century frescoes in two local churches and some nearby Roman ruins and we were fortunate enough to have one of our number to act as a guide. How glad we were not to be caught up in the traffic crossing the frontier that we could see down below us. So much for the folk who say that we do nothing but eat and drink! Of course we did need some sustanance at the end of the morning so we picniced in a shady spot before the short drive home.
All dressed up and raring to go! In less than an hour from now, this sleepy little market town will be full of revellers getting gradually more unsteady on their feet with very glass of sangria/wine/beer/whatever. Time to head for home, methinks.
I don't have to tell you how our day started; suffice it to say that an early rise was involved. As it was somewhat overcast and a little cooler I finally got around to attacking the ironing after our breakfast on the terrace. Come on there, there's no need to yawn with all the excitement ... this really was quite an event. I had the busy morning and Christian had the busy afternoon with the inauguration of a new local bypass, a visit to the Gp (only to renew his prescription, so no need to worry) and then to help Gaby with his comuter. Hopefully that will make up for the punch I spilt over him last week! 
Still managing to keep up the early starts but with views like this and an ever changing landscape, it's all worthwhile. There was no committee meeting this morning but the language exchange and tapas lunch went on as usual. Those of you who have seen our market would have been surprised today by the number of stalls - there were at least 7. I'm convinced that the economic situation is pushing people to try their luck. Not that I think that this village market will make anyone rich.
Great excitement; the new ipods arrived Monday and Christian plugged himself in to music for his morning walk.I had to make do with a portable cd player, which kept jumping when I walked too fast, as my language cds wouldn't record for some reason. However, Christian has managed to get them both tuning into the internet so we can now consult our emails from the comfort of the settee during the commercial break and goodness knows what else they can do.Christian doesn't actually sleep attached to this great wee toy but it looks as if might become as much a part of him as his specs are!
It was a bit hard getting out of bed at 7am to start our 5 day week of walks but what the heck, we need to make the most of our time. Our coffee at the end gazing out onto the lake, trees, ducks and mountains is a really nice moment. 
Apart from going to the market, yesterday was a bit of an non-event which I suppose is no bad thing from time to time.
It's getting hotter and hotter and I was awfully pleased that the paella lunch for the workers of the commune at the campsite was for councillors and not their partners. There was another vernissage this evening in the small chapel in the village and I managed to spill some strawberry punch over Gaby. Oh dear! I felt too embarrased to refill my glass which was a shame as it was seriously good, as was the buffet.
A lovely sunny day and we again had our committee meeting outside; that was after a walk around the lake even earlier than usual. The language exchange followed on but the lunch time tapas went awry as none of us had prepared anything. In the late afternoon, our Danish friend had the opening of her photo exhibition which depicted some village doors. Her speech was in English and ably translated by Michel. Lone pointed out the importance of the door in symbolising the openness or otherwise of the people who live behind them.There was an apéro to follow and the promise of a donation to the Association of any profits made.
