Father afield but not much!

15.8.15:

Today's a public holiday and the village up in the mountains fiesta. I went up with Maggie for the inauguration of a refurbished square which was part of the celebrations. The new mayor from our twinned village from across the border was there as was Lluis, the President of the Lluis Campays association who gave a speech in Catalan. I won't bore you with going into the history for the umpteenth time you can just follow the link if you're interested  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llu%C3%ADs_Companys Just know that the square was named in his honour as an anti-francist. A sardane  and an apéritif followed. Good old Nancy had a go at dancing but found it more complicated than she'd anticipated. Is there nothing that this woman won't try? Maggie and I didn't dance the sardane neither did we stay for the annual giant paella, settling for the apéritif and prefering to come home and have a siesta.
Weather:
24° Cool in the morning but warmer laer with the sun. Nothing like previous years when there's either been a thunderstorm or baking heat

14.8.15:

Pension paperwork; yes, it is an never ending saga. Afterwards went into town with Michel who had a meeting at the Mairie and bumped into Hortense so we did our second lengthy chat in less than a week. Had my nails done in the afternoon which I'm sure many of you will find out of character but there you are. Then, there was music in the bar in the evening. Passed on the meal in favour of a couple of glasses of wine  and table hopping to avoid the showers.
Weather:
23° rain showers
News:
The American Embassy (re) opened in Cuba amid a flurry of concilitary words and a blare of publicity

13.8.15:
Thursday again and did the usual stuff but this time we language exchangers were joined by Nancy and Annie for a glass of wine.
In the evening there was an interesting wine tasting chez Gabriela and I went home the proud owner of six bottles of red kindly carried by Jean-Jacques.  http://www.domaine-des-schistes.com/fr/index.html
Weather:
29°, Cloudy, rain

12.8.15:

Took the early bus into Perpignan. What a disaster the "Centre del Mon" is. Dali named the old railway station the centre of the world decades ago but it's way off the mark for the new TGV station just across the tracks. Almost all the shops have gone in a very short space of time, the offices, carpark and hotels are empty. In fact there are more security guards than shops. With so many train and bus passengers passing through, how has it not worked? Still, there are reports that another group is going to take it over so we'll see if it can be turned around.
Had lunch in "Le Figuier" which I found last year with Elsa and was entertained by a table of six blokes next to me. Came home and snoozed. Big city life is too much for this country bumpkin; though in my defence, I had done a fair bit of walking.
Weather:
31°
News:
Huge explosion in a Chinese chemical plant

11.8.15:
Michel came around to make a start on sorting out computer glitches after which I treated him to lunch at the restaurant. Spent the rest of the afternoon decluttering Christian's usb keys. You and me both; Yawn, yawn !
Weather:
29°, sun

10.8.15:
Took the bus into town to meet Hortense for a coffee. Talked long and hard. Updated the blog this afternoon. Didn't have a lot of energy so gave the open air cinema a miss.
Weather:
30°, Sun after a cool start