Mary's Visit: Off to a Good Start

22.9.16: Putting a Kick into Lunch

Mary slept in again while I went to open up the room for the language exchange. Didn't stay though as I needed to get back to my guest (thank you, Mary). Did a bit of preparation on the Scottish trip for tomorrow's AGM and then we both wandered over to the bar for a coffee and even said "no" to an apéro as we were invited to David and Laura's to talk about the Scottish trip over lunch and to see their new house at the same time. We were joined by Jim and Mags for a delicious curry followed by cheese then prunes in a rich armagnac syrup with vanilla ice cream. Oh, soooo good and it was lovely to hear all those Scottish accents. There are lots of recipes on the internet. Delia also does a wicked chocolate, prune and armagnac cake, pickled prunes in armagnac using lapsan suchong tea while Laura uses liquid cane sugar instead of making a sugar syrup. Mmmm, I've people coming round next week, maybe I'll give it a go.
Once back home, there was hardly time to draw breath before we met up with Jean and Françoise for a trip down to Argelès. An action replay of my birthday treat - walk along the prom to admire the photos, a couple of drinks and tapas overlooking the marina except this time it was for Françoise's birthday not mine. Same as the last twice we were there, the waiter was someone who liked to travel. This one was an older guy who said that he lived for most of the year in the Ivory Coast where he had a hotel and apartments . He also had hotels in Benin and Ghana. Jean went right off him when he said that he'd been in the military. I hadn't much liked him either; it all smacked of latter day colonialism.
Worked at home before finally going to bed at 2am.
Weather:
26°, sun, clouding over in the evening

21.5.16: Putting a Sparkle into the Evening

While Mary slept on, I plugged myself into my Spanish lessons and did an hour on the treadmill. Once we'd both done our own thing, we went over to the bar for a late coffee which we followed by a late lunch on the terrace at home.
In the evening Colin and Lynn came round. He to help me with the installation of a new photo programme on the computer now that Google have made Picasa obsolete. Lynn and Mary talked "Birmingham" which they both know well. Think I'll be able to get my head around it but no doubt there'll be some frustrating moments.
Mission accomplished, it was time to tuck into the tapas I'd prepared and to sip our way through a couple of bottles of cava. The photo shows just the starter nibbles which I put out to keep Mary and Lynn going if you think it looks a bit sparse. Well, if the more interesting stuff went out before hand, Colin and I might have found ourselves short changed!
Weather:
26°, sun and cloud

20.5.16: Flights of Fancy
Today was mostly about flights. Nicole S stopped by for us to book hers to Portugal. She wanted to be absolutely sure that she was on the same one as Margaret and myself. All worked well, Ryanair has greatly improved its site. She then headed off to teach her French class and I rather less nobly went off to meet the other Nicole in the café. She left and Nicole S reappeared as arranged, with a prospective new member.
The afternoon passed quietly enough until it was time to meet the other Nicole again to go to the airport to collect Mary. Being offered a lift was such help as public transport to the airport involves 3 buses. Her plane was in a little early but we still had time for a coffee. Once back in the village, we dropped off Mary's bag (20kg for a week!!) at the house and Nicole dropped her car off at hers. Sorry, if you get confused by the various Nicole's. There are 3 in the women's group, at least another 2 in the association and 1 who lives nearby. How I digress. Back to Mary's first evening which was spent over dinner at the bar. The three of us opted for steak and rosé.
Also there were Ros and Charles on holiday from the UK who had been told that if they had any few tourist type questions or problems, I was their woman. They did (fortunately questions not problems) and I was! You'll be relieved to hear that I'm not going to bore you with how they fit into my life.
Weather:
26°, very light wind