A Long Overdue Visit

12.10.16: Our Condolences, M'am

Went into Céret for a stroll around, had a coffee, finished strolling and bumped into Hortense and had another coffee. Mum will be pleased to see from the photo  that her jacket is still doing sterling service. Yes, it was a bit chilly.
Came home for lunch and prepared dinner for Jean-Jacques and Michel. Ken and Margaret had cried off, both having heavy colds. We'd had the date in the diary for ages so it was a bit disappointing but on the other hand with all Ken's no go foods, it was also a bit of a relief. Served up my ever faithful chicken in tomato and pernod sauce. 
We were much exercised  however by the news that the Queen was inconsolable by the passing of a loved one; we immediately thought "Philip" only to find it was one of her dogs! Beggars belief that this was a news story on my French  "Orange" homepage. You'll be relieved to know that conversation moved up a few notches after we'd fantasised about sending her a sympathy card.
Weather:
19° , sun, cloud, heavy rain in the evening

 11.10.16: Washing the Floor with Cava

With the barometer set to fair we decided to head down the coast only to fing that getting out of the garage was going to be difficult. A lorry was parked up (no sign of workers) so instead of going down the street, Bernadette was forced to do some nifty manoevering to get out and go up the street instead. Pretty stressful in a hired car. Those of you who've negotiated this narrow street will be in sympathy, I'm sure. Anyway patience and good pedal control got us away without a scratch or bump.
Drove down to Banyuls and had coffee overlooking the sea and then came back to Paullilles for a visit to the site of the old Nobel explosives factory. Won't go into details though if you're interested you an read the 26th September post. This time I climbed the watch tower and was rewarded with fine views. 
Lunch beckoned so we continued back toward Port Vendres and had a good, honest  meal at "Le Chalut". Next to us were a Bulgarian/Czech couple who apparently have a holiday home Céret. He was desperate to chat, she (very glam) took forever to move her bag from where Bernadette was to sit and looked at us with out cracking a smile which was more hostile than her lack of English or French would account for. Oh, how we speculated about who they were!
We'd hoped to see "The Belem", a three masted training ship while we there but it was hard luck for us that it was out at sea and not due back until late afternoon. Contented ourselves instead with a walk around Collioure (or Collimore as Lena, Bernadette's Mum called it when she was here).
Came back for tea  at which point I read my emails to find that Françoise was expecting us for an apéritf in 20 minutes time! Thérèse came too so she and Bernadette exchanged language assistant stories. The title of this post refers to Jean having to mop up the bottle of cava that ended up on the floor. Don't ask!
Weather:
20°, sun, high cloud and some wind

10.10.16 : A Wind Down Day

Back to the treadmill after the weekend break and once Berndette was up and about we went to the bar for a coffee where we were joined by Linde. More exercise after lunch with a double circuit of the two lakes. Spent the evening in.
Weather:
20°, sun and light cloud