Already March

March 2023: Another South American destination, so you'll know from Febrary that I've never been here and if truth be told, highly unlikely to do so.  March has brought more blossom, the reopening of the café, the equinox and the start of summertime. Longer days are on their way.

For a change, I won't start off by talking about food. Much as it makes up a lot of the life here, there are other equally pleaurable things. Like, Nancy's visit for two weeks from the States. Always good to have a breath of fresh air come gusting into "everyday" life even though it was over in a flash. It's always a culture shock when Nancy comes to visit but with her increasing mobility problems the journey is getting more and more difficult so were all wondering for how long she can keep toing and froing.

Let's start with an update on things cultural. 

March is notable for International Women's Rights Day on the 8th and it was marked at the Mairie by the inauguration of a photo exhibition of village woman prior to 1960. The Association, whivh I've fallen out of love with, held its annual women's get-together over coffee and cakes (presumably made by women) served by men. Bought a bunch of raffle tickets in aid of a women's refuge but didn't stop, prefering to join friends of both sexes for coffee at the bar. This month's vernissage at the museum was cancelled at the last moment but we did fare a bit better on the music front. There was a short concert of Cuban music at the Foyer given by "Las Charangas", a Franco/British/Catalan group of musicians which was excellent.

On the 17th, I met Linde in the bar for our traditional St Pat's dram of whiskey. There was musicand plenty of people came in to hear the 7 musicians who'd gathered to play. Left about 20h30; there's nothing like the real thing and it was nothing like the real thing.

One Sunday morning, just before he was due to leave for Thailand, Michel brought croissants and played for a group of us at the bar. It was cold sitting outside but the ambience was warm, chat was animated (when we weren't listening or singing along) and it certainly livened up the square.

Combined exercise with culture another Sunday with Flore; no, you've never heard of her before. She works for the Mairie in "The Maison pour Tous (where Christian's room is) and with real people skills, she is great  asset. This was the first time I'd spent a length of time with her and we got on well. I was relieved to be able to keep up with her on the costal walk between Le Racou and Collioure and back. Flore is both younger and fitter than me! So, that's the exercise bit. 

The culture came by way of a visit to the museum  in Collioure after our picnic overlooking the sea. The museum, created in 1934 by a Russian, has collections of modern and contemporay art with a connection to the town, which was and still is, a magnet to artists both known and aspiring. Have to say, I prefered the garden behind in the grounds of an old Dominican abbey much more enjoyable!

Had a trip to the cinéma in Perpignan with Lynne and Debbie, to see "Empire of Light. Some critiques portray it as overrated but I found it took me along the full spectrum of emotion. At home, I watched "An Irish Goodbye" which was well deserving of its best short film oscar. What a find! You can catch up with it on iplayer.

Dinner at Babette and François's combined food and culture and brought another late night. Conversation ranged from music (inevitable: Babette plays clavicord and other assorted keyboards. François plays cello and guitar), to travel (mostly Greek), language including Greek and Latin (hosts are teachers), politics (par for the course) and "The Crunch ( great delight at the 53 - 10 rugby result).

In addition, as well as morning coffees there were other more substantial get togethers with friends.  

• Chez JJ: Martine did a starter. Michel brought wine, Carmen did a Catalan egg flan, not sure what Jacques brought and I did guggy cake (Sue Lawrence) dowsed in orange liquer, as requested by JJ (the cake not the liquer). Our host opened a pack of olives, nachos and a bottle of cava for the apèro. For the main course he opened two tins of confit duck legs and started some sauté potatoes. Well, Carmen took over the cooking as he was sautéing the potatoes with a lid on the pan! Oh yes, he did some green salad and cheese, too. All very tasty.
• Chez Anita: A tapas style lunch with Jacques and his friend Bernard. Three bottles of cava, a lot of laughs and empty plates later we headed for home, only to reunite a couple of hours or so after to eat soup and drink more cava at Jacques'. This time JJ joined us so it was late to bed.
• Chez Jacques twice more: First for a bowl of homemade soup . . . it was a rich duck and butternut squash one. JJ and Anita were there too, to help out. As usual the apéro lasted about 2 hours and the conversation flowed as fast as the fizz, making it 1am when the evening broke up. Secondly for yet more wild boar. I took a dessert of triple ginger muffins (ground, crystalised and stem) topped with lemon glacé icing, . Had a flash of inspiration ... served the muffins with a whisky mac. Both went down well. Managed to get away from the table and home just after 22h30 
• Chez Kathy for dinner wth JJ and Michel. Left having ben well fed and a reminder to change the clocks
  
• Chez Michel for tea
  
• Chez Nancy for an apéro; just crisps and olives but the wine was plentiful
  
• Chez Nicole for an apéro; just a small glass of sloe gin but plenty of canapés to eat. I was invited back again a couple of weeks later and this time there was a bottle of cava (the one I'd taken the last time!) to oil the vocal cords.
  

•  Chez moi: Tea with Michel when we tucked into the delicious sacher tortes that we'd bought earlier in Figueres
•  An "us only" apéritif dinatoire with Nancy with plenty to eat and plenty to drink. Inevitably the conversation was wide ranging and the hoots of laughter frequent! 
• Dinner for David & Laura, Jacques & Suzette, Michel (only there for the  apéro) and JJ who arrived 30 minutes late after I phoned; he'd not changed his clocks. Loaded the dishwasher, cleared up but couldn't face doing to glasses. Just too bushed.Have come to the conclusion that if I want to have enough energy left to fully enjoy my guests' company, I need to spread the work over a couple of days or do less food.

Ate at the bar with Nancy who treated JJ, Jean and Françoise and I by way of thanks for services rendered before and during her visit and once at the restaurant to celebrate Thiery's 60th birthday. Have to say that I was surprised to get an invite as he's more friendly with Jacques and Michel than me but you'll hear no complaint coming from my mouth. There were 14 of us altogether for dinner though Jacques, Suzette and yours truly had already kicked off the evening at mine with a bit of fizz. There was a glass of champagne there and a three course meal to follow making it a pleasant evening. Thierry seemed happy with how it all went, too. 

Michel and I ended up back a Jacques'. The men played guitar and drank  "Danish Frogman" (!) rum while Suzette & I drank a tisane. Sorry the photo is not very clear but I just wanted to give you proof that it's not a wind up. The one we had in the restaurant (with the agreement of the owners) at 40% proof was enough for me! Even that was a mistake.

2nd May: Need to stop and get organised for tonight's (2nd May as I write) dinner guest but March is almost finished. I'm making progress!😊 Back soon. . . 

3rd. Well, that was tempting fate. I've just taken 2h30 correcting, tweaking and finishing off March and the b..... internet went down and today's work was lost. I'm angry😠, tired😫, unhappy😭 and need to eat lunch. Luckily there are left overs from last night. Back in a bit . . .

Hi again! A big plate of rice (to keep the anger down), an online jigsaw (to empty my head), the sun on my face (to bring back a smile) and I'm good to go again. . . now where was I? Ok, time to talk about getting out from the village.

As well as three trips to the market in Figueres with Michel, two of which finished with lunch at 9 Suprèm there was:

A trip to Port Vendres with Jean and Françoise to visit the renovated ship "Pascual Flores" out of Torrevieja, Valencia, built in 1917 as a salt carrier. Talking of Catalan seafarers, there was an interesting article in the Guardian  reporting on a documentary that aired recently on Spanish tv. It looked at how revenue from the slave trade financed industry and building work in Barcelona. Guell, a patron of the "venerated" Guadí, was one such profiteer.

A day out to Coustouges and beyond with Jacques and Suzette to take Rowena the films that I'd downloaded onto a key for her (good deed box ticked!). We were late starting, then there was the need to get petrol with consequent phone call to Ro, then a rethink and another call to Ro, then we decided to walk down the track rather than confront the potholes. Jacques, who was behind us took the wrong track and never arrived af Ro's! Suzette went in search of him and found him near the top of the track. The key was back with it's owner and as it was already getting late, I set off to meet them but had to turn back as Suzette had left her jacket. If this has been tedious to read, I can tell you it was a darn sight more frustrating living it.

Stopped off in the village where there is a small 12th century church and streets with picturesque names, for a look around. Finally made it to lunch at Maçanet for 15h. Food was good and it was relaxing, sitting outside in the sun. Went for coffee at the Communal café then it was on to Darnius to look in amazement at the lack of water in the lake.  

 The last outing in March was an away-day with David, Laura, Martine and JJ which took us to Banyoles via Espinavessa so as to check out "La Rectoria", a favourite restaurant of bygone days. Found out that it had closed down. Looked at the church, walked down to the spring which had only a trickle of water and apart from a barking dog and a glimpse of an elderly woman sitting in her garden, there was no sign of life. Went onto Esponella where we stopped in a wee shop and café where we had a coffee served by a delightful woman; she told us about " Sa Poma" a restaurant of similar standing as the Rectoria. We made a detour to check it out. It's a stylish place in an old mas. Prices too high for an ordinary Friday lunch and anyway, we had Banyoles in our sights. Had lunch at "La Carpa" (18€, 3 courses + wine) overlooking the lake. As our drivers had an appt at 17h30, there was only time for a short stroll before we needed to head for home. The old town centre will have to wait for another day.

Weather: Started with 12°, rising to 25° then falling back to 23° at the end of the month. Can't complain, can we. Only a few hours of rain and the authorities are starting to get worried.

                      And so the sun sets on March in Chitchatland!