How annoying is that? No indication as to where the photo has been taken. An internet search tells me that the columns are Greek but as we all aware the Empire was sizable, so who knows. My travels in Greece have been limited to Corfu, several times in the late 70's - 80's on a limited budget and Crete in 1995 on a cheap, last minute package deal. Memories of moussaka and cold chips of the former and a room without AC of the later.
Found these photos of Corfu; sorry they've faded with age but don't we all?
These of Crete are a bit better.
Anyway, . . . every time I say this word I'm reminded of JJ remarking during our visit to Scotland that he heard it all the time and wanted to know what it meant. For those of you who are interested, "WordReference", my trusty linguistic helpmate says:
- in any case, regardless = quand même, de toute façon
- informal for resuming previous topic = quoi qu'il en soit, enfin
1st - 14th: First day of the month and straight back into the swing of things with my usual English conversation hour with Lisa, a fresh food shop for a least two weeks with Jacques and in the evening an apéro chez Jean & Françoise. JJ, of course, was the chauffer for Linde, moi and Teddy, an exuberant, 5 month old retriever that she doesn't like leaving. He's cute but not my idea of an appropriate pet for an 80+ year old and even more it's a headache to find alternative care for him when she can't be there. I'm not the only one who has made it clear that dog minding is not on the agenda.
Maybe it seems mean but I learnt my lesson early on that a pet isn't a fit with my lifestyle. Mr Bones (a border/Jack Russel cross full of character) being the case in question. Luckily Mum took him in and gave him a better life than I could. Crickey, here I am reminiscing again . . .
In the evening, the square took off with a fiesta on a flower theme. The bar was celebrating 25 years of ownership under the tlc of Jean-Louis . . . and it was some fiesta!
Music was provided by two bandas, Gadjo Lolo and a disco; there was also a screen showing USAP's crunch match against Grenoble, which by the way, they won.
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The two schools had painted banners, Philippe had done others, Anna and Nicole had made sunflowers with cork centres, a nod to the name of the bar which is cork in Catalan; foodwise tapas and sandwiches were on offer; beer and wine flowed served by the owners of the restaurant who’d closed in order to help out. Lot's of people more than willing to have a good time made for a great atmosphere.
Next day came a trip down to Argelès with Jean, Françoise and JJ.
watched the tourist boat "Baracuda" dock and unload its passengers and had lunch at N° 16 overlooking the marina. Being la Fête des Mères (Mother's Day), business was good. All very sedate; what a contrast. Variety is good, n'est-ce pas?
D(eclaration) Day arrived. All set and ready to go with JJ coming to make sure that I put the right amounts in the right boxes on my tax form. As usual we had a bit of going round in circles but after 2 hours, with a sigh of relief, all was done and dusted and there are still 3 days in hand. What better way to celebrate than to go to Jacques' for dessert and a couple of bottles of cava. And ... there were plans to get together again tomorrow for lunch in Spain at a restaurant that Dali had found.
Nothing else to do but beat a retreat to the car and head for home via Capmany where we stocked up on cava.
In another category altogether, lunch at Tartana, which I'd discovered in February, came a couple of days later. Started off with a coffee and a wander around the market in Figueres until it was time for food. The others (Carmen, Martine and JJ) were well impressed with the whole experience. In case you're wondering if JJ and Carmen were set to work to pay the bill by turning the olive mill, be reassured; it was just too much of a temptation to resist . Another must was the nearby centennial oak; just look at those roots.
A quiet couple of days followed with only a trip to the market taking me out of the village. But peace and quiet never lasts for long with two evenings of rather more wine than was necessay following.
Weather: We've had rain most days becoming heavier with thunder as time went on. Temperatures betweed 26 - 31°.
15th - 25th June: Shakespeareland and Back
Made my way to the airport going all the way on public transport without a hitch. It was all very sociable with lots of chitchat on the navette. Roy was at the airport to get me so, all in all, a good start to the holiday.
- Dinner at Jim and Mag's: Drinks on the patio, then dinner, cooked by Jim around the table inside
- Up to Prats de Mollo by taking two buses only to find that Patt thought I was coming on Thursday not Tues and she was away in Spain food shopping! As there was nearly an hour and a haff before I could get down the valley, she was back for us to haveover two hours together. Ron and Dick, two guys I knew years and I do mean years ago, stopped by for a drink and catch up. They left with an invitation on their lips to go farther up the valley to theirs next time I'm up seeing Patt.
- Dinnr at mine for Bruno and Christine from ou Normandy twin town + JJ
- Market in Figueres with Michel but unusually we didn' stay on for lunch. A sacher torte apiece which made a splendid dessert after eating last night's leftovers back at mine.
Jean & Françoise, again + JJ for an apéritif dinatoire chez moi. You would have though that there were 3x the number of guests from the amount of food I did! Temperature on this last day of June was 29° with clear blus skies and there are more to come.Alignment's gone to pot and writing this on 23rd July, its too hot to try and work out why
