June Already

June already and more and more people are appearing on the terrace of the café; midsummer, the longest day and the "Feux de St Jean" are in view as is a trip to chillier climes. Although looking at the above picture, you wouldn't believe that description of UK. There again, Wiltshire is a bit further south than my destination. 

What's Wiltshire famous for? Salisbury cathedral (13th century) sporting the tallest spire in Britain painted by John Constable

White horses carved into the chalk hillsides dating from the 18th century and of course, the monumental Stonehenge dating from 3000 BC or BCE if you prefer to leave the Christian reference aside in favour of "Common/Current Era dating. Writing this in August, the news has just broken that the large stone, known as the altar stone is not Welsh blue stone as thought but Scottish! No mean feat to transport a 6 ton (5,433kg) stone all the way from NE Scotland! 

1992: Our visit was a detour coming up from the overnight ferry on our way north. If I remember rightly we had breakfast in Marlborough and were disappointed that we had to view the stones from behind a rope which I believe is even farther back nowadays. If you're ready to sign up for a VIP visit for £61, you can go inside the circle and at the summer solstice special permission can be granted. Don't know, though, if you need to be a bona fide druid!! (lol, of course you don't!)

June 2024  Well, of course the highlight of the month was my trip to visit family and friends though this time I missed seeing Mary who will be a definite for next year's visit and Jen who I hope to see in the autumn before the direct flight from Perpignan hibernates for several months.

First off, was a visit to see Maureen, my Mum's Irish 2nd cousin, who lives with her daughter and son in law in the East Midlands. It was quite a journey for me on public transport; two buses to get to the airport which entailed a long wait for the flight and a bus at the other end to Leicester where Joanne & Terry picked me up. 12 hours in all. Maureen had just celebrated her 100th. Still going strong, she's some woman! Loves life, walks up 13 stairs to go to bed, attends to her own personal needs and does a 20 minute walk twice a day. Hope some of those genes have filtered down this way. She'd had a telegram from Charles & Camilla, an ornate certificate from the Pope and the prospect of 2,400€ from the Irish state! Of course we spent a lot of time reminiscing about her trips with Mum here and to Paris and Dubai when Christian and I were there, looking at photos and having a laugh. 

A pub lunch with Joanne and massive pieces of birthday cake were also on the cards.

Next stop was chez Jean & John which involved two buses, one of which set off with a water leak and was replaced en route. Finally, got to Coventry where I had time enough to eat a lunch in the bus station café before my hosts picked me up.  While tucking in to my omelette and chips, I heard a very noisy drug arrest going down and listened to a number of stories from one of the litter collectors employed by the Council about all the aggression he'd experienced. 

A quiet night in, looking out of the window at a peaceful English village was more than welcome. 

 

 The same goes for our visit the next day to steeped in history Kenilworth with its castle that we didn't have time to visit.

 

 The following day it was time to move on to my final destination but not before Sunday lunch at the local pub. A roast, what else? and what a bonus . . there was no bus to catch as Jean & Jean drove me down to Jill's.

 

No more humping around my suitcase or watching the clock to be in the right place at the right time. My bed was ready, space was cleared in the wardrobe and a bottle of cava was chilling in the fridge. Bienvenue chez Jill!

 

Chatted a lot, caught up with all the family, morning coffees, walked most days, put the visa card to work, watched tv and ate chocolate. And of course, went out and about. First outing was for prosecco and salad at the Church House Brasserie in Banbury

Sunday lunch at "The Black Horse", the oldest pub in the town (1540)

A superior hot chocolate on a wet Saturday morning in Stratford

Lunch and shopping in Stratford

Lunch and shopping in Warwick, the county town home to the Municipal Council that helped fund my university studies back in the glory days.

More shopping in Banbury that yielded several bargains

A must for every visit. Shame the other half of  "sœurs" couldn't make it 

We hadn't met since Yasmin and her husband sold their holiday home five years ago. Finally managed to get together in Oxford. I let the train take the strain and all went without a hitch. Dodging the rain, we found "Côte Brasserie" for lunch and chatted the time away. I was so pleased that Yasmin made it as the next day she was downsizing and moving out of London. Such a capable woman, with Raza away in Iran, she was managing it all herself. We parted with promises of me visiting and trying out the futon she's planning to buy for guests.

It's clear to see from the photos, the weather was mixed but glad to say that there was only one episode of such heavy rain and as I left there was a promise of sunny spells to come both sides of la Manche.

Despite having to check in 3 hours in advance because of problems with new security equipment, the journey home went without a hitch; JJ was at the airport to meet me and Jacques had dinner ready. Aren't I lucky to have such good pals? 

It goes without saying that there were other get togethers with friends, not all of which are mentioned below.

At last I returned hospitality to Michèle and Henri starting with an apéro chez moi. Lunch at the local restaurant, needless to say, far surpassed anything I could offer at home.
 

Apéro dinatoire chez Thérèse

 JJ entertained some his women friends over an apéro

Michel entertained some of his friends over coffee and croissants at the bar

The bar entertained all & sundry at a soirée musicale

All and sundry entertained the rest of us at the Fête de la Musique  

 

Two days later the Feux de st Jean celebrations were cancelled due to high winds but the decorations in our street meant that it wasn't forgotten.

 

An opportunity for us to catch up with Eric at his exhibition "Art in the Garden in St Cyprien. Was also an opportunity for us to have lunch by the sea at the restaurant "Espadron" which was a pot luck choice that we didn't regret.

There was another exhibition to see and this one was within walking distance in the village. As I hadn"t been around for the vernissage, Françoise and I went together. The artist was there so we had a private showing complete with recitation.

Other things of note? Wordle in 1 with "paint", the purchase of a new oven which necessitated having to organise replacing the struts holding it in place and changing the rubber gas pipe lurking at the back which should have been done in 2010!

Weather:

Temperature reached a high of 30° and dropped as low as 14° and there was one almighty downpour which for once was followed by consistent rain for most of the day In Uk there was a high of 15° and a low of 6°.

Notes of Nature:

 

 

Last Word:

Appropriately enough found at Maureen's!