Making the most of the sunny days

 11.9.20 - 17.9.20: Making up for "lost time"

Luckily, my test came back negative as the next morning there was a trip to the Opthalmologist in preparation for my cataract operation. Jacques was kind enough to take me which was just as well as the bus times have changed and not for the better. Getting to Perpignan is going to be more of a hassle than usual.

Time drifts by at a leisurely pace with a few islands of activity along the way. The market on Saturday was lively as village Associations were also on the square recruiting new members accompanied by some music. Lunch time Jacques came to the rescue once again by treating Nicole and I to tapas at the restaurant. Back to the café on Sunday to meet Martine for coffee and later Jacques joined us for an apéro before giving us lunch at his place. Only just had enough time to knock up some flapjacks to take to my neighbour, Françoise's. She'd invited her neighbours for an apéritif dinatoir before her return to the North of France. Lots of nice things to eat and drink. The photo doesn't show all as 6 more adults and two children joined us. There's no rule of 6 here! 

My next trip past the front door was on Wednesday when I went for a routine blood test (all fine) and to meet Hortense for a catch up. Hadn't see her since the beginning of February so throats were dry by the end. Also managed to have a good chat with Henri on my way past another café so I'm back in the good books for not having been in touch. Out again this morning for a coffee with Nicole and was later joined by the Thursday group. Was busily tapping away updating Chitchat this afternoon when Françoise invited me to join her and Jean for an apéro down in Argelès. 20 minutes later we were on our way! See, I can do impromptu.

The rest of the time, I've kept up my treadmill sessions and am now up to an incline of 6 at a speed of 5.8 km/hr. Just imagine the smug smile. Less palatable as I can't watch an episode of my latest series fix while I work, was getting the middle cave cleared for David to take all the rubbish to the tip. Don't recognise myself!

Weather: Warm sunny days of 31°

18.9.20 -20.9.20: More like old times

A warm sunny weekend with plenty going on.  There was a vernissage on Friday with some easy on the eye paintings; watercolours , charcoal and oils by two different artists. Nicole, Martine, Carmen and I didn't linger too long, prefering to go down to the café for an apéritif. After a while we went off in search of something to eat and ended up in a pleasant square with a fountain. 

Saturday, there was music at the market which meant that more people lingered at the café to soak up the atmosphere. Well, all except JJ who'd invited some of us (Jean, Françoise, Martine and Carmen) for a fish dinner that evening.

An early start on Sunday meant that there wasn't any time to get on the treadmill but I well and truly bypassed the recommended 10,000 steps with all the walking during the day. Jacques had invited David, Laura and myself to Guissan where he has a chalet (on stilts) by the sea. En route we stopped off at the picturesque village of Peyriac for a coffee, some exploration and to see the flamingoes which disappointingly weren't pink but white. From there we carried on along the coast to Bages, another

pretty place with medieval streets and a view over the sea. By the time we arrived in Guissan, we could only look in at the house and set off for lunch at "Le Sarment". Spent a good part of the afternoon wandering through the village where there was a craft fair on and climbing up to Red Beard's tower. Back at the chalet Laura and I opted for deck chairs on the terrace while the blokes went off to swim. The only other thing to do before pointing the car in the direction of home was to stop off at the salt flats and contribute to the local eceonomy in the shop where salt came in a variety of flavours and packaging. Home with no need to eat and no need to feel guilty about flopping in front of the tv having had our fair share of fresh sea air and exercise. Good feelings all round. 

Weather: 27°, sunny

Height of Summer

15.8.20: Even though today is a public holiday (Feast of the Assumption) sadly there was no music at the market. Joined Françoise from the village for a cuppa and stayed on chatting with Jo for a while after she'd left. Lunch on the terrace as it was not yet too hot and here I am now sitting in front of the computer catching up with Chitchat.

14.8.20: Françoise, Dominic and Maylise were coming for an apéritif dinatoire, so given that Thérèse has not been for a while, I had to do what I hate most ... some cleaning! Still a nice lunch at the restaurant followed before I returned to the kitchen to prepare for the evening. NB. I only had the first two courses; sorry, feeling too smug not to mention it!

 Again there was distant thunder and rain but fortunately it dried up and cooled down a bit in time for us to be on the terrace. Gosh, did I feel tired by the time I'd cleared up. As usual I'd done a larger array of food than need be. Collapsed onto the bed for 9.45pm; don't remember when I last made it upstairs so early.

13.8.20: Had a coffee with a good mix of French and British this morning before the thunder and rain arrived in the afternoon. Not fancying risking an open air concert with Françoise, I foutered at home and achieved absolutely nothing.

12.8.20: Coffee with Nicole, cooking and computer before going with Michel to have an apéro with David and Laura. They like cava, too!

11.8.20: Coffee with Jacques who's back for a couple of days and supermarket with Ann. Originally I'd said I'd go to Céret with Jacques to see friends of his in a clown troop perform. Ended up chickening out as it was far too hot outside to sit and watch for over an hour. I turned also down his invitation for him to collect me to join them for something to eat.

10.8.20: Coffee with Françoise and some time on the computer. Still too hot to do anything more energetic.

9.8.20: By the time I made it for Sunday morning coffee, Martine was just about to mount her bike and peddle off home. She tethered it once more and joined me for a cuppa which as we had plenty to talk about, became a glass of wine. There was an invitation to join her for a bite to eat in the evening so walking there and back took my step total up to over 14,000. A bit of a counter balance to what I'm sure any reasonable person would think is my excessive intake.

8.8.20: After two days swinging the lead, I got myself back on the treadmill. There was music in the square to enliven the market. Joined Penny and her husband for a tea and then JJ and his family who invited me for lunch. In the evening Nicole suggested that we meet for a drink and needless to say we ended up having a bite to eat. Don't laugh, I had egg, chips and salad.

7.8.20: An early morning call from Françoise to meet her as she was coming to the village to participate with her grandson in the treasure hunt organised by the Tourist Office. Every week during thesummer it's in a different village of the Community of Communes. Alas, 9h30 was too late; the "treasure had already been found even though the clue wasn't that easy. Françoise played the game anyway to keep her grandson occupied for the morning and as I'd left Agnès sleeping, I stayed on at the café to catch up with the papers. By the time I arrived home, Agnès was just about ready to join me, so back we went for a coffee and to wait for Bruno, Christine and Florence who'd gone off to Spain to do some supermarket shopping. Down to my last three bottles of cava, they came back with enough to keep me going for a little while more. The twitching can stop! After an apéritif we came back to mine for a salad lunch which with 40° on the terrace, we ate inside! Just flopped for the rest of the day.

6.8.20: These next two days I had the pleasure of the company of the the Normandy folk. An apéritif at mine and then dinner in their gîte before coming down to the square to hear the music close up. Only thing was, that the singer had just that minute finished his last song. Nothing else to do but give him a clap, find a table and have a cuppa. Rather than drive back to her Aunt's, Agnès stayed over.

5.8.20: These last couple of days have all been about ordering, collecting, signing on with a provider as as "Sod's Law" would have it, mobile reception with my internet provider is rubbish and then eventually setting up my new phone. Went with Michel to Perpignan to do the business. It was really too hot to queue outside the phone shop so no sooner than I paid my money over than we headed for a cup of tea in a shady courtyard with this elegant statue. Nothing else would do for me than a Lapsang Suchong. Agghhh! have just looked up the spelling and found conflicting information as to whether black teas and Lapsang in particular are good for you or not. Think I'm drinking too much. Need to stick to rosé!!! 

Couldn't linger too long though as Michel had to visit friends to help sort out a computer. The couple are well travelled and the appartment is like a museum with artefacts from all over and the appartment itself on the top floor of an early 20th century building is a fabulous. A huge terrace and only a stone's throw from the centre of the town. Eric, who's an internationally appreciated painter wasn't there. Couldn't help but feel a little jealous of such a lovely home as I settled down to feast my eyes on my surroundings while Michel worked.  Michel is the "go to person" for a number of people and as you can see is mine, too, coming the next day to get me up and running.

3.8.20: Spent a lovely. Full but relaxed. No treadmill this morning which was just as well as I needed time to revive myself before meeting Ann, Lynn and Dani who had bought cake and biscuits to go with our coffee. Michel stopped by too. Rounded off the morning with an apéritif and then it was onto Jacques' for lunch. He'd prepared all my favourite things; guacamole, duck breast, sauté potatoes and green salad, chocolate dessert and of course, a bottle of cava. Had thought that I'd spend a quite afternoon but Agnes, from our twinned town, was here staying with family nearby so came up for a cuppa and catch up. No sooner than she had left than it was time to meet Nicole at the café for apéritifs. More cava and a grazing board. all very simple, all very good. What better way to spend a birthday than with friends.

2.8.20: Usual Sunday morning coffee by the side of the fountain, a lazy afternoon and Michel at the house early evening to talk mobile phones with me. Yes, finally I'm going to ditch the one that's always lying in the bottom of my bag unloved and unanswered. He didn't fancy listening to music at the bar (Kevin singing and playing "light" blues) so it was just Jacques and I. It was busy but we were at one of the far tables and not eating so there was no table service. We decided to go along to the resrtaurant to see if we could get a drink there and lo and behold Jacques proposed a glass of champagne. He'd remembered that it was my birthday. As the restaurant would be closed for the next 2½ days, the patronne gave us a half full bottle to save her throwing it away. Imagine! Needless to say, we were happy to oblige. at midnight, Maud brought out a dessert with a candle out and sang "Happy Birthday". Mindful of people sleeping, we tried not to make too much noise and carried on chatting. Was surprised to arrive home and find that it was 2.30am!

1.8.20: Once again we ate tapas and drank rosé at the restaurant after the market so that we could sit and listen to Jacques and three friends provide this Saturday's entertainment. They had hoped to play last week which was why we went and ate tapas but the banda had beaten them to it and they couldn't play. Hence our action replay.

Keeping up with friends

6.7.18: Food, friends, footie and all that jazz

Delivered the posters for a forthcoming  exhibition of photographs by one of the Association's members, stopping on my way around at the new wee salon du thé. Then it was lunch followed by supermarket shopping with Maggie. Lunch was a good deal in one of those purpose built restaurants on an estate accommodating small businesses and workshops. Thus it's only open Monday to Friday and its clientelle  predominately pensioners (good value for money) and male workers.
Turned down an invitation to join Jacques, his partner and 4 other friends for a BBQ but I did make dessert for them and to be sociable, stayed for an apéritif when I delivered it.
Later I met a few friends at the bar to listen to some jazz on the terrace. The yellow mug with tea in it, is mine!
Inside, the football was on and here's Nicole in the Belgian colours. She's becoming quite a legend with her footie get-ups in the colours of one of the teams in action.
Weather:
29°, sunny

5.7.18: Forward Planning

Language exchange, a cuppa afterwards at the bar, time on the computer and a meeting to try and advance "project cornemuses (bagpipes)". Despite the two members from the Mairie not turning up (one was stung by a wasp and dealing with the aftermath, it went completely out of her head, the other chose to go to a vernissage in Perpignan instead), it felt as if there was a bit more support and willingness to be involved. However, having been let down the last time, I decided to take the minutes myself. Not anyone's favourite pass time. Still, a glass of rosé rather than a cuppa at the bar was a good pick-me-up.
Weather:
29° sun and light rain shower

4.7.18: Rosé for two

Met Nicole at the other bar for a tea which was followed by a glass of  rosé and once we were able to have a conversation without interruption or banalities.
Nothing else of interest.
Weather:
34°, sunny and windy

3.7.18: An evening in

Arrived at the bar at 11.30am, an hour later than usual. The terrible two were just about to leave .... result! Nicole, bless her, stayed on.
For once, I spent a good part of the afternoon in the kitchen preparing tapas for Michel, who's back from Thailand, his two visitors and Jean-Jacques. It was good to have some new faces and conversation along side old friends and a reason to open some cava. Patrick and Christian were appreciative of the evening which leaves me wondering why I don't do it more often.
Weather:
32°, hot and sunny

2.7.18: An afternoon out

Gave coffee a miss in favour of doing stuff around the house. Went with Florence in the afternoon to see the Dufy exhibition. As you can see below, the title is Dufy's Perpignan studios. I naively thought that there would be lots of paintings that were painted there. Yes, there were but they were of the studios themselves! Not you'd know it from the museum's website. This photo is of the card I sent to my Mum.
Upside was that there weren't many people there so we could take our time to navigate around the exhibition rooms and studiously read the notes alongside each exhibit.
http://www.musee-rigaud.fr/fr/actualites/expositions/raoul-dufy-ateliers-perpignan-1940-1950
Being Monday, many of the independant shops were closed; is it any wonder that the centre is dying, we asked ourselves. The two "salon du thé" that we'd thought of going to were also closed so we ended up in a brasserie on the way back to the carpark.
Spent the night in with my wee pal Netflix.
Weather:
30°, hot and sunny

Finally, a day of rest

24.6.18: Uneventful Sunday
Nothing at all out of the ordinary though I suppose that is out of the ordinary for me.
Just my routine Sunday morning coffee this time in the company of Nicole S (yes, she's reappeared), Anne, Valerie and Jo. Declined their invitation to stay for lunch.
Spent the afternoon dealing with photos, working on the web site, researching flight options for later this year and gave the treadmill a body swerve.
Weather:
28°, sun
 
23.6.18: Multi tasking

Poor old Jacques is out of action as an operation on his eye means that he can't drive. Nothing for it but to take the bus to the market; not that was a hardship. Met Françoise for a coffee and catch up and whizzed around the supermarket in time to take the 11am bus back to the village. Managed to meet up over another coffee this time with Nicole who's been busy all week.
Watched some of my latest Netflix fix while pounding the treadmill. If you're wondering (and I don't really kid myself that you are), it's "The time in between", a Spanish production set at the time of the civil war. On the French version of Netflix, it's called "L'espionne de Tangers" and is only in Spanish and French. Be impressed: exercise, tv watching and a language test.
In keeping with the Catalan tradition to mark the start of summer, there were fireworks and a bonfire this evening. They were much appreciated and drew a lot of applause from the locals and those who'd come from neighbouring villages.
Didn't stay for the disco but beat a retreat to the café to have a tea with Nicole. Yes, you have read this correctly!
Weather:
28°, sun

22.6.18: Duty Calls

Up early as I was expecting Sauveur, the electrician, to come. Used my enforced house "arrest" to plant up the window boxes and do a bit of outside cleaning. The young man who was employed on a temporary contract by the Mairie to sweep the streets has been let go due to budgetry restrictions, so, we'll all have to do our bit to keep our street clean. I later found that Sauveur had sent a text saying that he couldn't come. No matter, I obviously achieved more by staying home than going to the café to drink coffee.
Computer and some baking for this evening's soirée tapas filled the afternoon. About 54 people signed up for the evening, the theme of which was straw hats; more than 80 turned up. Feedback was very positive but I have to say that I was glad to get cleared up and get home to a) not have to speak to anyone and b) put my hot, tired feet up.
Weather:
30°, sunshine and some cloud

Three Widows' Club

24.2.18: A Day of Architectural Splendeur

Had a good buffet breakfast in the hotel and then took the subway to the Sagrada Familia. The cathederal never ceases to astound especially, the stain glass windows. Even though we'd spent a while having a good look around, by the time we'd found the restaurant that Kate had recommended for lunch there was still an hour to fill. The sun was shining so we lingered over a glass of cava just over the road. Lunch at "Tasca i Vins" was a rushed affair as our next visit was booked for 2pm. http://www.tascaivins.cat/?lang=es
The visit to the Sant Pau hospital was another one of architectural beauty. https://www.tripadvisor.fr/Attraction_Review-g187497-d12814706-Reviews-Hospital_de_Sa
Back on the Ramblas, we stopped for tea in "Escriba". Follow the link to drool over the cakes. https://www.tripadvisor.fr/Restaurant_Review-g187497-d2314979-Reviews-Escriba-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#photos;geo=187497&detail=2314979&aggregationId=101 I went for the cheese cake. That's the one with a white chocolate casing. Delicious. Pity the snooty manager and the cramped table space spoilt the atmosphere.
It was time then to go and collect our baggage from the hotel and head off to the station.
Made it home for 8pm, luckily, not having been stopped at the border given that Martine's ID card had been stolen.
Weather:
14° sun, blue skies

23.2.18: Barcelona here we come!
9h30 and off we (Martine, Nicole and I) set for the first outing of the "3 Widows' Club"; an overnight stay in Barcelona. Took the high speed train from Figueres arriving without mishap an hour later. First problem: Martine had downloaded our 48 hour city travel pass but had not printed off our vouchers. Had to buy tickets to get us to our hotel, "The Condal" where the very helpful recepionist helped us sort it out. http://www.hotelcondal.es/en/
Conveniently situated just off the Ramblas, once we we're installed we headed off to the Boqueria market in search of food. Lots of stalls had appetising fare but it was too chilly to eat there so we went to a nearby restaurant for a tourist lunch of tapas and paella.
Walked up the Ramblas and over to the church of "Santa Maria del Mar", but not feeling inclined to pay an entry fee, we didn't go in and have made do with a virtual tour instead. http://www.santamariadelmarbarcelona.org/home/

Continued on instead to El Born which was a facinating (free) visit. In the 1870's a large covered market was built only to fall into disuse and disrepair. Luckily, the iron building was renovated at the beginning of 21st century in order to house a library but excavations turned up the remains of the medieval city.
Walking back to the hotel we stopped off at "El Fornet" for a hot chocolate. Somehow, without any of us noticing it, Martine's bag disappeared. Next stop was, of course, the Police station.
It was a rapid walk from there to where we were meeting Kate, Martine's friend who works in Barcelona. Had some lovely tasty tapas and a bottle of cava in a trendy place, the name of which, I've forgotten..
The walk home pushed our step total to over 20,000 so feeling tired, it was an early night for us all.
Weather:
13°, sun and blue sky

Food: From the Simple to the Sophisticated

11.2.18: Back to School

Well, David and Laura really treated us well today. They invited 8 of us to lunch at the "Ancienne École" to celebrate them having sold their house and by way of a thank you for our support. Not that I did anything special. A minibus picked us up, so everyone could make the most  of the wine on offer. The meal was excellent and while always very good, it has gone seriously upmarket since Christian and I used to go. https://www.ancienne-ecole.fr/
Scallops to start, guinea fowl main and a café gourmand for dessert was my choice and it was absolutely delicious.
Some of us had thought to come back for the Scotland/France rugby match at the bar and I was all geared up to don my kilt and tartan bonnet. What a damp squib; the bar was closed. Went home instead to catch up with the family by phone and ineveiably to watch some tv.
Weather:
16°, rain

10.2.18: Bliss!
Abandoned the market in a favour of a very long lie. Skipped breakfast and went straight for lunch. Computer, settee, film and tv.
Weather:
9°, sun, strong winds

9.2.18: Tapas and Tarts

Did the wine shopping with Maggie for this evening. Being an electricity "red day" with the tarrif 10x the normal rate (won't bore you with the whys and wherefors), rather than make a cake to put on the table, I bought a tart which worked out a whole lot cheaper. Maggie did likewise.
Carnival flower making this afternoon, a quick change and then setting up the hall ready for the winter soirée tapas with "scarves or ties as the theme. There were around 80 folk present and by the time I got to sit down there was precious little savoury stuff left. The mayor who arrived late, fared even worse than me. On the other hand there was plenty of sweet things to eat with a proliferation of raspberry tarts the same as Maggie and I had bought! Yep, they were the "tart of the day" and on special offer at a very popular local bakery, So no surprise there.
It was good to get cleared up and back home for 10h45.
Weather:
7°, blue skies

8.2.18: A Usual Thursday

Did the apéritif shopping with Marguerite ready for tomorrow's "soirée tapas" then had a coffee with Mireille, another widow, before the language exchange. Tea afterwards at the bar, lunch at home followed by work on the computer and plenty of tv.
Weather:
6°, blue sky





7.2.18: Should have gone to Specsavers!

Whenever I meet Rowena, I always write that we've finally managed to put a date in the diary and today is no exception. The bus up to Arles was on time; so far so good but imagine my consternation when the driver told me that there was no connection up to Rowena's. Two other passengers, one of whom had a wheelchair, hadn't read the timetable properly either. The bus runs on Mondays, Tuesdays , Thursdays and Fridays but not Wednesdays. Umph! Luckily, we were permitted to take a school bus that was due along later. After a few moments of panic, our faith was rewarded and we arrived only about 10 minutes late.
It's so easy to forget that you don't have to travel far to have colder weather; there was snow on the verges, on the mountains and fields.
Rowena was there to meet me for the next leg down to a restaurant in Spain. We decided on El Fau, tucked away in a side street in Maçanet where neither of us had ever eaten.  Small bar, exposed stone walls, 12€ weekday menu in Catalan, pleasant and patient staff. There was a secluded garden behind which augers well for visits in the warmer weather. https://www.facebook.com/ElFauBarRestaurantBraseria/timeline?ref=page_internal
No trouble with the bus back as it came all the way to the village.
Martine came around in the evening for an apéro and to talk about a night away for "le club des trois veuves" (the three widows' club), destination Barcelona.
Weather:
7°, blue skies

Blowin' in the Wind

10.11.17: A Reservoir of Talent

Made an iced ginger cake to sell at this evening's Karaoké in the aid of the Téléthon. Treated Nicole to lunch at "Le France" by way of a thank you for taking me to the airport the other week. In the evening I attended a vernissage which due to a lack of publicity was extremely poorly attended. Rather, I should say embarrassingly poorly attended. Was a shame as the black and white paintings of jazz artists and three sculptures, demonstrated that the young Belgian artist deserved the awards she's received as a new talent. http://annelies-adriaensen.com/wordpress/
Next, it was off to the village hall to listen (not sing) to the kataoké, a first ever in the village. I was pleased for the organisers who'd put a lot of effort into it, that it was a big success. They made over 1,450€. And ..... there was lots of interesting finger food to sample.
Weather:
15°, sun, strong wind

9.11.17: Food for Thought
Language exchange, cuppa at the bar, impromptu lunch at Jacques' and the ciné club in the evening to see "Summer 1993," a film by a Catalan director. Luckily there were French subtitles.
http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/summer-1993-review-1201993688/
Weather:
13° sun, chilly wind

8.11.17: Testing my Grasp of French and Local Knowleddge

Spent a good part of the day doing stuff on the computer for other people. The most tedious of which was correcting a CV.
In the evening I went to the presentation and signing of a book on the history of Céret written by the ex curé. Interesting but not being from here, the names of some of the old families and place names were lost on me.
https://autres-talents.fr/collections/roman/ceret-ville-d-art-et-de-culture--2-12-26-3499.html
Weather:
14° sunshine, chilly


7.11.17: À la Maison
A day doing chores and preparing an apéritif dinatoire for Jean-Jacques who's back from his trip zig-zagging France.
Weather:
14°, blue skies, no wind

6.11.17: Well done, Mum!

Mum's birthday today and she's still living in her own home and going strong. This year she's made some advances by going for a wee walk most days and even more astoundingly, taking herself every now and again to the Community café for lunch.
After speaking to her and getting to chat to Mary who was down from Birmingham to take her to lunch, I had a coffee with Nicole and passed the rest of the day doing Association "admin" before going for the monthly apéritif with two of the three other British women who make up the group.
Weather:
12°, blue skies and ferocious winds

Ouch!!

Morning:
Wrote the bagpipe proposal for David to take to Scotland tomorrow. Always was a last minuter.
Afternoon:
Had my hair coloured.
Evening:
Went to Racou for tapas with Diana, Robin and Martine, who had just been stung by a wasp. You wouldn't know from this photo how much she was suffering. Came back to the bar for a nightcap and for me to get some bicarbonate of soda from the house to put on Martine's sting. It brought almost immediate relief. So, that's worth noting.
Weather:
31°, sun

Food to Share

16.6.17: La Vie en Rose

Started the day with Maggie on shopping duty for this evening's soirée tapas, the theme for which, was "rose". As you can see from the photo, the colour and the flower were in abundance.
Participants bring something sweet or savoury to put on the table to share while the Association provides the apéritfs, wine, juices and nibbles.
My humble offering was smoked mackerel pâté and crusty baguette which always goes down well. I tend to use peppered smoked mackerel rather than the horseradish in this recipe and some chopped walnuts
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/may/24/how-perfect-smoked-mackerel-pate
 The summer tapas evening is the time when all the workshop leaders receive a bottle of champagne for all their efforts. I was given one for the trip to Scotland. Martine, the President fought a valiant battle against all those who were too busy drinking, nibbling and chatting to listen.  Have to say that this kind of behaviour really annoys me but I've observed that there's little that get's between folk and an apéritif.
There was a lot of the food that either had too much sugar or gluten so my choice was somewhat limited. As a consequence, I spent the evening working behind the scenes and feeling a bit out of sorts with the whole thing, I didn't bother to take more than a couple of snaps. Needless to say the President, as usual, left before the rest of us. However, this time, as Maggie (and therefore her van)  wasn't with us, she had to load a lot of stuff into her 4x4 so didn't get off scot free. Sorry, if I sound grumpy!
On the way home I realised that I'd left my bag somewhere complete with money, keys, cards, etc. Rather than panic, I made my way over to the bar where Terry and Anne were having a drink and they helped me think through where it might be. Remembered that I'd left it on my chair when I went into the kitchen to wash up and that it had been cleared away by the time I left. I sped off back to the recreation ground with Terry in hot pursuit. It was dark by this time but thankfully, I was able to make out a small heap and there it was. Someone had taken it off the chair and left it on the ground. Phew!
Back at the bar, I had a welcome cup of tea though I would have preferred something a bit stronger.
Weather:
33°, sunny