Not Long Now

A week of meetings, discussions in the street, speculation and rumour. Yesterday promised to be the first politics-free day so we thought a trip out across the border for a lunch in the sunshine would do us good. Well you all know about the best laid plans..... 2 new tracts appeared in letterboxes and a strategy meeting was called to decide how to deal with the innuendo and untruths. No time to go too far from the village but the drive up into the mountains was lovely. At the restaurant we ate a copious meal and talked politics with Claude, the owner. In the evening we were invited to Jean and Françoise's for apéritifs where at last politics didn't dominate the conversation. No market this morning as one of the opposition lists held a meeting in the square. There was more debate about why they'd not managed to booked the village hall thanabout policies. Couldn't hear very well but it was fun to see so many people out and about and Jean Louis was more than happy with the extra takings.With little enthusiasm for cooking, we went back to the bar in the evening for dinner. Also dining was a group of 13 young people on a night out so what with that and USAP (congrats to the Welsh, by the way)winning their televised rugby match, it was all quite lively. A bit different from the typical Saturday, get-yourself-legless, night out enjoyed by young Brits. While there we met Jacques, a neighbour and his visitors and ended up going back for what was an apéritif for them and a nightcap for us! Then it was home for an early night.....night, night, yawn, yawn

Green Welly Brigade

After a slow start to the day, I went out with Michelle to buy an allotment! When it came to the negotiation , we took an elderly village resident with us and after he'd told the guy the fruit trees were passed it, the access too difficult and the ground uncared for, we finaly agreed on a price. Geronimo thought we should have beaten him down more as he obviously didn't need the money but we were well pleased and shook on the deal. Linde and Joëlle are coming in with us so for little investment we'll have a tranquil space of 400sqm to have bbq's, pick fruit and while away our time while the men of the family are running the village (if they get elected that is!). Grandad's tools will finally do more than gather dust in the cave and there will be advice a-plenty from the old 'uns who garden beside us. With trophy-winning gardeners on both sides of the family (Dad and Grandad) I'm hoping the genes will out; at least to grow a few tomatoes, enough fruit for a pie and flowers for the house.
Comment: Alan Titchmarsh eat your heart oot! Belated Birthday greetings to the Boss!(Crofter)
Comment: Would rather think of myself as a Charlie Dimmock than an Alan Titchmarsh!(Nous)
 
 

Nitpicking!

On tenderhooks for the outcome of the vote which closes at 6pm. For those who have less than 50%+1 vote, there'll be a second vote next week. Christian is on duty all day at the polling station dealing with among other things, the proxy votes. Here, a large number of the jobs are done by members of the lists rather than paid local authority staff. As people have the right to cross names off the lists, make composite lists and add in others names, the count can take a long time."Nitpicking" is the term for the count which starts after the polls close at 6pm and given the process seems very appropriate! More later........ well, the nitpicking finally finished at 3.30am. Christian was on duty just until the end. He did well coming 6th out of the 57 people standing on the 3 lists. What's more, he was the first non-Catalan!His list was well but not far enough in front to have an overall majority, so we've got to do it all again next Sunday. Will there be new or changing alliances? Will one list drop out. Can our nerves stand it?

International Women's Day

Even though one day is only a token, I still support the idea of marking International Women's Day and being the day before our municipal elections it seemed even more appropriate. Have a look at the list of when women won the vote in different countries at www.ipu.org/wmn-e/suffrage.htm Some real surprises.
At last the wind has dropped and the sun has come back. Although the market wasn't very busy we met lots of people so made slow progress around.
Met up with Madeline for lunch. Only saw the start of the Scotland v England match. The rendition of "Flower of Scotland" brought a lump to my throat and the result, a smile to my face as the wooden spoon will stay in the drawer! Had dinner at the bar with Philippe and Danielle. There was yet more rugby and USAP won against Paris, so there was much celebration there too. Three meals out in a row...... not a good idea. Will need to be more reasonable this week or all the good work will be undone.

Living Happily Ever After!

Once upon a time, 21 years ago at the Riverside Ceilidh club a French Prince Charming said to his friend, "faites attention, la blonde est pour moi" and the rest is history as they say...........There won't be any intimate dinner 'tête à tête' for us, as we're eating with the electoral team in a restaurant up in the mountains where highway robbers used to go to ground. Somethings never change, you might say!

March brings breezes

Or in our case, winds of over 100km/hour for the last 3 days! The election machine grinds on ~ another opposition public meeting, another post mortem over a glass. This time it was in the bar where a card competition was in full swing. Five "diehards" came back to chez nous for a bottle of champagne, not because Christian was being optimistic but to celebrate his birthday again.Hey ho!

When I'm 64!

Christian's birthday and no let up from his obligations. Date with the diabetes specialist in the morning. Pleased to say that all is going well and she's reduced his medication again. The wind was blowing ferociously so there was no thought of doing anything other than going off to the restaurant. Perpignan has boasted a Michelin 1* restaurant for the last year so we decided that today was a good day to try it out. Mediterranean decor, attentive but not stifling service and well presented, creative food. As well as à la carte, there was a 50€ menu and lunchtime menu at 17€. Can you imagine that in the UK? We ate well but Christian was left feeling (like most blokes when served nouvelle cuisine) that there was still a wee space to fill. Then it was home for a siesta before he went out canvassing. Apéritif time came and we were invited with seven other friends to Joëlle and Michel's where we drank champagne and tucked into lots of sweet and savoury nibbles. With Macca singing "When I'm 64' in the background Michelle and Jean-Jacques gave Christian the following card:

Bon anniversaire soldat sans spécialité! Christian est ton prénom
Caressant, les femmes te le diront
Héros à ta façon
Railleur nous le déclarons
Irréstible nous le savons
Sentimental c'est évident
Tendre avec me love, nous le voyons
Incorruptible, quelle réputation!
Amical, nous en témoignons
Noble serviteur d'un village catalan

Would bring a tear to a glass eye! Knowing Christian,you can probably work out what it says. After this it was back to business and another meeting while Rowena and I went next door to Phil and Jane's for a glass of wine before heading home to catch up on all our news.

To the Hustings

Our list's main public meeting this evening went better than I'd anticipated. André spoke for an hour covering their programme for the next 6 years and came across as competant and well up for the job. There was no heckling, no coughers or sneezers and no difficult questions. The evening was rounded off with a glass of wine and the inevitable post mortem. Tomorrow and the next day the other two lists will have their say and then Sunday it's over to the ballot box.

Ze Muzzer

A Mum for nearly 59 years ~ she still looks good, doesn't she? This is just to say that this comes with lots of love and that we hope you have a great day. Happy Mother's Day, Mum xxxx

Non à la THT!

.
Off we set at 8.30 on the bus organised by the mairie. There were 15,000 people (the police said 10,000 ~ it's the same the world over) on the demo which wound its way around Perpignan. A great atmosphere with lots of Catalan music and human towers
My horned tartan hat (thanks Ray and Paul) went down a bundle and I was even interviewed by French national telly. I'll let you know if they use it. There was not much of a (visible) police presence and no trouble. Let's hope that it does some good as we certainly don't want these high tension powerlines here. Photos to follow. Arrived back and had a late lunch with Jean-Jacques, Michelle, Joëlle and Michel at one of the village restaurants; then it was home for Christian to have a wee snoozette before going out to leaflet. This evening we were invited to Diana's for dinner but ended up eating in the other village restaurant where we found 9 other Brits! Now it's time for bed and a long lie tomorrow.