Where is Vivienne?

Sunday was a quiet day with only a trip to the bar for a coffee followed by an apéritif. We even resisted having lunch in either of the restaurants.
Newswise, a large bear has escaped from the wildlife park north in the Aude and seems to be heading for the Pyrénées Orientales, Vivienne, like Yogi, is obviously "smarter than the av-er-age bear" as despite sightings, she's still at large several days later! So, keep an eye on your "pic-a-nic basket".

Yet More Tapas

A pretty busy day starting at 8.30am delivering the association's newsletter before meeting up with Maggie to unload and put away all the "stuff" from last night. The left over wine and fruit juice came back here ready for the next event on the 16th and then that will be the end of our house being used as a storage depot.
The weather was lovely and sunny so we had the roof of the car down when we went to pick up Juste and Joséphine to go to another village for a vernissage. with a lot of people milling around it wasn't possible to get a decent photo so i settled on this one outside the Mairie where the vernissage was held. It's really pretty, isn't it. Had lunch at the camping down the road on the way home and then while Christian snoozed, I caught up with the blog.

Finished off the day at the "Soirée Rosé" at the restaurant and of course, we both wore something pink for the occasion. There were 8 of us at the table, Juste and Joséphine, Robert, Lone, Jesper and Nina, our Danish friends. Along with rosé by the glass(?) or bottle there were tapas and music. Have to admit that I wasn't too keen to hear someone singing Johnny Halliday songs, but have to admit that the singer was good. What was quite strange was trying to sing along to "Black is Black" and "San Fransisco" in English when everyone else was singing in French and the words weren't necssarily a direct translation either. I didn't even know that Johnny had covered them but heck, who cares?

Tapas Again

This evening was the association's al fresco "soirée tapas", the last big event that I'll need to work my socks off for. Prepared the venue in the morning and did some admin then was whisked off to the bar for an apéritif by Christian. It was so pleasant on the terrace that we stayed there for an omelette and even had some entertainment thrown in. This photo is of the underground refuse container in the process of being emptied.
The evening went well though making sure that everyone else was ok and wine bottles relenished, I didn't really get to sample many of the goodies and if I sat down for 5 minutes that's all. Collective "ahhhhhh, shame"  is called for here.
There must have been nearly a hundred people there and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and just to think, I'll be able to sit on my bum and not stop to clear up at the next one in February.
Once we'd cleared up, Jean and Françoise came back to ours for a nightcap out on the terrace and so ended another day in our corner of France.

Friends

24th we made a long overdue visit to Sylvie's hairdressing salon this afternoon after which we dropped in on Juste and Joséphine for a quick cuppa and were introduced to their new "mower". The two little females that you saw on an earlier post (24.8.12)  had  long since been  given away as they were more trouble than they were worth.This fella seems destined to stay.
25th While Christian was at the Mairie, I gave Michel a hand at the Municipal Libray which still has all the books in cartons after being moved from elsewhere. My job was straightforward enough; all I had to do was put the English language novels into alphabetical order but (there's always a but, isn't there?) they hadn't been packed systematically and then once I'd finished, two other cartons were found necessitating a reshuffle.
In recompense Michel invited me and of course, Christian for an apéritif which became a pot luck lunch of pasta. Very tasty.
In the evening Christian had a Council Meeting where the controversial (well, for a few vociferous opponents of the Mayor) new Urban Plan was to be voted upon. Unlike, Britain, the public are not allowed to speak during the seance, just glower and mutter and then go to court to oppose it.
26th Just as Christian was starting on his lunch of wild rabbit in red wine with prunes, he received a call from the bar inviting him to join the Mayor, Jean-Jacques and a few others for  seafood. As I don't like mussels and oysters I waved him off and put his meal in the fridge for another day.
In the evening, it was my turn to meet up with the women of what we have now named "Apérobio" (said with an exaggerated Italian accent) at the local restaurant. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? All we need is Moltabano to wait on
table! As usual we laughed a lot and were pretty loud. As usual, we apologised to other diners who seemed amused bt the free entertainment. Michel passed by while we were tucking into desserts at much the same time as Terry came to collect Anne so we called Christian to join us. Michel invited us back to his place for pancakes and some music. He played electric guitar and sang as did Lone under the starlit skies.
27th Feeling tired but there was no chance of a lie-in. Christian had to update the electronic public information panel and I had a committee meeting. Skivved off from the language exchange to go to the fruit and veg market in Figueres. After a couple of beers in a pavement café, Michel took us of to "Wok You" for an all you can eat for 10€ buffet. Seating for 311 people, grossly overweight people with plates piled high and metal trolleys being pushed around to clear plates and food waste. It was ghastly, noisy and the food was mediocre although if you're a fish eater you would have fared better. Chinese food was certainly not the main event.
Jean-Jacques came round for something to eat. Couldn't stop yawning but sod's law, when I went to bed it took hours to get to sleep.

Light up the Skies

Grey skies all day and it felt cooler than it should on the eve of midsummer's day so the traditional fireworks of the "Feux de St Jean" brought a little cheer to an otherwise dull day. That's right, neither of us did anything more than potter.

Ever - Present Mairie

Would you believe it? The day dawned warm and sunny but there was no market today as we went to watch the nursery and primary schools sports day, all part of Christian's civic obligations. The faces of the little ones when they received their models was a real picture and worth having put ourselves out for. It's a shame I can't share the photos that I took of them so here's a view of the mountains behind the sports ground. Had lunch at home; now there's a surprise! Then, at 5pm there was an open air  concert given by a brass and wind band. It was hot and we both caught the sun. After the concert, we joined the musicians over an apéritif. I was all set for bread and cheese but Christian wanted an omlette and chips at the bar. His wish being my command, that's what we did except I passed on the chips. Unexpectedly one of the other members of the Council and his partner had just installed themselves on the terrace and we were invited to join them. Even more unexpectedly, they treated us!

Singing in the Rain

Today was our last day of Spanish and after an hour of irregular verbs, we joined the other group for apéritifs. Cava and lots of nice nibbles.
Michel called in at midday and as I wasn't hungry, he had my share of lunch.
For most of the day, what ever else we were doing we were keeping an eye on the weather as being the 21st, it was national music day and there plans for music of all kinds out in the square. The sun came and went, the rain came and went and finally settled in at about 6pm.
David, Laura, Jean-Jacques, Robert, Martine, John and Jenny came for an apéritif  which I'd had instructions not go over the top with, before we ventured out with our umbrellas to see what was happening outside. The two restaurants did their best to feed folk under cover and

Thérèse who'd invited herself to join our table was waiting for us.The singers and musicians found shelter too so the show went on until about midnight.
While we were at the restaurant Barbara brought over a woman whom I'd known at work. Amazingly she's had a holiday home in the village but we'd never bumped into each other! Even funnier, when I introduced her to Laura, they found that they had a friend in common, even though they live in different parts of Scotland! Small world, eh?
Finished off the evening in the bar and were home and in bed just after 2am.

Back to Normal

17th: The main excitement of the day was an eye test for us both but happily no problems though Christian needs to change his lenses that are well wsratched.
18th: Did a bit of Spanish with Anne, not that Seville had rubbed off on me. Juste, who's without Joséphine for a few days and Jean-Jacques came for lunch. Roast beef, fresh garden peas etc and Banana Malteser Cake for dessert. http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/malteser-and-banana-cake-L6007.html It's easy to make, a bit different and tastes good too. Our guests finally left after 5pm so it was a good job that Christian didn't have the usual  meeting at the Mairie this evening.
19th: The weather has been pretty on/off since we've been back but even though it was unsettled we had a day out. First a walk around Figueres and then lunch in Espinavessa at "La Rectoria". It's the first time that we'd been but weren't disappointed and the countryside around with its cornfields was pleasing on th eye. Fine food, classy dining

room with exposed stone walls and vaulted ceilings, pleasant service and a lunch time "menu del dia" including wine for 15€+vat. definitely one for our restaurant guide. Only downside was that there was no outside space for sitting out.
Made it home with half an hour to spare before Christian's first of two  meetings. The second meeting was with the associations of the village to allocate space for the next year. The Président asked me to be there which was just as well since despite having prepared a list for her of our activities, she still amanged to get things wrong. The meeting finally finished at 9pm. Only two more months to go and I'll be done with it. Nice one!
20th: Committee meeting down at the park but we then moved back to our usual place indoors for the language exchange as it was too cold and damp outside but our beloved President knew best! There were only about a dozen of us for the exchange and even fewer for the drink at the bar. Terry and Anne joined us at the restarant for lunch by which time it was warm enough to be outside. Funny old weather at the moment. No day is the same.

A Bit of Blarney

Spent the morning unpacking and exchanging the winter clothing in the wardrobe for the summer gear in the trunk. I don't think I've ever done this particular chore so late in the year. Went to the bar and had lunch there on the terrace followed by a siesta for Christian and mooching about for me. In the evening we were invited to Judith and Trevor's for dinner. They had Irish friends over from the coast and charming folk they were too. Good food, wide ranging discussion, a lot of laughs and free flowing wine ..... need I say more?

Back in the Swing

How good it was to sleep in our own bed and we didn't need to lie-in for too long even though it was after 2am when Christian climbed all the stairs for the first time in 17 days.
Market, apéritif with  friends ... old habits are so easy to fall back into. After so much dining out, we didn't succumb to the temptation of a reastaurant lunch, settling instead for a salad at home.
In the evening we went to watch Juste and Joséphine in their end of year flamenco gala but we left at the interval to come back to the village to hear some jazz at the bar, wind down and get to bed by midnight.