April 2021

 

 

April started well with fine weather for an early Easter but I'm not daft enough to bank on it continuing. Once again we've been limited to a 10km radius from the house for at least a month. I had my first vaccination, Moderna, locally. Only side effect was a large red patch. Next one due in four weeks time. 

Went on a few walks locally, through the retreat grounds. It really is a walk that keeps on giving; always some new path or viewpoint to discover. With the advance of Spring, there were different wild flowers and trees to appreciate, not to mention tadpoles.

No coastal walks this month because of the travel restrictions; in exchange for the Mediterranean we came across donkeys, mountainan sides in flower, another decorated water tank and a dolmen.

One walk with Jacques brought an unexpected river crossing while trying another route back down to the village. Took what we presumed would be a more interesting route off piste and ooops ..... the path disappeared and we had to keep an on eye on where we were treading, follow our noses and keep our fingers crossed. A few ups and downs and we found ourselves at the river. With no fordable stepping stones, it was off with the boots and socks, roll up the trousers and over we went. With the sun on the water, it wasn't the shock to the system that I'd expected. Was pleasant, actually. Arrived back only 10 minutes late for our visit to Michel's to take tea in the sun. 

Of course there were meals, apéritis and tea with friends as usual and when I was on dessert, I tried out a couple of new recipes. Françoise's verdict was that the iced marmalade cake was better than the apple and rosemary one. Sunday lunch at Michel's ended with a he and Jacques entertaining us on guitar. Easter Sunday lunch up in the mountain part of the commune at the home of an artist with an international reputation, brought Michel and I roast chicken and travellers' tales.

I managed to return hospitality, too, also on a Sunday. Entertainment came in the form of lively conversation.

It wasn't all leisure and pleasure. Dominique came to paint the shutters on the small terrace while I beavered away with my gloved green fingers on the psychologically Herculean task of dealing with my outside space which had become horribly overgrown. Took a few days and even though at some point I'll need to get onto hands and knees to clean the terrace tiles. All looks much better and the conscience is no longer niggling. Talking of niggling, a trip to the dentist was need to deal with a tooth ache.

Sad news came out of the blue in the middle of the month. Hearing that Helen McCrory, the acctress,  had died aged 52 made me gasp out loud and husband Damien Lewis’s tribute brought a lump to my throat. 

"I'm heartbroken to announce that after a heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family. She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you."

Coffee at the little Saturday market with Françoise is still the only form of legal wider socialising and St Jordi's (George in Catalan) day was marked with books and roses as is traditional. Small pleasures and all that.

We've now heard that from Monday, 3rd May there will be no geographical limit to travel with no need for any documentation. Curfew still stands. 19th cafés and restaurants can open their terraces and the curfew moves back to 21h. Little by little.

Weather: All sorts. highest temperature 23°, lowest day time temperature 14°, sunshine, cloud, 6 continuous days of rain. 

March 2021

    Here comes March bringing Spring with it!

Feels like we're galloping through the year. Days are lengthening and the sun is warmer. Sadly, my resolve to get myself to bed and make more of my daylight time hasn't held up. 

A bit of spring cleaning and and making a start on cleaning up the terraces.  The superfluous  vegetation, moss, sandy deposit from  the Sahara winds more recently and dead leaves have become an embarrassment. Not exactly shouting  "use me". The everyday stuff continues; crosswords, daily papers, magazines, 3 weekly trip to the supermarket and an unhealthy amount of tv continues. As does the 6pm curfew.

Of course there have been lunches and apéritifs with my usual circle of friends. I imagine by now you're fed up with such a catalogue so will leave out the details in favour of a few photos. I hear the collective "phew" from here.  By the way, the number of photos don't correspond to the number of invitations. 

 

 

 

There isn't any photographic proof of Rowena and then Jacques's visit chez moi for lunch.

The weather has been kind to us and walks have been a pleasure whether around here or farther a field. Up the back track (as I call it) white heather was in full flower and violets were starting to make an appearance. we've also taken to walking through the extensive grounds of a spiritual retreat. Luxuriant vegetation that includes cork oaks some of have been harvested, a waterfall and views that stretched far and wide. 

 

 

 Nicole and Anna  brightened up the street to welcome in Spring and after the clocks changed the curfew was pushed back an hour to 7pm. Signs that better times are ahead. Let's be positive!

 

 

Michel's birthaday came at the end of the month so I invited my 3 musketeers for an apéritif dinatoire. The apéro went well once JJ arrived; he'd not seen my 2 messages. Because he'd already had a good apéro elsewhere, neither he nor Michel who'd been out for a long lunch could do justice to my efforts. Luckily, Jacques went above and beyond! Come to think of it, so did I!

Just as well the weather was fine and there were regular walks uphill, down dale and along the coast to set against the over indulgence; a wild boar lunch at Jacques's and afternoon tea at Brian and Dani's as the last of March came and went.
 

February 2021

February 2021

Well and truly into February, it's taken me until today, 21st, to pick up on Chitchat. Not that there's anything exciting to report. More of the same but in all honesty, I can't complain when there are invitations to see friends, a beautiful place in which to live and no children to home school!

The treadmill has been ditched for the time being in favour of getting out in the fresh air. I've done a few walks with Françoise. The first one  took us up above the ruined château of Montferrer. There were a few steep places that made me puff a bit and scenery to take your breath away.

Once again on the château trail, Françoise collected me and her grandson on the way to the Valmy Château, now an upmarket hotel, restaurant, winery; blurb says "It was built between 1888 and 1900 by the Danish architect Viggo Dorph Petersen. His glazed tiles, white walls and turrets give free rein to dreams and fairy tales ... the grounds belong to the commune of Argelès and are free to the public to enjoy. We walked  up to the dolmens de Cova de l’Alarb (157m climb) and on up to Dels Collets de Cotillure (a further climb of 65m). Rocky narrow paths, beautifully shaped cork oaks and panoramic views over the Med. A bit of effort has its rewards.

More routinely, she and I had a walk that took us out of the village, I went for another one with Nicole S which took us along the cycle path for a couple of hours and yet another one with Jacques and JJ. I can also proudly say that I've  motivated myself and walked the "back track" above the village on several occasions.

My other go to walk out of the village takes me by pastures, vines and orchards. At this time of the year, the air is filled with the scent of wild mimosa and cypress pines. Of course views are dominated by the majestic Canigou.

Social contact continues and I have at least one invitation a week. This month Jacques fed me two Saturday's running after the market and while his daughter and her family were staying laid on an early apéritif to which Michel, JJ and Daniel were the other invitees. Ann and Terry did an excellent roast lamb lunch one Friday for dani, Brian and yours truly. For dani and Brian, it was their first meal in someone else's since the New Year. Dalila came good with her proposition to go to hers for lunch. JJ, Jacques, Michel and a friend of her's, also called Michel, made up a jolly company. She’s a generous host and having been in the trade, set a good table. Pigs’ cheeks were on the menu and though not something I would ordinarily order in a restaurant, they were delicious. Slow cooked in wine they melted in the mouth. Another lunch that only broke up in time to make it home in time for lockdown.

Now before you start thinking that it's all take and no give, I did put on a pinny and give back some hospitality; not much I acknowledge but there you are, I'm lucky to have friends who don't keep tally. JJ, Michel and his cousin, Daniel came for tea. Something always go wrong and several things did but despite my misgivings, the scones (complete with butter, jam and cream), bram brack and lemon drizzle cake turned out fine so I hadn't really needed to make my pre-emptive excuses! 

And that's not all. I entertained Martine to lunch after the market before she set off for her second vaccination (how it jars to hear the regular usage of 'jab"). France has been slower off the mark than the UK and among the general public are still on the over 75's. They are, however, giving the second vaccination three weeks after the first and are not using the Astrazenica vacine on over 65's.

Having finished the knitting projet that had been keeping me occupied while watching tv, I did a "Penelope". If you know your Greek mythology, you'll know that she was Odysseus' wife, who when her husband didn't return after years away at war, delayed chosing a suitor by claiming that she needed to finish a tapestry first. Unbeknown to her suitors, she undid the day's work every night. A cardigan that I'd knitted and never worn is now on the way to becoming a sweater.  Can you imagine Rossetti's Penelope wearing my homespun efforts? !!!!

Otherwise, I've done some admin chores, watched more tv than is good for me. Enjoyed "The Dig", "Lupin" and "News of the World" on Netflix; caught up with "Jamestown" in English on French tv and "Spiral" elsewhere. Now, the end really was a surprise; it was a happy one!! Quite expected Gilou to end up in that grand old Police Station in the sky! Also enjoyed "Edie" a film with Sheila Hancock. That doesn't fill up whole evenings in front of the telly; I can hear your thoughts from here. Yes, there's also been a lot of box set binginging the details of which I'm too embarrassed to own up to!

I now know that my unwillingness to take myself to bed at a reasonable time is called "Revenge Procrastination". Such a strange experience to read an article written by Victoria Richards on 17th February about it in the Independent . It was like meeting yourself on the written page. You would have thought being armed with such insight, I'd manage to get to bed earlier so as to make more of the next day. Started well enough that night by being in bed by 11.30pm but my head was so busy with incredibly inconsequential stuff that I was still awake at 2am. So, what did I do? Yep, you've got it .... I did all those things on my phone that I would have done had I stayed up!

A bit of variety came with the last week of the month. There was a trip to Perpignan with Françoise which gave the opportunity to spend some money. 150€ was quickly spent on some walking gear and expensive hair productions in the hope of giving it a lift.

Invitations to friends for tea (chez Jacques, Ann & Terry), an apéro (again at Jacques’s and at JJ’s), lunch (chez Jean and Françoise) and a lunch time BBQ at Michel’s gave the opportunity to add a bit of extra weight but more importantly, some stimulating conversation and social contact. Imagine, warm enough to have a BBQ in February. Curfew still in place.

There were walks too. Two with Françoise; one around her neck of the woods and one down on the coast. Weather was sunny so no hardship involved. Blue sky above and blue sea below. The intense yellow of the mimosa is fading away and been replaced by white cherry and pink apricot blossom in the fields. On the stony slopes lucky (?) white heather, pale blue rosemary  and deep blue wild lavender flowers were out. The vines on the terraces were mere stumps marked by thin stakes after their winter pruning. Also walked a couple of times on my own. Well, wasn’t exactly on my own; Ian Rankin and Rebus accompanied me via a talking book. Now, that was a good idea . Can’t think why I hadn’t thought of it before. Well, I can. It falls into the same category as my keys lost somewhere between home and Ann& Terry’s!

 

Weather: Temperatures  were mostly between 16° to 20° at their highest though there were a couple of days with some rain when it was only 12°. The clear blue skies made it hard to believe that we were in February; the grey days provided a reminder not to get too complacent.