Happy New Year!

 It has been our custom for a few years now to spend new years day at the coast and since we can't actually go tomorrow we went today instead, with Kat. Bob drove us over the mountains - stopped to see if Lily remembered snow - then onto the med which was bright and sunny with a viciously cold edge.

Had lunch in our favourite seafood resturant and really enjoyed it. Now for an early night to build up strength for 2015. I'd expected to write a New Years greeting letter in lieu of christmas cards but that didnt get done either... please take my love and affection to you and all my friends out there as read xxx

Carcassonne, Limoux and Esperaza -

 I'm looking for a book - who isn't - and I'd been told that the slightly wacky esoteric library at La Cite might have it. Bob kindly drove me there. It was closed. I wandered about a bit in the vicious ear-biting cold until it opened and then found they'd never heard of it.

In Limoux we lunched at LeClerc, of course. Was perturbed to find that all their pine trees in the car park have been cut down - an anti-christmas elf or are they up to something, anyone know?

 

Back in the comparative warmth and calm of Esperaza, this weird horsey-thing was parked behind the war memorial....

St Julia le Bec

 Up to Chateau Rushton for lunch yesterday with John and Clare, Jo and Donald and a marvellous view of the snow-clad mountains. France is having a cold snap which we are hoping will shortly push off.

John is absent from the picture as he was cooking - roast beef and horseradish sauce, followed by the more traditional Galette des Rois. In case you're not from these parts allow me to explain that the Galette des Rois is a pastry and frangipane cake eaten between now and the epiphany which contains a ' la feve' - a bean-  these days signified by a little porcelain figure of some cultural merit. The one who gets the bean gets to wear the paper crown and be king.
Bob won!

supper and a movie...The Hobbit in town

Pete hosted an early dinner for the tribe last night.... Nels brother Jap and wife were in town, Kat was wafting through, Ryan and Alicia and Etienne and us were invited and we all ate extremely well.

Afterwards was an historical film show; as the man that schlepped the kit into the MJC said in his presentation, ten days after the Champs Elyeeses it arrives in Esperaza! l' Ob'ete in 3-D. Marvellous.
Heres the Captain in the special specs they give you to wear in order to be fully frightened.

The crowd naturally participated but in rather unexpected ways - for instance, I had a deal of tendresse for the elegant elves but Esperazanais gave their best cheers for the bone -headed giants (who were very funny, it must be said). There was a rather splendid fluffy and fully armed pig who acted as a mount for a dwarf that attracted great approval. And rousing cheers when the baddie was thwacked by the corpse of the burning dragon :)
Tolkien may not have recognised his work but he would have clocked the subtexts with pleasure - never break your word, always act with honour, gold is inherently dangerous. For me the thing was rendered less-than-trite by being in French. It had gravitas where it might otherwise have been portentous.

Boxing day calm

Bob and I have dozed the day away - Jim and Spike stayed for breakfast and then did the splendid Hat Museum of Esperaza and afterwards drove to Rennes le Chateau (aka Bonkers Central). The stamina of them.

Bob gave me the RA's catalogue of the Anslem Kieffer exhibition and a four box DVD set of Les Lapins Cretins, so thats me sorted.

Here is the bathroom plaque showing the place of Etiennes' birth. The spelling of July is in Occitan, ahem.

Kathy and Kennys baby has been named - he is to be Samuel John Mathews McKendry. Looking forward to being formally introduced.

xmas feasting

Etiennes first christmas:)
Ryan and Alicia, Jim, Spike, Pete and Nel, Ian and Kat came and celebrated with joy -

Xmas eve

This years cake perhaps lacks the romance of previous years, being provisionally entitled 'Vomiting Santa', but it earned me a laugh and a kiss from the captain this morning :) The cake was sent from America by our sweet friend Barbara to whom are winging happy thoughts...

Lovely party last night with many friends and neighbours - nice mix of French and Brit with the French notably taking the mick of the perfidious albanists. Quelle horreur. Regreted not having my camera as out hostess donned a red nose and strap-on antlers -

In Esperaza as I shopped for flowers and stuff I ran into Nel and Pete, who are well; Mike, ditto; Ryan (hungover); Andy and James, in excellent form :)

Our Kat, alas, is still poorly -pull yourself together Kat, we miss you

Nature day

 This morning, watched this heron being chased to the top of a tree by 5 magpies. Ominous...

then friends dropped in after the market and the weather was so bright that Bob and I headed for hills; specifically, those above Luc-sur-Aude. Wonderful. 

a son of Esperaza doing well

Here is Annie and Petes' genius boy-child Theo at his graduation... many congratulations :)

Busy Life

As Kat said yesterday; you know you are living in the right place when people can pass the day watching the road being mended.
The workmen, to be fair, gave an excellent show - dancing with their spades to the piped christmas muzac.

You have been warned....

I was warned by K and D not to bother with the Post Office in Esperaza as place to put savings. The bloke there took their will to live away - go straight to Limoux, they said.  But its close and the bloke rang me to make a convenient appointment so off I set.

To contextualize this a little, I have some dosh that has to be spread over the next x years and should remain accessible for emergencies. Im uncomfortable with putting it under the bed, so I started with the Credit Agricole; the bloke l saw  there didn't speak a word of English but we happily sorted out what schemes were available and I told him I'd think about it and went off to the post office  meeting.

The bloke there said he spoke English but preferred not to. An ominous start but fair enough. Then he moved into what can only be described as a Monty Python sketch;
PO: What a pretty name
me: Thank you
PO You have your passport?
me: here is my passport
PO: What a pretty name
me: thank you
Starts to photocopy my passport
me: Why are you photocopying my passport?
PO: I have to photocopy your passport
me: But I only what to know what interest you pay savers
PO Have you got a household bill?
me: Yes, why?
..................... on and on, until he confessed that he was opening an account for me at the post office.
HE WOULD NOT TELL ME THE RATE OF INTEREST ON A SAVINGS ACCOUNT UNTIL I HAD AN ACCOUNT THERE
.......... we press on.
me: Here are EDF bills, Tax Fonciere bills, Tax d'habitation bills
PO: Why have you got two names?
me: One is my maiden name, one my married name
PO: Where is your certificate of marriage?
me: Here is my certificate of marriage.
PO What is the date?

Actually I don't think I can carry on. I did loose the will to live as K and D had said I would. The man started asking the same questions over and over as if to test my memory and when I told him that all my work accounts were with my accountant (having said that my work was irrelevant, though needing my Siret, Siren and SS numbers -) he started the process over again. What a pretty name.

So I got my papers together and stood up and said 'if you don't want my money, I'm leaving.'
PO: But we do want your money.
me: ----but Ive had enough

Opening the door, I found a packed post office had been paying full attention with their mouths open. I touched my forehead, rolled my eyes and left.
                                               l'll probably be run out of town today.

So, I missed the town party for the retired people but Im sure it was a gas!!
Bob back tomorrow. Time to deck the halls with boughs of holly. Here's Lily, looking for someone to bite.

changes and renovations

 Heres Alecia - looking very like Cinderella in the ashes - pulling up the 1970's tiles in my living room to reveal the lovely old ones underneath.

 And here is a shock.... Kat and I like to take our morning coffee in the cafe du Pont, but today it was closed. Closed by the powers-that-be for a month and a half, because....et alors?? We tracked down the bloke that occasionally works there to find out what was going on and he said, the Mayor had it in for them. Just because he didn't like drunken youths making a racket late at night, he'd done them for supplying drink to minors.
Golly! Maybe he'll be taking on the drug dealers next...

Kelly came round tonight. Neither of us drink but somehow we managed to all but finish a bottle of chardonnay.

Saturday blaze

Leaving home just before dawn to walk my amiable dog Lily, the camera didn't come to hand and I decided not to hunt it. I mean, there are only so many photos one can take of sunrises.
Naturally the dawn was spectacular. Due to some weird cloud formations, it seemed that curtains of raspbery and apricot were hanging in layers in the sky, against a pellucid blue. A bit like I've imagined the aurea borealis might be.

Rounding the corner at the town hall things were somewhat different - notably, there were flames and smoke leaping into the sky adding considerably to the visuals.

The garage of Dr Cinelli was ablaze and all our heroic pompiers were there, firefighting away.
The Mayor was watching and was happy to assure me that no-one was hurt though it was a very large fire -

Went back later to photograph the chared remains but I was too late. Our useful town services had sealed off the entrance and were taking down the dangerous timbers. There had been an iron staircase that was distorted by the heat which I'd have liked a snap of and a car totally burned out that seemed to be visually poetic but perhaps its as well not to be too enthusiastic for these things -:)

The fire services are marvellous, truly. As I say, this was a major fire but it wasn't allowed spread, it didn't get to touch the railway line, it didn't catch the street christmas decorations...

twilight in Esperaza

 Isnt this thrilling?? Saw Msr Cross cleaning the window of Karims old gallery this morning and by the time the bus bought me back from my day out in Carcassonne, this poster was in place - will certainly be at the Centre Culturel on the 27th, despite the fact that the last time I saw anything in 3D I had to have my eyes closed thoughout what with the vertigo (it was the Lord of the Rings)

Twilight in the town was beautiful tonight, here are a couple of snaps; one by the  church and one by the chemists. You can tell because of the green light from the pharmacy sign.

Xmas fervour

Heres our main square, as you can see hardly hopping with Xmas shoppers - lights are pretty in the rain though.

Mixed day for me. Sold my little room in Toulouse which on the one hand means I'm no longer skating on thin ice but on the other, I no longer have a little room in Toulouse.
It was  fun for a while :) Never be able to make my living buying and selling property, I get too attached -

The sweet notaire, probaly sensing my tristesse, took me out to lunch at an Italian resturant in Carcassonne, Del Arte ( its not too far from Tridome, that direction -) Very good. Probably a chain but a nice one, pretty water features, decent service and jolly impeccable food. Been open for three months and packed. Recommended.

xmas looming

 

Laughing Anna - who does the seasonal window painting hereabouts - has been busy. Sure sign of the times. Plus; the Municipalite are inviting all those people in Esperaza who are retired to a knees-up at the MJC on the 16th at 2.30. This year we are to be entertained by a magicien who plays the accordian. Tonight at the monthly meeting of the council, they are discussing the menu...

fete de noel

 The season of merriment is upon us, hohoho - went to St Jean de Paracol yesterday afternoon to their fete, took tea and said hi to the donkeys....

Fourtou

Mary posted this picture on Facebook and I didnt hestitate to nick it - shows her and Angus' place this morning, beautiful indeed.

The market here was quite well stocked and fairly well attended despite frightful cold. No snow, as yet. In the cafe it was told that the snow ploughs are out for the first time. We have been so spoilt that I'd forgotten all this palavar...
Last night Ryan and Alicia let us play with Etienne while they made a divinely stuffed pumpkin and apple cake for Claudine and me and Bob. Drank Blanquette de Limoux so good health is assured.

gloom

Very gloomy yesterday, contemplating the future. The riverbank has been cleared of trees along with the trees by the playground. All that habit destroyed.

On the plus side we would not have been able to hear the warblers over the increased traffic caused by the new road.

Also on the plus side the root system that held the bank together has now gone and since the banks are of sand the whole lot will be washed away in the next flood; with luck that'll stop the traffic.

Sigh.

Did more clay therapy with Edith. That helped.

visitors and Esperaza Emblem

Voila! Claudine is visiting and yesterday, so did Etienne - here they both are.

And below is the town emblem now glorifying the street outside the 8a8. No sign of Micheal or his Dragon, alas.

tuesday; cold but dry -

The rabbit previously known as Princess Alice tete de lion is still wet from two days of rain and not having the sense to get under cover.

 This is the nearly-finished pavement outside the 8a8 - the hole awaits the town motif (St Micheal the Archangel and the dragon), with much anticipation.

 

And this is todays birthday boy - James Rafferty is four :) 

'The struggle continues' (Graham said that).

I gatecrashed the birthday tea and watched the tempo rise with the sugar intake. Brilliant! Andy and Lou gave me cake to take home for Bob, who got in this evening with turkey and crackers. 

Crackers in luggage on Ryan Air, FYI. Possibly illegally but certainly undetected.