Busy days

Heres Andree - send love to all :) She's doing wonderfully. A treat to see her yesterday in her Limoux retreat as we went on to the airport to pick up Debbie Mullins - below -  and where we stumbled over John Rushton and his divine wife Clare as they were being collected by John and Sue Marshall.

Naturally we went to the creperie for supper where Janet and John (...' you may have read about us') and Roy and Jo AND Louise and Norbert were also dining.

From there to the fireworks.... somewhat late, the security folk wouldn't let us out of the bottom of Rue Gambetta for our own safety. This gave the shots of the fireworks naturally edited views - rather nice, IMHO. Other watchers were singing 'Merci Michel' to our town saint.
The traditional rain of St Micheal begun and the band pulled in the lighting rigs, so Debs and I went home; and the rain stopped and the music started though not before we were all but asleep.

Today's' market as bonkers as ever with the addition of Annie and Pete who came to lunch, here for a while - then dinner shared with Dylan and Beth, Tom, Chloe and Isa.
Great place, this.

future notes present sun

Our town fete continues in various forms this weekend and this at St Ferriol is due for the 6th - looks good -


Below, some snaps of Esperaza this morning, looking lovely in the sunshine.

Chateau Tea

 Our Canadian and American friends Tom, Chloe, Isa and Beth had never had an English tea so Guillaume and Jamsie stepped in and provided it at the Chateau in St Ferriol - hence, first English tea and first visit to a French Chateau.
The children rapidly joined forces and disappeared into the attics.... they are desperate to get back.

A good time was had by all, its safe to say.

Bob and I went onto Tim and Yvonne's for apero which is where I discovered I'd left my camera somewhere else. Alors; no snaps of their new home or of Kate and Dermot and Kat and Roland either. Better do it again tomorrow then :)

La Belle...

Dropped in on Toby yesterday; she continues to mend heroically.  I asked if she was bored and she was quite shocked - there is the re-education which continues to entertain her and of course the other inmates, who life-stories she extracts with her customary  ease. She'll hear today, after a visit to her specialist, what the immediate future holds. Watch this space.

Sunday fete

 Vide grenier - probably looking like all Esperaza's previous vide greniers - but this time I focused on ~jewels~ and bought 2 broaches and a necklace. 3 euros worth.

What's the point in being old if you cant look like a mad granny??

Below is Derek resisting temptation.

All the world was there and very good fun it was too.

 After lunch at the Creperie and a decent siesta it was time to go to Max and Andreas for apero where Roland again sequestered the camera, thanks Roland. We parted earlyish, some to Ex-Ty-Rex, some to me for dinner. We quaffed till late.

Derek and Val leave us today which gives us time to recover before Debs gets here in a couple of days.

Moonlight became us

 I was very impressed to see these photos on the camera this morning, after a marvelous party at Pete and Nel's... then I remembered Roland taking my camera off for a session without me :) Thanks to him for capturing the magic of the evening. And to Pete and Nel for their hosting and feeding and caring xxxxx

 I must have taken this arty snap because Roland is in it... brave try IMHO

Confreres

The conference at St Ferriol was most interesting - first talk by Susan Kaberry who writes fiction based in the history of the region - very firmly rooted, it seems - followed by James MacDonald talking about dualism and gnosis in the early church and their relationship to Catharism. 

Lunch followed and much nattering and then we learnt that Tim Wallace-Murphy was too unwell to give his talk. Such a pity and we all wished him well.

In his absence Jamesie improvised and gave a stunning talk on St Edmund, his shrine, his bones, Toulouse, the founding of Westminster Cathedral and other tales, all skillfully woven into a quite gripping history. Lets hope he writes it up.

And look who was there!!!! Marcus and Corella just happened to be around this weekend...

See y'all at the vide grenier tomorrow.

chicken and bikes

 

Last night we were at the lake at the Poulet en velo, where it has been deemed appropriate to install an inflatable heron. Clearly the fish know no fear so it must be to frighten off the feathered herons of these parts...
we took old chums Derek and Val who are with us for a few days. Massive catching up job.
Don't forget tonight is the Johnny Halliday tribute band in the square. Alas, a previous engagement prevents our presence heheheh. Right now we are off to the conference at the Chateau of St Ferriol.

Start of St Micheal

The Fete du Vin last night marked the start of the feast of St Micheal, our patron saint. In previous years he has caused it to rain on us but last night we were spared... beautiful evening. Music was good, guitarist and singer. Food was excellent! In the day, food was largely pre-prepared and packaged; last nights was a tour de force. Kevin from the creperie made our enchiladas, spicy beef with salad, guacamole and tortilla chips. The Serranos from the Fournil made the chocolate, nut and praline killer that followed it. The domaine de St Jacques did the excellent wines.
The tribe was out in force, those of us still in town anyway. And Jude is here, visiting Max, looking glam as ever.

There's a new course at the MJC called Respirez, Chantez which I attended before the do; was possibly over-oxygenated subsequently. Anyone who wants to breathe better and sing loud should sign up pronto.

Esperaza en Fete, nearly

http://www.esperaza.fr/fr/la-mairie/agenda/






Useful site address above, the towns' official stuff - from where I nicked these two important posters :) The fete starts on Thursday night with the Fete du Vin in the place 8 Mai, that's where the night market is held; the Johnny tribute is in the square where even now the stage is being erected;  and the vide grenier on Sunday is by the river, where it normally is.

I have friends staying but we have to miss the return of Johnny due to a previous. Plus in the day we will go to St Ferriol supporting local talent; see
https://lesamisbenevoles.blogspot.com/p/events-chateau-st-ferriol-les-amis-du_8.html

Virtue

After a virtuous days work my new friends Eamon and Margaret gave me apero at Luc's... they have been doing up their holiday home in Esperaza and had me in stitches with tales of their boiler and water supply. Anyone who has done up a house here can respond to that one :)

 Naturally they know all the plumbers and electricians in Luc's and are fitting in nicely with our merry band :)

Then Claudinne and I had supper together in the still-good ex-Ty-Rex; Valerie is a perfect front-of-house manager. Nosh is consistently edible. Claudinne is always marvellous company (we figure she was my first friend of my age here, all those many years ago) Great evening.

Don't forget; Thursday is the Fete du Vin - tickets at Chez Charlie. You can still reach him, despite the deviation - which is because of water-works further up the road.

Market treats

 The market was fab, as ever - sunny and not too crowded - a lot of stall holders absent, grabbing well-deserved holidays while they can.

Was skulking in the back of the Relais Occitain (only really smoke-free area on a Sunday) with Claudinne - who looks more like her daughter everyday - when Yvonne happened by. My pix of her are not good so here's Tim implying her presence :)

Both in excellent form and here for a little while... ran into many other mates who either ducked the camera or I forgot to flaunt it.

Here is one of the moths that are bedevilling us. Its like a Hitchcock movie in Esperaza, you must bat your way through them at various times and in certain parts of town.  Beautiful, of course, but overdone.

Strange days

 Here's the sunset through a studio skylight - filled the room with an apocalyptic light, very suited to the current paintings - and here's the sky before the sunset, while I was wandering about outside (avoiding apocalyptic paintings)
Below that is a pile of wood by the railway line. When you burn wood to heat your home in the winter, you order it from a geezer who delivers it on a lorry and dumps it in the street; its then your job to shift and stack it elsewhere. It's that time of year.
Stacking is itself an art-form...

Mossies and Moths

 Young Master Theo Bowyer dropped in for lunch between Iceland and a bla-bla car to Strasbourg, from whence to elsewhere; Freddie is pushing off to Morocco to meet their parents Annie and Pete. Who may themselves be visiting us soon - you can never tell.




We had what Theo rightly described as an interesting lunch, which I walked off later - hence the photo of Esperaza. It ain't too warm but it seems that its warmer than Iceland.


This summer will be remembered for the mosquitos and the moths; the former ate heartily off Theo and the latter danced about my head all evening.


 Mossies only eat me if there is absolutely nothing else available.

Autumnal fruitfullness

Autumn is clearly here - see rather glum-looking market above, snapped this morning. Esperaza is a-clang with the sounds of bottling, freezing, washing, peeling and the rest. Fruit abounds. 

Here's Shuff who dropped in yesterday with tales of life in Amsterdam.  In good form and a huge fan of the new lake (on the way to Quillan, by the Carrefour roundabout). I've not been there yet - usually people like it though regret the lack of mature trees for sunshade. This will change, given time.

In the meantime I'm waiting for a moonlit night to take a lope.

Did the Mutuelle yesterday, that is the top-up charge for the health system here. Once you have your Carte Vitale you buy the mutuelle to cover the serious costs. Our mayor has negotiated a deal for the folk of Esperaza -living or working here - which seems good, about 800 euros a year. Deals (partially) with eyes and teeth and (mostly) for drugs and tests and hospitalisations.
The point being that if you want a Carte de Sejour in order to be legal after the Brits pull us out of being European Citizens, you have to show that you will not be reliant on the French state.

There is an office on the side of the town hall that deals with all this, with great good humour and panache. Walk in and make an appointment to be interviewed. If its not suitable for you, they'll tell you.

Research

 In the interests of research, visited Max and Andrea at apero time and checked out the state of their new home. Then in the interests of conviviality forgot all about it and enjoyed the setting sun and the local fizz.
Thence to ex-Ty-Rex to check that the food was still good (anchovy salad in my case, very good) and there found the Junior Matthews' getting a takeaway pizza... they leave today but are sending John and Margaret back soon. All well.

Dear Bob got a burnt nose in Porto which must be kept covered for the time. Rather fetching though the parrots don't like it; a threatening beak, perhaps.