apres market

Beautiful Sunday, once the cold had diminished; loads of mates out and about. The only one I remembered to snap was Ferren MacIntyre, our resident genius. He's rewriting the last chapter of the current work and finding it complicated. It references the new insights into conciousness so it might take a while :)

Went for an afternoon walk and found this sculpture by the river...

A friend who is an artist and one of the stalwards of the l'Art s'Invite a Magrie, is uncertain whether he will be exhibiting this year. Turns out he refuses to be vaccinated - as do many French friends - in this case, on the grounds that the injections are experimental. Since it is obligatory to have a pass sanitaire to enter Magrie during the exhibition, he thinks he will not be showing. Sad.

 

Max and Andy entertain

Here's Andy, about to break into a smile... and below, her dinner guests, Louise and Norbert and Rose. 

Stonkingly good evening! It all feels a bit pre-pandemic; though we are older and more cautious. 

 

Lingering on

 Kat snappped this of the gossips outside the town hall this evening... Mike, Ole-Bendik, Cleopatra and me. No idea what we were talking about. Something important.

Le Capt and I ordered lunch from the newly-branded 'Healthy-Eating' pizza place in Rue Gambetta. Can't vouch for the healthiness but it was jolly good - I had sausage and choucroute and himself the salmon with pasta. Both loverly.

Erm, thats it really. Cold but sunny. 

Cacassonne trip

Don't remember why I decided to take the bus to Limoux and the train to Carcassonne on a Monday. Everything is closed on a Monday. Including the exhibition at the Beaux Arts which looks a bit good - carpets from 1940 -1970, made of the work of various major artists.

The town was empty and it was a pleasure to wander about in the sunshine. The journey was lovely too. Here are some random snaps taken from the bus. 

 And BIG news; Max and Andy are back, looking wonderful and planning to stay on for a month or two. Too overcome to take a snap, but one will surely follow soon :)

smashing sunday

 Voila! Aymeric Jullien was in the market, voice to die for, song selection breathtaking....  crowds cluster when he sets up. 

Bought a CD this time. He does house calls for 150 euros and I'm saving up.

LOTS of friends out in the sun (and cold). Cen and Annette are back from Blighty as are Janet and John. 

Maybe it's the strong sunlight that makes Esperaza seem a paradise. That and the folk, of course.

Glory lunch

 Dougie, Marlon and Regina gave us a lunch to remember yesterday, delicious and fun and joyful and all those very good excellent superlatives :) Thanks to the family and please can we do it again soon - before the next diaspora. 

Dawning

 Yesterdays sunrise... which I image is much like todays, cold and misty and generally enchanting. If you are dressed for it. That is one of Max's maxims BTW; there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. 

He and Andy will be here soon, restrictions and happenstance permitting.

Covid is still in the air, it seems. Stay safe out there.

Birthday breakfast

 It was Louise's birthday... and her fan base turned up on the Pont to celebrate. Photos are rather artistic, in general, and not flattering in particular so here is a simple shot of Rose the cake-maker and the birthday girl being kissed by Mike.

Kat brought her gluten-free deliciousness and there was stollen. Erika was kept busy with the coffees (thank you Norbert :)) 

More birthdays and more often, say we all. 

It ain't Paris...

...but the food's good. This is the Chapaire in Rue Victor Hugo, opposite Richards Gallery (as was -)

More people arrived as we settled to lunch yesterday and a jolly time was had. They do two plats and we had one each, my lovely companion (le Capt) settling for the poulet basque while I went for the paella with wiggly pasta. Plates they do not do, though they say they will at some point in the future. Everything made in house, delicious; and tiramisu and chocolate mouse worth the weight gain.

 More news; Ole-Bendik has emailed, saying that hes worrying he may become soft 'and risk loosing the hard edge to my survival instinct', due to the cooking of the neighbourhood, meals without wheels. He is clearly better and thanks everyone involved in his care.

Got your calender yet? Then you are in luck, as Gill has half-a-dozen left and seeing as how it's January they are going at 5 euros at La Vie Vintage. She has done charming watercolours of the area, the villages in l'haute vallee de l'aude.  Make good (late) gifts if you have just bought yours from the pompiers...

Off to join the Sami farewell at the PMU now. Still sad.

Samuel Edelstein RIP

 Shocked to discover that Sami died yesterday.

   His thinking doesn't allow for death since he carried the assurance of eternal life and rebirth with him.

He had left the morning market and coffee at the PMU, as usual, walked home to Angela and dropped with a heart attack en route.

 - a wise and funny and kind and talented and drole friend. He and I lived in London in the sixties and often swopped notes though he moved in far more exalted circles than l. He designed Mick Jaggers little frock for the Hyde Park concert, did you know? He was later involved with the Gurdjieff movement and the Bennett group - fascinating - and locally, particularly locally, he did the hat drawings in the movie in the hat museum :) He originally trained at St Martins art school and had an assured and remarkable style. He lost patience with the art world yonks ago but continued to paint about the things that mattered to him.

His much loved wife Angela has been ailing for a very long time and most of Sami's days were concerned with her care. He painted her often, always beautiful, always a spiritual force in his life...

There will be a meeting to raise a glass to him at 11.00am on Sunday at the PMU, organised by Ceri and Atmo who were especially close to him.

Much love to them, to Angela, to her and Sami's daughters, to all his friends and all those who will feel the absence of him.

Philosophers lunch

Heres Jim Hankinson quizzing his at lunch at the Pont - which was especially good today, congrats to the team there. How fortunate we are to have this little cafe on our dooorstep. 

Ice today, very cold though with bright blue skies and clear crisp views everywhere, it aint too hard :)
 

Blue skies

Pollarding on... and the weather is better and our friends can be seen outside cafes, basking in the (chilly) sunshine. I'II spare you the rubbish photos.

 Warning... comments contain more abuse- and what might be an apology, who can tell -

yesterdays weather

 The rain finally stopped by the evening and the river fell back slightly - no cause for alarm though rumours abound of too much water in Limoux - 

Sunday redeemed

It was Yvonne's birthday and she had Kat and Roland and Rose and me and himself to lunch; that this photo of Yvonne is out of focus may be a clue to the event. It was very very good. 

We were intrduced to le trou normande, a curl of apple sorbet filled with calvados and served between the smoked salmon and the lamb. Here is Tim, responsible for a lot of the brain-cell losses of the day.

 And Kat and Roland; Rose escaped me - but heres a cute pic of himself, rather startlingly in focus.

Can't wait till next year!! Will go into training before Yvonne has another birthday.

Apropos food; turns out the lordly Ole-Bendik is without a cook so a rota has been summoned and the team will be feeding him. Bon appetite!

--------------------------It's been raining for 24 hours now. Will go and check the river - later.

Sunday; oh dear

 Says it all, really. 

Enough excitements

Yesterday was the turn of Limoux to be visited by the Esperazannais. Off we went to the Prefecture to sort a mates paperwork. Of course we checked their site to make sure they were open.

As often happens, the virtual world and the actual world failed to correspond. Bah. FYI: here are the real opening times:

Time to do the shopping, hang out, have lunch - and there was beautiful Kate, remember her? Used to live over the road. Still beautiful and now a grandmother.

Heres young Nathan, last seen aged eightish, now with a boy of that age himself. Tempus whatnot.

The sub-prefecture were most helpful. We could not do anything we wanted and for the rest have to go to Carcassonne anyday between 9 - 11am. Bah.

Back home discovered that Ole-Bendik was unwell, a worry on account of we all love him. There was a deal of texting until all was known (thanks to Louise, Norbert, Aileen, Pete, Kat - what a fan base) He is on the right meds (the problem having been caused by the wrong meds) and a diet to suit. He now has a carer who will cook and clean as Nora, poor girl, has a massive cold which may or may not be the virus. Tests continue.

 

Quillan on a weds

 Kat is back from elsewhere (in France) and took me to Quillian market - where there was ONE stall, the wind and rain of the night clearly having detered the others. The inflatable above the boulangerie survived the storm.

Robin is also home. He flew into Carcassonne from Blighty, armed with tests and papers - now isolated for ten days except for the one hours' shopping in the morning. After a final test, he'll be up and about again... 

It's that time

....When the towns' trees get a haircut. Sensible but no fun. 

 

Stay healthy...

 ...stay out of health food stores!

Arcadie clearly thinks its enough to display a sign to its anti -vax clientelle to protect us all. In a crowded store I should guess that half the punters were masked. When I complained to the unmasked bloke next to me in the lengthy queue, he said it was pas grave; its grave for me, I said, and told him why. He sweetly put on a mask - pour vous - but it was round his neck by the time we got to the till.

Esperazas little co-operative health store has disregarded the rules from the start - see entrys passim - so the larger chain stores will be the only safe shopping spots soon. Though Terre Mere, on the way to Quillan, was OK last time I was there. 

On the plus side, a new trick is available here - see link below. Leslie is managing this and writes that if you put in the post code it will flag up, called epicerie paysanne et solidaire. You create an account to go into the shop; order and they deliver. No contacts with careless people.

 https://www.cagette.net/?fbclid=IwAR1vS-YSDlsDd5Edy34GwFJ1q9pslj7c3W5ycue_o96-r_nidYDa6zxakIU

++++++++++++++++++

That rant aside, all is well. The sun continues to shine. Bumped into many friends during my coffee break; the Marshalls (who have sold their St Ferriol home and are moving to Somerset): Saverias daughter and grandaughter  who were out charming the world: Rachel, who is expecting her baby in March. We agreed that the ghosts of Tony and Jill Cooper, her grandparents, will be delighted. 

The only other excitement is that the greater spotted woodpecker in Tobys garden is continuing to call for a mate.

PS There is a comment attached to this post which you should only read if you like abusive language...

Wokking it up

Wokland! The gormands dream... here Phil and Ziggi taste each others sorbets. Bob and I exhausted ourselves in a feast of gluttony; I was reminded of Simone Weils dictum that we are not punished for our sins but by them.

So, today we start the diet. Off to market to buy vedg.