Esperaza Follies
- continuing where www.tilling-sur-aude.blogspot.com left off, with gossip and updates from a small French town
May 14, 2025
Wednesdays gossip
May 13, 2025
The great and the good...
May 12, 2025
Esperaza better than the Cote d'Azure.
Lovely market morning... it was hot, coats were shed and revelry commenced. There is a Dutch coffee- making van down by the frip and though it takes a while to get served - one man making one coffee at a time - its is sooooo worth it :) will just have to get there earlier next week.
Many mates out, lots of tourists around already. It rained later, plus thunder.
Saturday night - when I didn't take photos - Robin (who is back) and I took apero with Michel, who usually lives at the Italian end of France on the cote d'azure . His family's second home is next door so over the years we've got to know each other. Hence I knew the power of the orange liquor which they make from their own oranges; after a tumbler of that I quit, as the menfolk opened the first of the blanquette bottles. Clearly my age is telling on me - when have I ever before turned down blanquette??
Msr Louis, Michels father is now ensconced in the Maison de retrait with Ginette his wife, Michels mother. Wonderful to hear stories about them all, it was like a history of France in miniature. And I finally got to ask the question; why leave a sea-side paradise on the Mediterranean to holiday in Esperaza every year?
His answer; too many tourists! It's noisy, crowded and you can't park anywhere. Even the local graveyard gets overrun as there is a statue to Webb Ellis who is buried there. (He's the bloke who picked up a football and ran with it as a schoolboy at Rugby, thereby creating a new sport.) (Allegedly.)
The bees are back in the old chimney!! The garden has sprung into life. So excited to see them. They used to be here all the time but disappeared for several years since a major attack by the Asian Hornets. So far, no sign of the bad boys and the bees are sweeping over the elderflowers that are scenting the air, happily and noisily humming. Joy.
May 8, 2025
Peace is flowing like a river
May 5, 2025
Lovely funeral
Michael Lovelys funeral will be on Friday, May 9th, starting with a drink at 10.00am at the Lovely Chateau. There will be a procession to the cemetery at Fa where he will be buried. Dress, erm, fanciful...
Thereafter, a celebration in joy at the Cafe de Fa - all according to Michaels wishes.
May 3, 2025
Michael Lovely RIP