star blessed evening

Such a joyful night!! Good friends, good food and cool enough to sit outside, alleluia!

Huge thanks to Fran and Clare (who must have been cooking for days), to John and Janet and Norbert and Louise for being there and for being themselves. 

We sat under the stars and marvelled at it all.
 

Early Limoux

 Me and Captain H had an early RDV with the tax office in Limoux, gulp - armed with every possible piece of paper, we got there neurotically early. Breakfast in the Grand café, pastries from the boulangerie opposite and down a bit.

It was a beautiful day; what could possibly go wrong??

the unnerving answer is, nothing... we were early to the office and the tax man saw us immediately. He was bright eye-d, wearing shorts and a tasteful tropical shirt, sorted us in seconds and bid us a good day.

We were so shocked, Capt H allowed me to go alone into my favourite store Super U where I spent a tidy sum.

I always forget how bewitching Limoux is, how helpful and graceful the inhabitants. 

Curious low-tech furniture abounds in the cafes. adding to the air of welcoming charm. 

Its a mere 24 degrees here, sunny and pleasant. All good :)

 

 

Rogues gallery

 At last, remembered to take photies of friends...

Kat and Elaine

Barbara and Catherine

Jamsie seriously unfocused

It was a lovely Sunday, not too much heat and friends out in force. Today is rather cold, overcast, grey - fabulous!!

imaginary scenes

 Keep forgetting to make use of photo opportunities... last nights dinner with Jamsie, at the excellent Chapaire (who are still doing the Phil-designed English breakfast), the coffee the day before with Gert and Elsbeth who are back with us and looking marvellous, breakfast with Rushton this morning at the Argentinean cafe. Possibly other events but unless I have a visual on them, I forget :(

So here is the last of the life drawing of the season instead. Thomas has a job painting palace walls in Monaco, restoring murals rather than toshing. He will be missed. He is the groups convener so we wait for him to return to us.

voila! The new Quillan/Perpignan bus timetable

other VERY important travel news is that Carcassonne airport is closing from November to mid-December, to re-lay its runway. Plan carefully.

 

cooling

 Here's the secret back room in the café on the square - a shelter from the crowded market. Esperaza tourist-riven. But safe....

Poor Pomas, about 15 Kilometres away towards Carcassonne, has had a tornado, causing frightful damage though mercifully no deaths.  

Our house in London has been evacuated due to collapsing bits following building works fore and aft. 

So what with one thing and another, a safe corner of the world is something to treasure.

Think that's all, and quite enough too! Weather much cooler and heads are popping up over the parapets. 

Singing in the rain

 Ferren MacIntyre and Aileen Hennes... gracing the Thursday market with an appearance. Aileen is younger than me but Ferren is 20 years older.  I asked how he was. He's working on a paper that is a critique of two respectable scientists who are climate change deniers, with what he calls 'the other side of the story'. Can't wait!

Ferren is of course our resident genius and author of many a scientific thang, whilst Aileen is the author of The Hirsute Civil Servant available from Vanguard Press and heartily recommended.

The market didn't have much in the way of fruit and vedg - holidays - but was very sociable after a blast of a storm last night that has freshened us all up.

This evening it was cool enough to go for a stroll and as I idly watched a mallard on the Aude there was a white flash of light across the water and an almightily deafening crash. Both the duck and I were startled. It was probably lightening hitting the cockerel on the church tower reflected in the river and thunder, of course- afterwards Charlotte told me she thought her house had been hit by something as everything shook and when I got home Bob told me that Rico the parrot had fallen off his perch.

Another downpour followed.

Got wet.

Lovely.

-and so it goes

The market carries on being a vehicle for the weird and w0nderful; after my shopping I spent 20 mins sitting in the Tibetan takeaway watching the world struggle past. It's cooler so all the world has come shopping. Plus there's a vide grenier by the river. Basically, awful -  but of course lovely to catch some mates out and about.

On another track, I was able to take my atrophying limbs for an evening stroll last night. Our footbridge, no doubt a masterpiece of engineering ingenuity in its day, is looking v sorry.

 

The town hall are going to spend some 18 grand on repairs, subsidised by the region - you can't get a roof repaired for that, difficult to see how effective that can be. Watching with interest!