Gordon turns 50

 Gordon didn't know he was having a party... we all sat quietly waiting in the dark till he turned up to surprise him. Worked well!

Frisky evening since he's so young. 

I have many more photos some of which I have sworn not to publish. 

But I'm off for the bus to Perpignan and then to Collioure for a dust free holiday; no time today!

Will return, to the cake... Charlotte at her magically imaginative best, and I cant remember the ingredients. Elderflower? Pistachio? Raspberry??

And here's the wall in my study. 

One day it will be fabulous.

Refreshed by the sea.

 The heating and hot water have packed up in the main house and huge costs are looming. Life, eh...

so off to the sea side!! St Pierre de mare, what a paradise yesterday.

Pete and Claire did the honours , blessings on them... the weather was perfect, the drive a pleasure, lunch pretty good in a restaurant by the market  next to the sea. 

Afterwards we went to Gruissan to covet the old houses there. And paddle and ponder. 

better, in general...

...so, the heating and hot water have packed up with attendant water damage, fol de rol, but there's another house with electric radiators which is where we had lunch with Jamsie. 

 

 

There was a vide grenier which I plodded up to - the only one I've managed this season - and though it was a pleasure to be out in the sun it must be faced that the quality of tat is poor.

Yesterday the Captain ws good enough to chauffeur me about and so we went to the recycling by Carrefour, where for a whole euro I amassed this collectors item!

Oh happy day

Very windy suddenly. Perhaps the UK weather is clearing its throat. 

Nice day for it...

Sunrise here, auspicious?? Most things are nowadays.

Bob and I had a long-overdue date night, so dinner at the Chapaire which has a

new menu -!!- and a new healthy dessert. We loved both. 

 

The study wall is changing. And not falling down, thanks to a marvellous team of strong and kindly blokes.

Farewell darling Gracie

A small farewell to Gracie last night, further improved by Louises' pudding which was not poached eggs but pears in frangipane. Yum.

 And Gracie moves on... sniff. 

Other than that, France is hosting small pockets of resistance to the authorities - some rampant racailles who are efficient at leading urban crowds into trouble and assumed to be deeply left wing, some opportunist looters, some gilet jeunes politicos and some perfectly peaceful protesters worried about the rubbish education system (under funded, under staffed)

In Carcassonne the  protest was large but amiable, young people with banners of cardboard and crayon - clearly untroubled by professional rioters. 

Curfew has been announced and the fun is over ...

The fear is that with the media emphasis on the left-wing problems, the French will choose to vote for the right and allow Marine Le Pen and her robotic sidekick into power. No-one knows what this might mean for the Brits here; depends on how fiscally astute the right are and this we don't know since this particular lot haven't held power. (Though herself has been tried and found guilty of misusing EU funds)  Village life will be ended if the foreigners' are expelled. We literally stop the houses falling down. 

 My Great British Cold has left me, finally. 

missing the action

 Keep missing the Big Moments... when Gert and Elizbeth left I was too busy to make a farewell portrait (they're back in March -) and just now, had beautiful Gracie to share supper and didn't snap that either. But

here's brunch! At Couiza, excellent. A treat from the Captain who has returned to the fold. They've started doing Friday night moules frites at La Ravito and the owner was describing the 50-odd bookings last night, plus takeaways; lucky the staff are energetic.

Its a bit drizzly here, not enough but pleasant for all that. Hope its nice where you are.

perfect morning in Esperaza

Breakfast at the Pont, re-opened since closing for Julies wedding. Radiant is the word. Alain isn't the husband, BYW; he wasn't around, presumably beavering away in the kitchen. They're doing lunches again. No evening meals till June.

the fruit n vedg market was soured for me by the number of smokers - I thought it was illegal to smoke in a public space? 

Esperaza has its own laws. Managed to  shop without an asthma crisis, phew.

The Rue Gambeta has sprouted pink trees,  charmingly. I asked Mike what that was about but he'd forgotten.

 

collapsamundo

 Many friends know about the disaster of our simple London home. (Google Woodland Terrace collapse if interested) A bad time emotionally to have a hole knocked into a solid wall in my study, though when commissioned it seemed like a good idea.

It'll be a marvel when done. The team have already dealt with some challenges and that was just to get the scaffold up-

(In the meantime, the London house is entering the realms of nightmare fantasy.) 

A cheerier note; two of the breakfast mates this morning, Yvonne and Rose.

Good place to hide from building works - see you'all tomorrow!

weather, not

 I swore during the heatwave that I'd never again complain about the cold and the wet.

I'm not moaning at all, in fact the lack of crowds with no need to queue is a pleasure  :)

Breakfast at the Argentinean café was shared with Bob on Whats App....

 To Chez Charlie next, where as usual l requested (and got) advice on the cooking of tonights meal. Son of Charlie recommended that he didn't chop it now but that I cut the meat after cooking. I suggested he came round and did it. He didn't blink, just gave me his phone number.

Who would live anywhere else :)

early supper, with help

 Here's an oddly uninformative photo of last nights supper - spag bol - attended by Pete and Nel, Jamsie, Ren and Guillame.

If Ren hadn't taken charge of the spaghetti, which she can cook perfectly, and bought the pudding - a pear crumble of St Ferriol chateau pears - it would have been dreadful. As she did all of these things, the evening was a great success :)

Not starving in Esperaza

 Last nights dinner with Gert and Elisbeth was glorious fun.  Gazpacho, well garlic'd; ratatouille with entrecote; cheese; apple tart. Each with its own wine. Concluding with liqueurs. Company en forme, much laughter and joy (though Bob is in blighty and was missed)

Rather a nice snap of Gert... who took the preceding photo which is why he isn't in it. 

I had no idea that the street lights went out at some point in time. Pitch black, not even starlight, when we left the dinner. Mercifully Roland and Kat offered to walk me home by the light of their mobiles, so there was no falling giggling into gutters.

My turn to do lunch today! John and Claire Rushton and Gracie came and ate my experimental chicken with mangos. Then we had christmas pudding. 

Here's Gracie and her doubt of custard

Actually todays big news is RAIN. Not heavy and not for long but enough for wet wear and a truncated market. Very cozy...

breakfasts

It transpires that the Matthews have been here all the time I was away, and left yesterday. Some point being made?? Good to catch a glimpse anyway, and they claim they'll be back at the end of the month.

It was Margaret's birthday! Safe travels to you darlings :)

This morning was spent tete-a-tete with 

Claudine, a major catch-up...

and I must thank Gracie who piled in with a marvellous meal last night, unrecorded in the glee of gormandising 

xxxxxx

 

Esperaza lingers

I'm back in place, slightly dizzy with it all - England was hard despite some wonderfulness's - and now I find, quelle horreur, that our own Tibetan takeaway has closed down. What are we supposed to eat?? Gutted -

The very very good news is the our Gracie is here, staying a little while. Joy joy joy unconfined :)

Here's the square this morning, temperature veering towards cold - though the sun ain't properly up yet.

Frightfully fin de siècle.

And the river. Clearly its not rained here for a while. 

There is precious little going on, which is something of a relief to me after three weeks of galloping  activity.

Dawn and a long day

Caught this beautiful dawn as I was out early to catch enough cool air to walk in - magic. Been hot and hotter since, culminating in a tiny shower and a noisy thunderstorm. Still hot.

After a baffling letter from the authorities asking that I renew my permission for a temporary structure NOW, or else, l carried it round the corner to the town hall where Christine obligingly deals with such stuff. 

Christine is on holiday. The new lady on the desk suggested Mark-Antoine (of le Studio Solidaire)  - whom I know is ridiculously busy- or that I find computer competent French friends to have a go. I'd already tried two.  Then I remembered it is Tuesday and Ronan, the towns computer genius, would be just about open.

Galloped down the road and was in time to catch him. For once there wasn't a queue of sad people hugging their wounded digital kit demanding help; he was happy to have a go at my paperwork.

Not wanting to re-live the details, suffice it say that the expert thought it, shall we say, unnecessarily cumbersome. He did it though, we think - so the water pump in the garden by the river gets another few years.

-----Not that it signifies as we ain't allowed to use it on account of the drought. We were forced to put in a water meter a few years ago and since then have barely used the thing - despite that we pay regular fees for water extraction.

Anyway, BIG THANKS to Ronan. Long may he prosper.

I'm off to Blighty tomorrow and wont be back for three weeks. What with the Ladies Walking Group being away as well, the town will change timbre.... be good, y'all.

 

O-B in recovery

Siggy has sent this of Ole-Bendik from Carcassonne hospital :"He's well cared for and looked after and is in a good mood and says hello to everybody", she writes.

Hurrah! Now he has to crack on with the autobiography :) 

gecko attack

Just opened my balcony door and a gecko fell on my head, surprising me no end... she looked startled too, before legging it behind  bookcase. 

What can it mean??

Mornings here are lovely, here's the river yesterday, but the day was awfully suffocating until late. Hoping to see an otter - did see the kingfisher -

 Later, have caught up with news on the street; O-B has been operated on, all well, will recuperate in Limoux it seems. Tomas leaves on Weds to commence restoring palace murals in Monaco. 

That's all that's pertinent and publishable, l think.

Tomas with new toy

todays chaos

It's not that the closure of one side of the square isn't well signed - it is - it's that drivers seem to think they are exempt. Bob and I had a lovely breakfast watching furious drivers hurling themselves down a one way street to the detriment of all.

Lovely Thursday market, sitting in the Argentinian café watching the fun. And here's a nice motorbike for those that enjoy such things...a Royal Enfield as used to be made in my last hometown of Woolwich. (pang of nostalgia there)

Talking of fast living, Ole-Bendik has taken a tumble. Rumour says he's broken his hip, the other one. News as and when.