France 2013 Chapter 10

 

It seems to have been a really busy week but when I look at what I have written in my daily diary, I can’t quite make out what we were so busy doing. I know that Mary and I have played a lot of Scrabble which has been wonderful for me instead of having to play on the computer with a virtual partner, and we have been in and out, here and there and the time has just flown. I can’t believe that she is leaving again on Tuesday and will have been here two weeks. Next visit will have to be for far longer, I feel.

We continued our explorations of the area by taking a very long and roundabout route which ended up at Auch. The normal route takes about  an hour, there and back, but we managed to take four hours over it! Of course, we had to go and admire the stained glass windows in the cathedral which are very beautiful, and old too. The Grand staircase down to the River Gers, which is known as the Escalier Monumental is undergoing some renovation and is going to look quite stunning when complete. They are using very white paving to effect the repairs and it will sparkle in the sunlight. The statue of D’Artignan, friend of the Three Musketeers, stands half way up the staircase and looks out over the river.

The following day we entertained a friend to lunch and then the three of us had a couple of games of Scrabble. Playing with three is always more difficult than playing with only two, so it was great fun. I am so grateful for the gift of the Travel Scrabble and for the fact that I brought it with me. That evening we sat out on the verandah with our sundowners for the first time since we have been here. It was unbelievably warm and still, with the birds all busy bedding down for the night in a tree close by. A great end to the day!

The forecast for the next day was good so we had made a plan to drive to the Atlantic coast. The forecast was correct and so we set off relatively early taking our picnic lunch along with us, for St Jean de Luz. The town was quite busy and a fair amount of people on the beach although there were very few actually bathing. We found ourselves an unoccupied bench looking out over the beach and settled down to have our picnic. After lunch, we strolled around the town enjoying the different styles of architecture. We were, of course, in Basque country, where the shutters are all painted red or vivid blue instead of the soft lavender colours of where we are. Mary was delighted to have good clear views of the snow-covered Pyrenees as we drove there and back, as she didn’t really believe the mountains were there at all, and certainly, by the time we returned home they had ‘disappeared’ again under their blanket of cloud.

Thursday is always market day in Eauze and we couldn’t let Mary go home without seeing a market. We wandered around for a while but there was nothing startling to look at so went home for lunch and took a drive to La Romieu in the afternoon. This little village has a charming legend which has influenced the town decoration and just must be seen. The story goes that in 1338 a certain Vincent and Mariette lived in the village and worked in the local forest making up bundles of firewood. Not long after their daughter Angeline was born, Vincent was crushed by a falling tree and Mariette went into a deep depression, dying a few months later. The little orphan was brought up by neighbours and became as one of their own children. She had always shown an affection for cats and there were always a few around. In 1342 and the two following years, the winters were exceptionally harsh, while the spring and summer were so wet that it was impossible to sow their crops. The village was in a dire state and when everything else had been eaten, the villagers considered catching and eating the cats. Knowing Angeline’s love for cats her adoptive parents allowed her to keep a male and a female on condition that she hid them well. The famine continued and many people died. Angeline’s family were reduced to collecting roots and mushrooms in the forest, but managed to survive. Finally the seasons changed again and good harvests were made. Now however, with all the cats gone and grain in the stores, the rats appeared and it was soon obvious that the villager’s lives were once again in danger. By now Angeline’s two cats had multiplied to about twenty which she offered to release into the village to kill the rats. Her offer was accepted; the rats disappeared and everyone lived happily ever after, as they always do in these stories. Many years later, a sculptor from Orleans heard of the story and decided to revive the legend by placing sculptures of cats all around the square. They are not really hidden, but one has to look quite hard to find them all. It is a delightful story and a charming idea, and a pretty little village as well.

On Friday we ate lunch out so that Mary could enjoy a good ‘Magret de Canard’( grilled duck breast) at a local restaurant. It is a place we have often eaten and they did not disappoint. It was quite delicious. The warm weather of the previous couple of days turned to cool rain as we got home and there was no sitting on the verandah that night!

Saturday was a stay-at-home day when we did various boring chores, but the weather was not really conducive to going out anyway. It was cold enough to make the fire in the lounge again and to switch on the electric blanket before getting into bed. I had a quick peek at the weather forecast for a couple of places and found out that more snow was forecast for the mountains south of us for Sunday. Brrr!

Well, it didn’t snow here, thank goodness but was rather cold. Midday temperature was about nine degrees and after being entertained to a sumptuous and scrumptious lunch by a friend, we returned home to make a big fire and settle down to some television.

France 2013 Chapter 9

 

A week of ups and downs. The weather changed almost daily, and places that we wanted to visit were closed , or we were baulked in some other way, but still had an enjoyable time.

After five days of being able to see the Pyrenees so clearly that they seemed a mere arm’s length away, the clouds came down over them and by the time we fetched Mary from the airport there was nothing to see at all, and she still doesn’t believe that they exist at all. It was quite hot though and to make matters worse, Goldie developed  an overheating problem. To cool the engine down faster, it helps to put the heater on, believe it or not, so every now and again we had to do that. Not the most comfortable of trips and not a good first impression for Mary.

The following day there was a visit from the char lady scheduled after lunch so we decided to go out and not be underfoot. However, we had hardly gone a kilometre down the road when Goldie made it quite plain that she was really unhappy so we turned around and went back, where Pieter and Neels took bits apart until they had found the problem. They nipped off to Nogaro where I think the car parts store is beginning to recognise them, and bought a new part, came home and fitted it and hey presto! we were back in business. We still went out for a while but most of the afternoon was gone and we didn’t have time to go very far.

On Wednesday, a lot of the day was spent preparing for a dinner party and although it was nice for me to have some help and company, it was a bit of a wasted day for our visitor, although I think she enjoyed the company that night as much as we did. I also think we all ate too much as it is quite a while since we last had  a three course meal of that magnitude, but it was fun to prepare and as there were few left-overs, must have been tasty.

Thursday saw us saying goodbye to Pieter at the crack of dawn. He intended driving to Caen in northern France – a distance of about 700 kilometers – and needed to be there by three in the afternoon to catch a ferry across to England. There is a wonderful motorway these days which one can get on to not far from here, which whizzes you all the way north and makes circumnavigating Paris a real doddle. He called us at about 3.30 pm to say that he was about to board the ferry and that he had made the trip in good time. We were sad to say goodbye, but glad to know that everything on the car was working well. The day was a little cloudy and after the heat of the previous two days we expected the worst, but went out anyway to La Bastide d’Armagnac, which is always beautiful in any weather. Mary had said that apart from sight-seeing, she wanted to eat some real French food so we started off by having some delicious crepes and coffee in the delightful coffee shop there. There were not many flowers in the flower boxes in the square, but with the church on one side and the other three sides all colonnaded, with the higgledy-piggledy cobble-stones all the way around the centre paved area, it is a perfect example of a mediaeval village and we just love it. On the way home we had intended to call in at the little church of Notre Dame des Cyclists to look at all the many cycling jerseys left there by Tour de France riders for many years, but sadly, it was closed until the end of the month when it will reopen for the summer.

Friday was rainy and grey again but we are getting wise to this weather pattern and waited until after an early lunch before going out. We had noticed the illuminated electric signs warning of an Airbus convoy that night so we first made a short detour into Eauze to have a look at the Airbus in parts, loaded onto its transporters. The size of the aircraft is very impressive when one is standing right next to it and a bit frightening to see it all in pieces. The main piece of the fuselage is carried on a vehicle with 48 wheels! Neels’ comment was ‘Think of the tyre bill!’.  As we had thought it would, the day cleared and by evening it was truly spectacular. The sun only sets at 8.30 or later if it’s a clear evening so we had more than enough time to do a long leisurely round trip which covered a lot of the area that we got to know so well in 2010, when we spent six months here. The late afternoon light bathed everything in a golden glow and our visitor was duly impressed. Once the warmer weather took over from the cold, the plants really pulled out all the stops and within a matter of days everywhere was a mass of colour and the fields were again the lush greenness that we know and love. The trees have all greened over and the little forested areas in between the fields are a delight with the many different shades of green.

The forecast for Saturday had told us that it should be fine and not too hot so we had decided that it would be the perfect day to visit Seviac where there are some spectacular Roman mosaics. The whole area is still a work in progress, and although we have been there three times now, we see evidence of new excavations every time we visit. We could only marvel at the intricate patterns in the mosaics and wonder how many hours work went into creating them. The whole villa has been dated at round about the 4^th century AD, so we were wandering around a site that was more than 2000 years old. This time, there was a new passageway that we couldn’t remember seeing before as well as a swimming pool with a mosaic bottom, which was all the more amazing when one considers that it would have been underwater all the time it was in use.

Today has been a day off for the driver; a day for catching up on the washing; for playing a few games of Scrabble and generally catching our breath. It has been grey again with a cold wind but fortunately no rain. It is cold enough to get the fire going again and I think we may well switch on the electric blanket tonight!

France 2013 Chapter 8

 

What a difference some sun made! After a rather poor start to the week, weatherwise, Wednesday dawned bright and sunny and it has stayed like that ever since. Amazingly, all the Spring flowesr that I said had not shown themselves, have suddenly appeared and the fields are a mass of tiny white daisies, while the trees have all blossomed and are covered in white or pink flowers. Other trees that don’t have blossom are veiled in a fine green mist that is rapidly getting thicker day by day. I love the Spring here – especially once the sun starts to shine.

The miserable weather at the start of the week did not slow down the work on our car at all and by Monday evening the new mudguard had been fitted and Goldie looked almost new again. Well ……. nearly.  Then of course, we had worked ourselves out of a job  so we had nothing to do on Tuesday, but as the old saying goes ‘the devil finds work for idle hands to do’ and although it generally refers to some mischief or other, this time it was good work. One of the chairs in the study was decidedly wobbly, so we took it to pieces and then glued and re-screwed all the joints until it was sturdy again.

Then, as I said, Spring arrived on Wednesday and with it, the Mistle Thrush. We first got to know of this bird last year after we were intrigued by the strange rattling noise that it makes when alarmed, and I was delighted to hear it in the garden again. Another sign of the change of season is that the local duck farmers have allowed their birds out of doors and several farms in the area are a real sight, with up to five hundred birds sitting out on the grass.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully, and here we are, back at Sunday again. We are expecting a very old friend to arrive tomorrow and I am so looking forward to her arrival. We have known each other since our daughters were at Primary School together but haven’t seen each other for about ten years so we will have plenty of catching up to do.

France 2013 Chapter 7

 

It is getting increasingly difficult to write anything interesting about a part of the world which is normally so stunningly beautiful, but which has been shrouded in fog, mist and rain for seemingly, weeks, which has kept us pretty much house-bound. The cold too, has been a great incentive to getting out of bed really late (even for us!) and staying indoors for the rest of the day with a warm fire burning. Our only outings have been to the local supermarkets for food and those we keep as short as possible, although it is nice and cosy in the car while the heater is on! Let’s just say that I haven’t needed my sun-glasses for a while now!

All this sitting around with nothing to do has been very bad news for the man-about-the-house. It may also have something to do with the fact that there had been major car refurbishment going on, almost since we arrived here. Whatever prompted the idea, it was decided that our little car, Goldie, needed a face lift and the place to start was close at hand. We had, in fact, investigated the possibility of having some of the dents removed when we were here last year, but were somewhat disconcerted when we found that to do so would cost the same amount as we had paid for the car originally. So on Wednesday, we found ourselves at a nearby ‘crashed car’ lot, hunting for a Peugeot 106 that still had a complete right hand front mudguard. The car yard is quite large, the rows of cars are really close together and somewhat precariously balanced in places and as it had been rainy for days, the ground underfoot was wet, muddy, sticky and extremely slippery. It was like a survival course just getting to the part of the yard to which the owner directed us. The rain held off long enough for us to find a car that appeared to be the same model as Goldie and, although quite damaged, still had a complete and undamaged mudguard. Luckily for us, the owner offered to remove it for us and said we could pick it up at ten the next morning. As we left, the rain came down again!

From the car yard, we went to a proper car spares shop in Nogaro which had been recommended to us as the best place to buy suitable matching paint. Once we had given the salesman the colour code of the paint, it was a simple matter for him to order the exact colour from Peugeot, in an aerosol can and he too, said we could pick it up the next morning at ten. I don’t know where it had to come from, but by ten o’clock next morning it was there waiting for us. Aah! The benefits of a first world country and a postal system that matches it.

Of course, once we had the part and the paint work could, and did, start. The car we had selected was happily white which made the ‘painting over’ simpler. It just needed a good scrubbing and although I suggested we just left it outside for a day or so for the rain to wash it, that was unacceptable and the job was done properly by hand. Then it could be laid on a huge sheet of cardboard in the attic, for spraying. What a good thing Pieter ordered all that stuff to be delivered here from all over the place when he planned the work on the Land Rover. We now have acres of cardboard lying around just waiting to be used for something useful.

By Sunday, the mudguard had had three coats of colour and two of clear varnish and is looking very good. I think tomorrow is going to be one of those days when the car is jacked up and someone disappears underneath it and starts dismantling things.