Whoops! Sorry folks! I missed my deadline on Sunday but have
no better excuse other than that I forgot. Put it down to old age!
Our week started off with us getting a bit panicky about the
family not yet having bought their train tickets for later in the month. Andre
and Leigh will be spending two nights in Nice while the rest of us stay in a
holiday house not far from Perpignan, but they are going there especially to
watch part of the Tour de France – along with the rest of the world. Strangely
enough the French railways don’t seem to take this into account and once the
trains are full, they are full and that’s that. As they had already booked
their accommodation in Nice, getting the train tickets was vital and we were
really concerned that they would lose out. So we went off to Barbotan les
Thermes where there is an office for the French railway company, the SNCF. Here we established that there were still
tickets available, but there were so many options of departure time that we
came home again with pages of details. Later in the week, we returned to make
the actual bookings and to get the tickets.
On Wednesday it was ‘Specials’ day at both the big supermarkets,
so off we went and did a mammoth shop which include quite a few of these
specials. We came home with what looks like the Quarter-Master’s Store in the
army, but it will probably all disappear quite quickly. Fortunately we had been
invited out to dinner that night so didn’t have to start using our precious
supplies just yet! In fact, we had a wonderful evening out. The weather was
perfect and we were able to sit out on our hosts’ covered patio for the entire
evening.
Thursday was a bit of a washout, quite literally. After the
previous day’s glorious weather, we had expected a repeat and had planned a
sight-seeing outing. However, after our very late night on Wednesday we finally
staggered out of bed at 10.30 which was definitely far too late to start going
anywhere, but in any case, it had turned grey and chilly again. We should have
expected it really – we had had excellent sightings of the Pyrenees on
Wednesday and the frogs in our pond had been singing loudly all day; always a
bad sign.
However, all was not lost as Friday was once more a glorious
day and we could make a good start for Sarrant where we had heard there were
many pigeonniers to be seen. Sarrant is known as one of the ‘prettiest villages
in France’ and is also a fortified village so lots of interest there. It is
quite a small original village built in two concentric circles with the church
in the middle. A number of the houses have been restored prettily and it
obviously has a lot of history. A shame though, that the tourist information
hasn’t quite kept up with demand and finding out about any of the buildings was
difficult. We had a snack lunch at a small café just outside the walls and were
entertained enormously by the owner and his wife. Particularly the wife who knew
everyone who drove past, and had a shouted greeting for all of them, as well as
comments and asides to her customers. When all the others had left and we were
the last, we invited her to come and sit with us and give us some information.
As she sat down and we started in our hopeless French, to ask about the history
and about pigeon lofts in the area, she gave a little smile and said ‘Or we
could speak in English’. It turns out that her father had been Welch and her
mother French and that she was brought up to speak both languages fluently.
What a bonus for us! She sent us off to various locations which included
Solomiac, Maubec and Mauvezin and some stunning pigeon lofts. We have got quite
adventurous lately in our search for these lofts. Not many of them are built close
to the road, so in a few cases we have just driven into the property, knocked
on the door, and asked if we may take a photograph. Although some people have
told us that this is ‘just not done’ in France, we have had only friendly
responses to our requests and have met some lovely people.
Saturday saw us trying our hands at being gardeners –
something we are not terribly good at. But with the family arriving on Thursday,
we really do want everything looking at its best. So we cut and clipped and
cleared away until we were satisfied with the results. Neighbour Matthieu came
and cut the grass with his ride-on mower, so now, apart from doing a bit of
interior house-cleaning, we are ready to receive guests…..again!
On Sunday we went over to Aignan as they were having a Vide
Grenier (a boot sale, remember?) but it was far too hot to wander around in the
sun ad we soon retired to my cousin’s flat for a cool drink and a bit of chat.
She had returned from the UK the day before after having been caught out with
the French air-controller’s strike which prevented her from returning on the previous
Tuesday.
Which all brings us back to Monday again; the day that we
went to buy the train tickets and then spent the afternoon spring-cleaning the
house. Only three more sleeps and then the family will be here. Yayyyy!
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