Since our return from Breil to Lezignan, Neels had been hard at work finishing off all
the little maintenance jobs that he was doing around the house. Some of them
were not so little, like fixing a major leak in an inlet water pipe, and others were quite trivial, like repairing the wooden slatted plate rack that had lost
one of its slats. They all took time though. However, by Tuesday evening practically
all the jobs were complete and we could look forward to a stroll around the market
the following morning. Lezignan market is always worth while as it is one of
the bigger markets and the stalls have a huge range of items for sale – fruit and
veg, of course, but also clothes, toys, hardware, haberdashery, fabrics,
electronic goods, cell phones, flowers and seedlings, fresh fish, meat and
bakery goods – to name just a few. The stalls spread out from the centre of
town, up and down all the side streets, and one could wander almost all day and
still miss a couple of stalls. We had just gone to look, but when we saw the
man selling cell phones and accessories, Neels nipped back home and got his
phone which has needed a new battery for ages, and found the right one to
replace it. And at a reasonable price.
The rest of the day was spent trying to get all our clothes
back into the suitcases ready for the onward trip the following morning. It was
at about this time that we discovered that our faithful ‘Jane’ had died. At
first we thought it was also just battery problems, but when nothing would
bring the device back to life, we realised that without a Tom-Tom there could
be real problems ahead! The first part of the trip would be no trouble as it
involved taking our hostess to the airport at Carcassonne, and since she has
done the trip many times, she would be able to guide us there.
As expected, getting to the airport was easy although I have
to say that without our guide we would never have found it. The French have
this really annoying habit of pointing you in the right direction with a big
clear sign, and then never giving you any more information about the place you are trying to find. Having
dropped her off and found our way out of the airport again, we drove around a couple of circular scenic routes until we
finally got on to the right road to take us towards Toulouse. We had decided
not to use the motorway, but to take the more attractive ‘old’ road which runs
almost parallel, but the closer we got to Toulouse and its complicated ring
road, the more nervous we got and finally when we saw a sign pointing towards
the motorway, we took it. We missed ‘Jane’ terribly and were both a bundle of
nerves after a very short time. So many signs to watch for and so much traffic!
And they all seem to know exactly where they are going, and all travel at great
speed. But we made it and were soon on the stretch of road we know very well
and heading for our home-from-home at Espas. On the way, we stopped in Auch
which has lovely big shops, to buy a few groceries and while we were there, we
thought we would treat ourselves to a new Tom-Tom. Well, it wasn’t so much a
treat as a necessity – it was either that or a divorce – and the Tom-Tom was on
special anyway!!
When we got to the house we found that someone had been in and
cleaned everything beautifully and had even left some flowers in a vase for us,
the frig was running and the water was hot. Wonderful. We unpacked a few things,
had a quick supper and fell into bed. But before we could fall asleep, there was
an ominous scampering and pattering of little feet on what seemed to be the
ceiling, so we blocked our ears, deciding that whatever was up there could wait
until the morning. By morning though, tenants in the roof took second place to
the frig which had turned into a freezer overnight and frozen everything solid.
Isn’t it strange how cucumber is never the same when it thaws out as it was
before it was frozen.
So it was off to the supermarket again to restock, where we
met my cousin and she ended up having lunch with us, which was lovely and we
all had a good natter, but it was quite late when we found time to investigate
our unwelcome guests. Having dealt with these creatures – stone-martens –
before, we were not thrilled with the idea of doing it again so were delighted
when we could find no sign of them in the main loft. But there were still
scrabbling sounds coming from another part of the roof, a sloping, lean-to type
of roof with very little space between the tiles and the ceiling, and
definitely no chance of even seeing what might be in there. In the end, Neels
stood underneath that section of ceiling and every time there was a sound he banged the ceiling with a broom
handle. They seem to have got the message as it has been quite silent since
Saturday morning and it is now Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, while hunting for beasties in the roof, we came
across an electric timer. On closer inspection Neels found it was defective but
managed to fix it and we now have the frig-turned-freezer plugged into it so that it
runs for two hours and then is off for two hours, and it seems to be fine. It
will certainly do for the short time we will be here.
Since we arrived back in the Gers the fine weather we were
enjoying on the eastern side of the country has disappeared and we are back
into winter clothes. We haven’t quite got to the point where we switch on the
electric blanket, but it is very close. It’s a good time for reading and
relaxing but certainly gives a new meaning to ‘chilling out’!
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