This, I think , is going to be the last blog of this series.
Life has become quite mundane with daily routines similar to anyone else’s and
I can see no reason why I should bore you all to tears. The reason there was no
blog last week was because there was just nothing to write about. The whole
week was spent trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to sort out matters at the bank,
who were supposed to mail us a document which hadn’t arrived; trying, again
unsuccessfully, to get our new SIM card to work; and most of all, trying to avoid
the heat. We do the obvious thing and keep the shutters closed and the windows
open, which works quite well downstairs, but the upper floor gets very hot and
the skylight windows have no blinds. We keep the fans going for a lot of the
time but all that does is push the hot air around. Roll on Winter when we can
layer on the warm clothes!
This week was a bit different . For a start the temperatures
reached 35 degrees on Tuesday which I thought quite unfair. This is not a
tropical country and temps are supposed to be moderate all year round. Except
this year, apparently. Luckily things cooled down on Wednesday, because that
evening we went to fetch Tilly from Toulouse. Tilly is Pieters friend and lives
in Mallorca. She has a son of four, Jack, who came with her. As things happen
sometimes, the only flight she could get left Mallorca at 10 pm, expected to
arrivein Toulouse just after midnight, by which time the car hire companies had
closed up for the night and although she may have been able to get to Toulouse
centre, the trains to Villefranche stopped hours earlier. We really wanted them
to come and stay, so we made the long drive down to Toulouse only to find that
the flight had been delayed and would only arrive at 12.40 am. One way and
another it was a very long night, but jack coped with it amazingly. He had
slept from the moment he got into the plane, but managed to walk off it,
without realising he had ever been in a plane. Poor little chap kept asking
where the plane was!
The following day we all took the day off to recover. Even
Jack was suffering and was quite happy to play with his Lego and nap
periodically. It is a very long time since I have had a hectic day and have
gone to bed at 4 am and had to get up again at a reasonable hour the next morning.
On Saturday we drove in to Villeneuve for coffee in the square and found the
town decked out with flowers and flags. We found a table outside in the shade
and ordered our coffees. Neels felt that a snack with it would be nice so the
waitress directed him to the bakery next door. He and Jack went over and after
much deliberation returned with three, the last three, of the most
delicious-looking chocolate and cream delicacies. I can hardly call them cakes
as there was simply no cake involved……oh, perhaps a biscuit base layered with
cream and chocolate. Really decadent yummy stuff!
There were lots of people out and about and it was very
pleasant sitting in the shade in the square and chatting while we did a bit of
‘people-watching’. After a little while people started arriving for lunch and
after seeing the wonderful salads that some of them were ordering, we decided
to stay for lunch, which was as good as it looked. Having finished my lunch,
and seeing Jack getting rather bored, he and I walked over to one of the other
small squares in the town where there was a display of metal sculpture of a
very novel variety. The artist uses household items like spoons, forks, coal
scuttles and brooms and brushes, and creates weird and wonderful animals, birds
and fish. And then he paints them weird and wonderful colours too.
Back at the house, we found great activity in the village. A
sports day was in progress, but we must have missed most of it. A running
track had been marked out on the grass
and there were poles planted in the ground which must have marked some other
sort of activity. By the time we arrived, all that remained was a make shift
swimming pool. Round hay bales had been arranged in a rectangle, a large
plastic sheet thrown over it all and water poured in to the central hollow. It
was only about shin-deep so I am not sure if any events took place in it or if
it was just to cool everyone off. There
was a lot of mock wrestling going on as the teenage boys showed off their
strength by pushing each other into the water. Later on a band started up, a
meal was on offer and disco lights were set up in the village hall so that
people could dance. I think that maybe we should have gone to the meal, to show
solidarity, but I didn’t really think that it was the right sort of venue for a
four year old. How wrong was I! Later on, as he was still awake, he and his Mom
went over to see what was going on and came back some time later having had a
rare old time. They had been dancing, apparently. By which time he was so hyped
up that I heard his little voice still chattering away at midnight.
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