Our place in France Chapter 73

Our place in France Chapter 73

Dear, dear! Another week rather like the one a fortnight ago! Very little done and very little energy expended. Although we could possibly blame the lack of energy on the weather as we have been experiencing a heat wave, a genuine one and one that has been recognised by the weather bureau. Temperatures have been sitting at 31/32 degrees for the last four days and it is said to continue until the end of this week. Oh help! At least we have enough fans to cool us down all night and certainly if we can sleep at night we are a bit better prepared to face the next day’s onslaught.

Needless to say,  we have barely ventured out of the house. Normally the air is very dry but these last few days have been unbelievably humid -  the kind of humidity that causes a person to drip from every pore while sitting doing nothing. Yeugh!

Enough of that! Pieter and Tilly took off on Monday for a short tour around south western France, camping along the way. (Could we call it ‘tour-amping, or tramping, for short?) They are ending up in Paris today and back here again tomorrow, only to leave again on Tuesday morning for an appointment in Toulouse, and then Tilly flies out to Mallorca on Wednesday. Phew! They never stop!

Meanwhile, Courtney arrived back from South Africa on Monday and for a few days we will be back to our normal household complement. She was no sooner back than the invitations started coming in for parties and sleep-overs. In the end she went off on Friday afternoon and we didn’t have to fetch her again until Sunday morning.

Which turned out to be well planned, when our new friends, who we met at the Najac night market, asked us to have dinner with them. She sent me fairly detailed directions to the house but neglected to include distances or route numbers. After driving what seemed like an awfully long way, we decided to turn around and start again from the last place that we knew was correct. Meanwhile, I got out the GPS and began to fire it up to direct us. When we were virtually back at the ‘last known place’, the GPS finally came alive and said that we had to retrace our route back to where we had turned, and hey presto! a hundred metres around the corner was our destination! Would you believe it?

We were treated to a wonderful meal, starting with the most amazing sweet corn and all vegetables picked from the garden. A fantastic effort. Even the dessert was served with raspberries from the garden. It makes our efforts look very pathetic and has inspired us to try for bigger and better things next year.

No pictures this week as, although we always have the camera with us, there has just been nothing to ‘picture’. Perhaps next time.

our place in France Chapter 72

Sorry about last week, but it was really boring week and one that you wouldn’t have wanted to read about.

This week is a completely different story and it started on Sunday which is my usual ‘writing’ day and may account for me running out of day before I had started to write anything. We started out by going to the village market in Villeneuve on Sunday morning and then somehow managed to get involved with our neighbours who were sitting in the square having an aperitif. They are both part of large families and seemingly the whole world arrived in dribs and drabs to dole out kisses all round, and then most of them moved off again, although our circle did get quite a lot bigger in the hour that we sat there, chatting. It certainly turned out to be a jolly morning.in the parking area, we came across a most wonderful campervan, painted to look like a wooden cabin. It was certainly eyecatching. Oh I forgot to mention that we had had a late breakfast/brunch before leaving home so we didn’t bother about lunch but went straight on down to the big open area at the bottom of town where a grand vide grenier  was being held. There were masses of stalls but most of it was pretty dull, although we did buy some caramelised peanuts which were delicious. They, needless to say, were not secondhand!

After having done a round of the stalls, we thought we had seen enough so went home for a late lunch barbecue, cooked by Pieter on the new barbecue. Yum! There was no time to sit around and savour it though, as we had to be in Foissac at 6 pm for a concert. At least, that was what it said on all the posters stuck up around and about. When we arrived, we were surprised to see so few cars, but thought that we were just a bit early. Anyway, we made our way to the venue, which was really attractive with long tables covered with white cloths, underneath big shady trees. The bar, at least, was open and operating so we got ourselves a drink and found perfect seats. Then sat down to wait, and wait, and wait. Eventually at about 8.00, people started to slowly drift in and at  by 8.30 things were starting to happen. After such a long wait, it would have been a disaster if the music was terrible but luckily it wasn’t and soon people were up and dancing and things got really lively.

A few days later, we went to another event, this time a night market in Najac. It was called a night market but as it started at  6 pm (again) it was still broad daylight when we got there. Again there were rows of tables laid out in rows and stalls all the way along the road. We noticed that the closer we got to the tables, the more stalls were selling food. It all smelt wonderful! After finding a stall that sold us a bottle of wine, we made our way over to the food stalls and found ourselves something to eat. There were a range of interesting foods like sliced grilled duck breast served with aligot, which is basically mashed potato mixed with cheese which gives the potato a strange elastic quality and makes it extraordinarily rich. Then there was a kind of flat fried patty made of bacon, spinach and egg which was also very tasty. There was barbecued sausage and chicken pieces and numerous other things which we didn’t even get to see. Meanwhile the band was playing up a storm especially the accordion player who tried to call all the younger children out of the crowd and get them to dance with him which was quite entertaining to watch. After a while we thought we should perhaps move on home so started ambling up the road back to the car. We had almost reached the gap in the buildings which forms the entrance to the square when a loud whistle from outside caught our attention. Next minute a brass band started up and came marching into the town, preceded by some snappy drum majorettes. But we weren’t staying any longer so we left them to it.

Our place in France

There is no blog this week. It was a very quiet week with not even a photograph to liven it up. Please log in again next week and hopefully there will be something interesting to tell you.

Sorry!

Our place in France Chapter 71

Quite a lot going on around us but we were mostly quiet. Pieter and Tilly arrived on Monday loaded with ‘stuff’. When they got here they were dismayed to discover that we had no barbecue. Especially Pieter. So next day while they were shopping for all sorts of things, they included a barbecue and arrived home again with a super-dooper, shiny new gas ‘braai’. It, of course, had to be properly welcomed into the family so there was a period of intense concentration while it was unpacked from its box and assembled. Goodness me!! Barbecues have come a long way since we last used one. No more wood or charcoal to make messy ashes or blow smoke into everyone’s faces. No more lighting the fire ages before starting to cook. With this modern marvel you switch on about ten minutes before hand, close the lid and ten minutes later, cooking can begin. The purists will say that the smoky flavour is what makes a good barbecue, but I can’t agree. Our meat was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender and tasted delicious. Since then, I have been let off cooking as Pieter LOVES to braai.

Also on Tuesday, our English neighbours arrived for their annual holiday, with their twin daughters. The weather has been kind to them and they been out and about quite a lot. As gar as we were concerned though, a few of the days were too hot for words and we didn’t want to go anywhere if we didn’t have to. When making the bed the other day, I glanced at our duvet lying neatly folded on top of the kist, and idly thought about the nights when we had had not only the duvet on the bed but and electric blanket switched on and two more on top of the duvet, and could hardly believe it. At the moment we are sleeping under a sheet with a fan blowing into the room all night. And in a few months we will be back to the duvet scenario.

This weekend there was yet another wedding held here in Ols, with the Mayor officiating as usual. At this rate they will have to reopen the church and hold the services in there instead of in Mayor’s Office. We have had three weddings in Ols in the last two weeks and even if the church is no scenic wonder inside, with some flowers to brighten it up it would have more atmosphere than a dusty old office. This particular wedding was little different in that it was all held outside. The guests brought the chairs out of the office and arranged them in the village square, and put them away afterwards. There was lots of laughter and chatter and general jollity; a few minutes of silence while the Mayor spoke and then much sounding of air horns and car hooters as they all made their way off to the reception.

We have been picking tomatoes fairly regularly lately but this week we picked a giant one. Almost as big as Neels’ hand, and suddenly there are a lot more coming on. I think the neighbours may get a surprise gift in the near future. We have also picked the first four cobs of sweetcorn and are going to try them tonight. They certainly look good enough to eat!