Bonjour. I realise our entries these days are too infrequent, and consequently too long when we finally get around to them. I shall try to bring us up to date more briefly this time. We are currently playing host to Jan who is here for 12 days. She left temperatures of over 30 degrees in Minneapolis, so is probably not as fussed as I am about the cloud, coolness and bouts of rain. Personally, I am more than ready for some sustained heat and sunshine. What did they used to call it again? Oh yes, I remember – “Summer”. Whatever happened to that?
Anyway, prior to Jan’s arrival, we had a few social events. The first was a BBQ chez nous last Saturday, for which we were joined by Nat & Jill and also Bryan, who is still awaiting the return of Carol from the UK. It was a warm and sunny day, and as they were between sets of guests in their gites, the ladies invited us over to theirs that afternoon to take advantage of their pool, which we did willingly. Unfortunately, it clouded over the exact moment we arrived, but it was hot enough for a dip. Afterwards, we left them preparing for their guests and got home to do the dinner prep. It was warm enough to sit outside for cocktails when everyone arrived, but not enough to eat out. We had the usual BBQ fare, several drinks and a smoke too. It was Nat’s birthday the following Monday, so we toasted that, and gave her a wee bag of London’s finest as a gift. Matt made a yummy raspberry and strawberry tart for dessert, which was a big hit.
The next day, we had (can you believe it) another activity. It was the “Felibrée” – an annual Périgordine tradition that has been running for around 100 years, and is hosted each year by a different town in the Dordogne. This year it was in Piégut, around 20 mins from us. It’s basically a celebration of Occitan heritage – so, lots of traditional music, folk-dancing, and people dressed up as if it were 200 years ago. (I did wonder at one point if it was any different to their usual behaviour). The town was festooned with amazing garlands of paper and plastic flowers that must have taken months to put together, so it was well worth seeing. We were supposed to meet up with a French friend of ours there, Clara, but due to a communication error, failed to do so. Instead, we strolled around for an hour soaking it all in and then came home.
The next social activity came a couple days later, with a long, long overdue catch up with our Villeboisian boys, Lee & Richard. We’d worked out that, between our visitor schedule and theirs, we’d not see one another before August if we didnt do something that Wednesday – and as it had already been a couple months, we took the opportunity, school night or not. As it happened, it was the 4th of July, which some of you will realise straight away is a cause for celebration in and of itself – it is Independence Day in the States. In recognition of this, we intended to do a US-themed meal, but this ended up being more of a Mexican effort (close enough), with the boys bringing a bottle of fizz to mark the occasion. We had a lovely evening with them, and made tentative plans to swing by and see them this week coming as we’ll be passing by their neck of the woods, as I shall explain in a bit.
The next day, Jan got in to Angoulême in the early afternoon and, as Matt was working, I collected her. She had a mostly painless journey across the Atlantic (barring being stuck next to some cold-ridden children on the train from Paris) and having grabbed a couple hours’ sleep on the plane, wasn’t too jet-lagged. Since she got here, we’ve been mainly cooking and gardening (in between gaps in the rain) but we have a lot of social activities, as well as a wee trip, all lined up. Last night there were two local activities on the cards. The first was the annual night market at Nontron, which runs from around 8pm till 2 am. The other event was organised by Guillaume from the Milhac equestrian centre and was a mini rock concert in St Pardoux. As we wanted to do both, we decided we’d hit Nontron first and then catch the concert on the way home. As it turned out though, the Dordogne had other plans.
This year’s theme for Nontron’s market was “Africa” although “Monsoon” would have been more apt. We’d watched the sky get progressively darker as the day went on, and based on the forecast, battened down all the hatches before leaving as a severe storm was predicted. The rain started not far outside of Nontron and kept going at a hell of a pace for most of the evening. Despite this, parking was scarce to non-existent and so, taking the hint, we abandoned the market altogether and retreated to St Pardoux. Through the car windows on our way out, we caught a brief glimpse of some very wet but determined people browsing through the stalls, but that was all we saw.
On to the rock soirée, we got thoroughly soaked running the few feet from the car-park to the venue, but at least we were luckier than the bar staff, who were running an outdoor buvette that was bearing the brunt of the lashing wind and rain. There were 2 bands lined up that evening, but we only caught the first. They were a group from Périgueux called No Stress and were extremely talented, playing a largely English set, including a few Clash covers, which we enjoyed immensely. It was an inaugural event and one Guillaume hopes to run every year. Entry was free and the music was good, so we wish him good luck with that. We left there around 10:30 to come back and assess the damage. Fortunately, although winds of 100k had been predicted, the worst of the storm must have missed us. We did get an impressive lightning show en route to Mazeroux, but otherwise we escaped this one unscathed.
Ok, I am reaching the point where I am failing in my promise of brevity, so very quickly: the sociability continues ce soir when we are being joined by Mike & Jean and Pete & Sally for a meal. Jan’s met M&J before so is looking forward to seeing them again. Matt has the whole of the next week off work, so to take advantage of this, we have planned a trip to the coast Tues – Thurs to see the Ile de Ré: a small island off the Atlantic coast, about 3 hours from us. As they live to the west of us, we’ll be passing by the boys in Villebois, so may try and have lunch in their lovely wee village on our way back. Ok, that is all from me now. And yes, I admit it wasn’t that brief after all.