I am writing this with a slight hangover that I’m trying to slay with headache tablets and tea. I hope to have it under control by the time I finish this entry, which is already overdue despite our recent efforts to the contrary.
My excuse for being “deleterious” in my posting is that there hasn’t been a lot going on. After Mom’s visit and the social events during the week, we were happy to have a lazy weekend at home not doing much apart from mowing the lawn and tending to the garden. It was also a quiet week and we didn’t do much until this weekend.
Friday night was curry night and it was delicious as ever. Will did a version of their website in French and they had their first French customer at the Milhac pick-up. They soon realised the downside of having customers who speak a different language since the guy had a few questions. Thankfully, Will was there to translate although they probably would have managed without him. She gives a handout with each order explaining how to reheat the food so Will is going to translate that for them too.
In addition to curry, we had a few drinks and some wine and crashed around 1. I awoke an hour later in a sweat and got sick shortly after. I slept fine after that but my stomach was a bit dodgy all day yesterday. I mention all this only to set the scene for last night’s festivities, La Nuit du Spardos, St Pardoux’s annual summer event. It’s similar to other night markets held in the small towns with one notable exception, the Spardos which is a wine-based chilled beverage, something like Sangria but more potent.
I was still feeling a bit rough in the early evening so we had some soup, which helped and a cocktail, which didn’t. There was no way I was going to miss our biggest local event of the year so we had another cocktail to see if that would do the trick and I’m happy to say that it did. We headed into town around 9 and made our way past the stalls selling trinkets and food. Many restaurants do set menus served at tables outside so many people were eating around that time. The Spardos is dished out by men dressed as monks from a large metal tankard. You can buy it for €2 a glass or bring your own bottle that they’ll fill for a price, leading to much merriment.
We bought our first glass and then ran into Nat and Jill who had also just arrived. We didn’t have specific plans to meet up with them since they weren’t sure they were going so we were happy to see them. In addition to the restaurants, there are stalls selling fast food so Will had a sausage baguette and the ladies and I had the traditional Perigourdine Burger, cooked rare and topped with fois gras. There are smaller stages around town with various types of music but the main event started around 10:30 with a band playing crowd-pleasers from the 70’s – 80’s along with some recent pop too. In addition to the usual keyboards, guitar and bass, the band had a small horn section and a female drummer. Jill and I went up and danced a few times while Nat and Will guarded our beverages.
We stayed until just after midnight and then faced the challenge of getting home. Two years ago, the ladies were stopped in Milhac where the gendarmes had set up a road-block. Jill managed to talk her way out of being breathalysed and although they ended up getting away with it, it’s made us all a bit cautious when it comes to getting home. The ladies use the backroads, often no more than a dirt track but it’s the main road for us. We parked on the way out of town and with only one stretch of road where the gendarmes could lay in wait, it’s not too risky. Last year, there wasn’t a cop to be seen when we left but this year, there were about 10 of them standing around the main roundabout so we were all a bit suspicious when we left. The ladies checked-in when they got back to confirm that they’d made it home safely too.
Recently, our shower tap broke (no hot water) so we’ve been using the tub that has a shower attachment. It means sitting or kneeling in the tub and water inevitably gets everywhere so it’s far from ideal. Our toilet flusher also needed replacing so we went to the bricomarche yesterday for those and some other bits and bobs. We had rain on Friday night and Saturday morning but it was meant to clear in the afternoon and indeed, when we set out around 2:30, the sky was lightening up. On the way, the heavens opened and it continued to rain for the next few hours but thankfully, that was it for the day and it cleared up in time for Spardos. I’m happy to report that I replaced the dodgy flusher yesterday so we’ve got a working toilet again now. Later today I’ll tackle the shower, hangover permitting.
The weather has been more typical of summer recently with temps in the low to mid 30’s all last week. The hottest day was Thursday when it hit 34C (93F) and unfortunately, that’s an office day for me. I had my swim during lunch and that helped but our small office is on the top floor and with four of us and loads of computer equiptment, it’s like an oven. Thankfully, I can wear shorts to work but that only helps so much. It turned cooler Friday and with the rain past us, will be warming up again this week although temps will be mid-20s which is perfect in my book.
The earlier rain followed by hot days has been great for the garden. We unwisely accepted some courgettes from Nat and Jill a week or so ago and the next day, Lucien gave us another 6 as the price for the cucumber he was there to give us. Only days later, our two plants started to churn them out and we now have a fridge full, no matter how much we cook with them. The green beans have also started producing but happily, not at an unmanageable rate. The tomatoes are also going for it and we’ve stopped buying those now. The other success stories are the butternut squash, or one of the four anyway, as well as the pumpkin and cucumber plants. I must get the weeds under control today since they too have enjoyed the weather, as has our special crop of four plants in various stages of growth. I’m fairly sure the largest one is male which is not good news but we’ll make do with whatever we get.
The cats really enjoyed the warm weather but the downside is that they become unbearable as soon as it turns bad, essentially punishing us for the change. Louis, our accident-prone puss, sliced open the main pad on his right front foot so has been limping for the past few weeks. It’s nearly all healed now but it’s curtailed his ranging and hunting just a bit. He’s now skinnier than his brother so we’re trying our best to plump him up.
July has been a very busy month socially but August is nearly event free so if anyone out there has some free time in the coming month, we’d love to see you out at Port 80. And in case you were wondering, despite my ramblings, this entry was not long enough to cure my sore head so I’ll have to try something else.