I collected Gavin from Limoges on Sunday afternoon. We relaxed during the afternoon, and I prepared a bbq for that evening. I made the spicy orange sauce to go with chicken legs and pork steaks and potato salad. We introduced Gavin to Anna Perna, our new favourite card game and played a lot of it that night.
We put our guest to work on Monday, moving last year’s wood stack into the hanger. It wasn’t too hot and with three of us, only took an hour or so. We have ordered more wood from a neighbour and also, some more from the professional in St Front, like last year. In the afternoon, we went to the Super U in Nontron to get food for the rest of the week. Dinner that night was leftovers since as usual, I made too much the night before and the Anna Perna fest continued, this time with a bit of Shithead thrown in for variety.
On Tuesday, we were expecting our insulation delivery but typical of deliveries in France, received a call the night before to schedule the delivery for the following week. They wanted to come on Monday when we would be away so eventually, it was rescheduled for tomorrow and they have just called to confirm. Our chore for the day was a trip to the tip with a load of crap from the garage, followed by a stop at the bakery for bread and patisserie. We also harvested all the onions and garlic from the garden. There are lots of them, but all very small. Dinner that night was a sausage pasta bake, followed by cheese and the patisserie. Gavin had brought a bunch of dvds with him, so we watched a film before finishing with cards that evening.
We were a bit late in getting up the next day, but Will was awake around 10 when Lucien showed up with a load of produce from the garden including a dozen tomatoes, a bunch of cucumbers and courgettes. I have had a project for Vortex to start for a few weeks but haven’t had the time to start. That day, I got an email from the owner about an unrelated matter and feeling guilty, suggested a meeting for this week to show him my progress. Since there wasn’t any to speak of, I did a bit of work on both Wed and Thurs afternoon in preparation for the meeting. The plan for dinner originally was scalloped potatoes to serve along confit de canard, but with Lucien’s generous contribution, I opted for Aunt Barb’s courgette gratin instead. More bread, cheese and cards followed another film and we had a relatively early night.
A while ago, we thought the dishwasher had died but thankfully, it turned out to be a clogged drain. On Tuesday, we realised that something wasn’t right and we believe the heating element has gone. The machine is at least 20 years old but it still works well so we Will found a replacement element on Amazon that arrived today. This meant that all dishes have been done the old fashioned way but hopefully, I will be able to replace the element tomorrow and it will work again.
On Thursday, Gavin and I went for a walk in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, he read while I did some work. We had planned to have leftover pasta bake that night but it was a hot day and we figured it would be better to use up some of the bounty that Lucien shared with us. So I made gazpacho instead and we had that along with bread and cheese that evening. We watched a film and played cards in the evening (anyone sensing a theme to our evenings?). We had a fairly early night since we hoped to get a relatively early start for Bordeaux the next day.
We left out two bowls of food and water for the cats, then hit the road around midday. Traffic was typically light on the motorway and having done the same trip back in June with my mom, made it directly to the hotel in just over two hours. Breaking with tradition, we grabbed a baguette for lunch and then set out to explore the town. We started at the miroir d’eau (water mirror) on the riverside, followed by a stroll past the Grande Theatre and then walked the length of Rue St Catherine, the pedestrianised shopping street. Will and I had a list of items to buy, mostly summer-ware such as t-shirts, shorts, swim trunks and sandals. We had some partial success along the way and then stopped for a beer at a cafe on the Place de Victoire at the southern end. We made our way back to the hotel and then booked a table for dinner, using Trip Advisor as our tour guide.
The #1 restaurant was closed for their summer holiday so we went with the next French restaurant on the list, Le Plat a Oreilles (plate of ears) in the old town. We stopped off for an aperitif at Le Trou Duck, a gay bar/cafe that we’d not yet made it to. Their signature cocktail is the Mohito and we had a few of those while chatting to an older couple who shared their plate of charcuterie with us. Dinner was excellent, as you would expect from the high ratings. The place is on a small street that is lined with restaurants, most of them with tables outside. They all seem to serve the traditional southwestern menu, similar to the food you find in these parts. Our last experience at this type of place just didn’t stack up to the quality that you find out here so we were pleased that this place has a different approach. We started with various salads: Will had goat’s cheese, I had fish and gavin had pate. The mains were stew-like: meat with vegetables in a sauce although that description doesn’t do them justice. Will had their speciality of pork with cider and cream and Gavin and I both had lamb with potatoes and carrots. The dishes were all plentiful so we skipped dessert.
After dinner, we did the “scene” comprising the other three bars that Will and I had been to before. The first was practically empty but the second one was doing better, including the older couple that we met earlier in the evening. Apparently, Bordeaux has not been immune to the unexpected protest against gay marriage including many marches and the vandalism of one of the bars. We didn’t encounter anything like this, but it was to find out that this type of sentiment is not limited to the capitol. We ended the night at Buster, the bar run by the English couple from Bristol. Will was in the mood to go clubbing but the owners weren’t going so we decided to turn in when the bar closed, around 2.
We were mildly hung over on Saturday and decided to keep with tradition by having lunch at the cafe near the hotel. They do lovely big salads and although Will wasn’t really in the mood, we all had one. The previous night, I asked one of the barmen for suggestions of things to do off the beaten path and he recommended an area in the southern part of the city with antique markets. We were in the market for a birthday present for Richard so thought we might have some luck there. We made our way there and sat out on a large square and had a coffee/beer before exploring the markets. This part of the city is a bit more ethnic with lots of Turkish groceries and outdoor markets. We didn’t have much luck at the antique shops so went back up the Rue St Catherine to buy an item that we had kept in reserve from the previous day. We ended up at Bar a Vin, a wine bar near the Grande Theatre, run by the Maison a Vin, a large wine seller. They do wines by the glass, most of them for €2 and all of them very good. We each had a couple, along with some charcuterie. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for a drink since happy hour was in swing at most places.
We skipped the naps that day and headed out around 7. We had an aperitif at the same place as the previous night although it was a bit chilly to sit outside. In the corner was a couple who ordered six beers and bottle of wine between them. We kept thinking that their friends would show up soon but after half an hour, decided that they must just order all their drinks for the night at once, possibly to avoid having to wait at the bar later on. We dined at the number two restaurant on Trip Advisor called Wok Way, a place serving freshly made noodles. Our only experience with Chinese food since moving here is the pan-Asian buffet in Angouleme, which is adequate but not great. This place was a very welcome change. We all started with dumplings and then had noodles, stir-fried or soup and every dish was lovely. They had run out of cold beers at the start so gave us a complimentary bottle at the end of the meal.
We did a repeat of the previous night and had a drink or two at Go West where we ran into the English owners of Buster. We thought we might not see them later since they were taking the night off and out with some friends. However, we were pleased to find them at their bar later on and had a lovely night chatting with them and some other English speaking folk. One of the substitute barmen was from New Jersey and his boyfriend was there as well. Turns out he builds web sites for jewellery stores so he and I ended up chatting for a bit. At 2 when the bar closed, they had a lock-in and we were privileged enough to be invited. This included a complimentary drink, which was largely unnecessary at this time of the evening. We left just before 3 and on the way home, passed an older gentleman who was making art on the pavement in front of the main art museum. We asked him what he was doing and got some cryptic answer about art and philosophy which I’m fairly certain would not have made sense no matter what the time and our condition.
On Sunday, we collected ourselves and checked out of the hotel around 11:30. I was craving a full English breakfast but made do with the French equivalent at a nearby cafe. This included a baguette with butter and preserves, three fried eggs, fresh squeezed oj and a large up of strong coffee. Fortified by this, we piled into the car and had a bit of trouble paying to get out of the garage. We then headed to the boys place in Villebois, which meant taking a different route to our normal one. It rained very heavily for a good part of the way there, but then cleared up for the rest of the day and evening, although the temp never got much above 18C that day.
We started on tea/beer around 3 but started on the harder stuff shortly thereafter. Richard was out working that day and despite leaving the house around 10:30 for a few hours, didn’t come home until 6:30. In addition to us three and our hosts, their friend Glenda was visiting from the UK and we were joined for dinner by Trish and Dave, the retired couple who we met the last time. Lee made chilli served with rice, potato wedges, nachos and various sauces, plus a turkey dish for Will. After the meal, we headed out to the fair taking place right outside on the square. We had just enough time for a beer before the fireworks started promptly at 10:30 and we all wandered down to the chateau to watch those. Afterwards, we headed back and had a few more drinks before making our way back home. Will, Lee and I had one ride on the dodge ’ems (bumper cars).
The Anna Perna tournament started when we got back, all of us a belly full of booze. At one point, the conversation got a bit heated and then got physical between Gavin and Will. This left Will a bit shaken up and with a hurt leg so he left us to chill out on his own. The rest of us played cards for a bit and then went to bed after rearranging the sleeping arrangements to that Lee stayed with Will and I, and Gavin with Richard. None of us got much sleep due to the noise of the dismantling of the carnival, bin men and in the morning, the English neighbour taking up his patio. Lee made us a lovely fry-up and then Will and I took Gavin to Limoges, taking a different route than our usual. Afterwards, Will and I came home and didn’t do much for the rest of the day. We arrived home to find that the pusses had eaten all of the food we’d left out for them so that didn’t do much for our guilt.
Today was a bit more productive with Will and I both doing a bit of work. I mowed the lawn in the afternoon and picked up some supplies later on. We are meant to have our delivery in the morning and we meet with Vortex in the afternoon so hope to do some more work before then. I have a few more projects on the go but Will is still waiting for clients so hopefully, that turns around soon. Ok, with that long entry over, it’s time for dinner.