Bear with me : we’ve just had a very full week that is going to take some recounting! Before I get to it though, I have a few quick asides. First off, here is the promised footage of our recent gig last Saturday. As usual, the sound quality is naff, but you get the idea. For the record, our set list is at the bottom of this entry.
Next, an Elvie update : she had to go back to hospital on Saturday following the midwife’s visit as she’d lost a bit of weight. They did some tests and found she was just dehydrated as she hadn’t been feeding enough. She has since returned home and is feeding regularly so all is well. Finally, a quick work recap. Its currently a lot quieter for both of us, although I’ve two or three sites from a while back that are now quite close to going live. We also had a few hours’ work to put in on expanding an existing client’s site. And we’ve just taken on a new client : yet another holiday rental site, unfortunately.
This is for Le Moulin de Larcy : a suite of luxury appartments on the site of an old mill just outside of Ribérac. The place is absolutely stunning, from the well-kept grounds traversed by a river to the beautiful items of furniture decorating the appartments. We drove out to meet them on Tuesday afternoon, fully expecting to find the owners despicable, as wealthy expats often can be. In the end we were pleasantly surprised by how down-to-earth they were. We’ve been given the go-ahead on the job now so its down to me to produce a design. He is an ex interior designer with very specific (and occasionally contradictory) ideas about how the site should look, so I am anticipating a bit of a bumpy ride.
Anyway, back to our week, which kicked off early with an event on Tuesday evening. This was Matt’s choir’s solitary concert of the year, which took place in a neighbouring hamlet called La Grange. It was a private event, hosted by Milhac-Loisirs members Marc & Lily. It was also the choir’s swan song as both Matt and the choirmaster have agreed it’s not worth keeping it going any longer, given the poor attendance.
We got there at a bit before 7 and enjoyed aperitifs out in the garden for a bit. As well as the french ML regulars, Richard & Bridget came along, as did Nathalie of Paul & Nathalie. The choir performed 6 or seven songs, and a few of theme worked really nicely, including As Tears Go By, and Kum ba yah (even though it’s far from my favourite song). The rest however were decidedly ropey so perhaps disbanding it is no bad thing in the end. We lingered for a while longer after the gig and then came back home.
The next noteworthy day was on Thursday when Matt went to Périgueux to see the surgeon. As expected, he confirmed Matt’s healing nicely, all is well and he can now resume his normal activities. He is in far less pain, but still gets a bit sore from standing too long, so I might keep a hold of the lawn-mowing reins for a bit longer yet. That evening, Matt had the final conversation meeting of the season, which was a social affair over drinks.
The social activities continued on Friday evening when we were invited to Lucien & Mauricette’s for dinner. Along with us were a couple of their friends, Marie-Jo and her partner Claude. We’d met them both a few times before, most notably at the Repas de Chasse in Spring. In fact, the meal was organised to use up the meat I won at the raffle at the repas. We started with the traditional aperitif of Lucien’s homemade punch. We’re not sure how strong it is, but Lucien has a very sneaky habit of topping up everyone’s glasses when they’re not looking, and you’re often several sheets to the wind before you cotton on. The only one he passes over is his own.
Next were some fried cepes from last year, followed by some delicious white asparagus from his garden. We then had the meat course : slow-roasted boar. I’d been asked repeatedly if I eat boar and confirmed I did, but they nonetheless felt compelled to make some chicken too, just in case, so there was food aplenty, all washed down with red wine. There then followed a copious cheese course and then their traditional dessert of Baba-o-Rum , a booze-soaked sponge cake. As if that weren’t enough alcohol, Lucien finished us off with some of his insanely powerful Chartreuse. We had plans the following evening so really wanted to take it easy and get an early night, but as it was, we left quite thoroughly pissed. As usual, we put the TV on when we got back, but both promptly passed out so we took ourselves off to bed instead.
Saturday was a very full day and one that, for me anyway, began with a comprehensive hangover. Matt fared better but we were both very tired all day long, and not feeling ready for the rest of our weekend. Bryan and Carol got back to France the day before and so we decided to stroll down and see them after lunch. They’re both well, and pleased to be back. Bryan’s lost an awful lot of weight, but he has the all-clear for the cancer and is recovering steadily. Carol’s lost a lot of weight too but hers is more due to having to do all the running around while Bryan recovered. We stayed and chatted for an hour or so and then came back just in time for a rescheduled band practise.
That evening was our big social activity : a party around Benoit & Virginie’s. This was to celebrate Eva’s return and also her 22nd birthday. Typically for one of their bashes, there were about 50 people : nearly all of the family, and a hoard of B&V and Eva’s friends, most of whom we now know well quite well. The food was roast lamb with semolina and roast veggies. Some time after the meal, Benoit sprang a little surprise on Eva: everyone had been given lyric sheets to the song Perfect Day by Lou Reed and we all sang it together to a backing track, with me on the acoustic too. Eva was deeply touched and in tears at the end. Afterwards, we chatted and danced for a bit, but we were both struggling after the previous night so left to crash at 3:30.
Louis ensured us a poor night’s sleep with repeated mouse deliveries, so Sunday found us yet again tired and jaded. We mustered as best we could and then returned to B&V’s for lunch. We were invited back again so we could help them bring in the hay from their fields, an annual summer activity that is quite gruelling. It was yet another scorcher, so in the end, we hung around socialising until the evening when it was finally cool enough to get to work. There were lots of us so it went quite quickly, and afterwards we re-attacked the food and drink. We finally staggered home around 10 and were asleep soon after. And again, Louis did his utmost to ruin our sleep with multiple gift offerings.
Right, that’s about as much as I can bear typing. Dad arrived yesterday for another round of renovation work at La Chappelle Verlaine. He’ll stay and look after the house for us while we’re in the UK Elvie for a week from Friday. More on that in the next entry !
Setlist 23.06.2018
1. You Never Can Tell
2. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
3. Pretty Woman
4. Come Together
5. Season of the Witch
6. Dock of the Bay
7. Boys Dont Cry
8. The Weight
9. Before you Accuse Me
10. San francisco Bay Blues
11. J’T’Emmene au Vent
12. Don’t Bogart That Joint
13. Dream A Little Dream of Me
14. Good Lovin’