For the first time since the wedding both spare bedrooms were occupied for most of the week. Anne and Andrew arrived on Mon afternoon after an uneventful crossing. They went over to the house to unload in the afternoon while Will and I worked. We had jacket potato casserole that night, plus salad and cheese. I left them to finish the meal and went to choir practice around 7:30. We stopped a few minutes early in order to have the group’s annual meeting. It’s a small asso and only for the choir, so even though there wasn’t much to discuss, it still ran on until 10. This was followed by cidre and cakes so it was nearly 11 by the time I got home.
The biggest item on Anne and Andrew’s list was to find a car. They will be selling their car and van when they get back to the UK, and then using the new car when they get here. Will and I are going to drive the car back for xmas and then fly home. So the three Roberts spent Tuesday shopping for cars, first in Nontron in the morning, and Perigueux in the afternoon. There were a couple of cars that would have been ok, but both were out of budget. They stopped by a different garage in Nontron after lunch and finding nothing, they carried on to the big city. After some arguing with the sat nav, they made it to Anton where we bought Lola, but they didn’t have anything. They tried at three other garages and happily, the last place had a VW Gulf which met all their criteria and was within budget. So they signed the papers and then arrived home around 7pm. We had planned to have pizza that night but when we went to order, found out they weren’t open weekday evenings during the winter. So I used up some of our frozen cepes to make omelets, served with chips, cheese and salad.
We all worked on Wed am, Will doing yet more translation and me on some spreadsheets. All the Roberts went back to Nontron in the afternoon to get the car insurance sorted, and get more provisions. Cyril, our other visitor arrived that evening around 6pm. He flew in from London and decided to hire a car, which was a great help since it saved us two trips to the airport. This is Cyril’s fourth visit since we moved here, so he knows the ropes. Although he’s come once with the whole family, he usually comes on his own for some downtime and indulgence. We had raclette that evening, a first for Cyril and he enjoyed it immensely, building some towering constructions using just about every ingredient including charcuterie, grilled veg, potatoes and cheese. We played some cards that evening, introducing Cyril to Ana Perna. The folks retired around 10:30 and the three of us stayed up chatting for awhile.
Will and I took the rest of the week off, although we all did a bit of work on Thurs am. Cyril and I went to shops before lunch since he was making dinner that night. The two of us went on a long walk in the afternoon, then chilled out until Anne and Andrew arrived home from a long day of work. Cyril made carbonara that night, using trimmed pork belly instead of lardons, and mushrooms and garlic instead of courgette, and baked cod for Anne. We introduced the parents to poker that evening, hence the second meaning of today’s post. We played five card stud with 2-5s removed, making it easier to have a good hand. The newbies did well for their first time, and went to bed on the late side for them around 11. We stayed up a bit longer and played some more before going to bed around midnight.
It would be an understatement to say that Cyril enjoys red wine. He bought a couple of very nice bottles on his way here, which we enjoyed the first two nights. The weather was excellent all week, with temps in the high teens and lots of sun, so we decided to take a day trip to St Emilion. Visiting there was high up on Cyril’s bucket list, and he wasn’t disappointed. We left around 10 and arrived at midday, then wandered into town. Will and I had only been in summer months, so were surprised by how empty it was in mid-November. We had lunch outside in the square, along with another excellent bottle of wine. Will had sausages and mash, and Cyril and I had the daily special of daub de boeuf, and I also had the starter, an onion tart that was more like a quiche, all delicious. We wandered around the town after lunch and basically had the whole place to ourselves. The next shop was a wine shop where Cyril bought 36 bottles, all around €30 a pop. We were surprised that it only cost €35 to ship to the UK. The nice man sent us home with two lovely bottles to try that evening.
Our wine shopping wasn’t finished there since part of the reason for the trip was for Will and I to visit our chateau in Castillon, about 10 min down the road. We made our way there and eventually found the patriarch who is 91 and is mainly retired, although he’s still in charge of putting labels on bottles. Cyril was most impressed by this and took a video of the process. The owner who we usually deal with came to serve us. We tried the 2014 and ended up with 6 bottles of that to supplement our main purchase: 6 cases of 2015, two of which are for Will’s folks. We also tried the 2018, straight from the underground vat and it was already excellent. The owner is certain this will be an exceptional year, so now we must wait 18 months before it’s bottled and sold. We said our goodbyes and made our way back via the small roads, arriving home around 5:30 in time to prepare for dinner.
Francoise has some furniture she’d like to get rid of, so the three Roberts went to her place to see if there was anything they wanted and found some chairs they liked. They all came back here for a meal which was charcuterie and pate to start, followed by Frexican beans and rice, plus bread, cheese and salad (again). Anne and Andrew went to bed, and the four of us played poker for awhile afterwards. Francoise had played before, but not often and both she and Cyril went broke a number of times. We had drinks and wine throughout the evening, and were all a bit tiddly by the end of the evening.
We had a lazy Sat morning, and then went to Anne and Andrew’s for Cyril to see the place and for Will and I to check on their progress. Andrew has been improving on some of Jean’s handiwork, and Anne has stripped the ceiling and painted one of the rooms. It was another lovely day, so Will, Cyril and I headed off on a walk to do some exploring of the area. We made it to the lake at St Saud with little difficulty, but it’s not possible to get to it from the public path. We walked along the road until the parking area, then around a bit of the lake before heading home on a different road and path. It took about an hour and half in total, although it’s only 35 min to the lake from their place.
We headed home and got dinner started, including an early apero. We had espresso martinis when Anne and Andrew returned, so we were feeling fine by the time we sat down to dinner. This was confit de canard with roasted potatoes and broccoli, and cod and veg for Anne, plus bread and cheese. I don’t make roasted tatties very often, so was pleased that they came out perfectly this time. We had more excellent wine that night, including one of the 2015 from our vineyard. The folks went to bed and three of us stayed up drinking and playing poker until after 1am.
Sunday morning was fairly subdued until Cyril discovered that one of his tyres was low. So he and I headed to St Pardoux where he filled it up before coming home and making lunch. Everyone left shortly afterwards then Will and I chilled for a bit before dealing with our last wood chore of the year. We still had the six steres of wood that needed stacking, and although we were both a bit hungover, it was going to be the last nice day for some time so we got on with it. It took a couple of hours but in the end, we’ve done the best stacking job since arriving here. We had a lazy rest of the day and went to bed early.
We’ve both right back to work today. Manu, the neighbour on the corner stopped by to see us this afternoon. He’s been ill for number of months and is unable to eat solid food after a botched operation. He’s lost 20kg and was hardly recognisable. He’s installing a new fence on the border of our land, so wanted our permission. Right, I’m off to choir practice tonight, so it’s time for an early apero and dinner.