October started with a bang. The 1st is Virginie’s birthday, and they were having a party for her at the weekend, which we couldn’t attend. So Benoit called us on the day and asked us to join them for an impromptu apero-dinatoire. He put on an amazing spread of nibbles, including oysters, fishy spreads and some rillets and pate for Will. I introduced them to oyster shooters (oyster, condiments, vodka) and we had a few throughout the evening. Also in attendance were Eva, her Benoit, Sam and a couple of cousins. Most of the others went to bed after midnight, but we stayed until 1:30 with the bday girl and a couple of the young’uns.
Will had an x-ray for his side earlier in the day. The drugs he’s been taking for it have made a big difference, both to his side and his sciatic nerve. The drugs can cause side-effects, so the doc only gave him enough for two weeks. He’s now run out and the pain is returning as well. He’s seeing the gastroenterologist in mid-Nov and may go back to our regular doc before then. Although the pain is back, he’s feeling better knowing an explanation / treatment is now more likely.
We had a couple of client meetings over the past two weeks. The first was with the truffle asso in Sorges which, as usual, was a complete waste of our time. They ask us questions over email that we answer, but they also like to meet face to face. This time, there were 6 or 7 of them so it took a bit longer to answer the same questions we’d already done via email. They would like to have a version of the site live in the next month in time for truffle season, but at this rate, it’s not likely to be finished before the end of next year!
We had a meeting the following week with CIHB, a local company that sells wooden house kits / construction. A new guy took over the company earlier in the year and we met with him back in June to discuss plans. They have two sites and have already redone one themselves. We’re to start work on the other one, which shouldn’t be too complicated apart from the design. They want something “traditional and modern”. Effing clients!
So Will has some design work to do, but is mainly waiting for clients to come back to him. For me, work is very quiet, which is welcome. I’m waiting for the designs before I can start on the big real estate site, and I’ve got a few other small projects that require the client to respond before I can finish. In the meantime, I’ve been working on a pet project, a time-keeping system to track my work, create invoices etc. I’m really enjoying working on it even though the client is a pain in the arse 
We had a very social weekend, starting with dinner on Friday night at Gwynn and Vincent’s, who live near Villars. She worked at the chateau with Francoise, and we’d met them a couple of times. She is English and he is French, and they have two preteen daughters. It was Francoise’s bday in late Sept, so the meal was to celebrate that. Also in attendance were a young couple, Fabian & Julie and their two year old son. The hosts are the previous owners of the Pas de Chat resto in Villars, and it was nice to have a meal cooked by semi-professional chefs. This was our first meal at their place, and Will forgot to mention his dietary requirements. Fortunately, they adapted the menu for Will and we all ate very well. We started with a salad of prawns and had stir-fried beef and mixed potato, sweet potato and squash Dauphinoise, with a huge chocolate cake for dessert. It was a lovely evening and not a terribly late one.
The next day, we went to Jo & Camille’s to celebrate her 70th bday. The party was organised by their daughter Laeti and her partner Fred and it kicked off around 6pm. There were 35 people in all, including Barry & Carol, whom we hadn’t seen since our wedding. He’s been fighting cancer for a number of years, and it’s currently in his brain. It’s not gotten any worse for a while now, and he’s not receiving treatment, so is feeling much better. They were both in good form and we had a nice catch-up with them during the apero. The event was catered by Hotel de France and they didn’t disappoint. We started with an apero buffet of salads and meats and later moved onto a different set of similar dishes for the main. The wine flowed throughout the evening and we were both fairly tipsy by the time we left around 1am. Embarrassingly, we were some of the first to leave, despite being amongst the youngest people there.
That award went to Theo and his girlfriend. He is basically their godson, having grown up in the apartment next door in Montpellier. He comes to visit during school holidays and I’d met him a couple times before, many years ago when he was a teen. He’s now 21 and has recently finished a degree in wine-ology, and will soon start working at a shop near his home. He’s also an excellent guitarist, playing a range of songs from classical to folk / rock. He put on a little concert and a few of us sang some songs, although I was a little too far gone at this point to remember lyrics. Will brought his guitar but didn’t play for the same reason.
We capped off the weekend with our final farewell to Marie & Christian with lunch at their place. We were joined by Anne & Andrew and the festivities got underway around 1. Since most of their belongings were already packed, we each brought a dish to share. Marie made Cervelle de Canut, a Lyonnaise dish that actually means “brains”, but fortunately, doesn’t contain any. It’s a spread made from whey with shallots, garlic and herbs. A & A brought carrot fritters and dessert, and I made a pasta salad. We had a very leisurely meal that lasted until 4 when the folks left. Will and I stayed for a final whiskey / prune as is tradition there. We’re very sorry to see them go but on the bright side, we’ve got a new place in France to explore, wherever it is they decide to settle.
We managed to do a bit of outdoor work over the past few weeks. Last weekend, we moved the remaining three stacks of last year’s wood into the hangar. That leaves this year delivery still to deal with, which involves moving two stacks to the hangar and stacking the remaining three. I did a bit of weeding and mowed the front lawn yesterday. It’s gone from brown and dead to lush and green over the past few weeks. The back needs doing as well, but that’s a bigger project since it involves cleaning up the apples first. On that subject, a friend of Francoise came by and took the majority of the apples to make apple juice. She will hopefully come back for the rest, which only leaves the rotten ones that have already fallen to deal with.
Last week was mainly quiet and not much happened until Friday. I’ve decided to buy a keyboard so Will and I went to Perigueux to find one. It was a warm sunny day and a pleasant drive, although that’s the most I can say for the trip. The store only had a few models to choose from, despite being called La Maison du Piano. I did get some useful info and I bought one online when we got home. It may be delivered tomorrow but this being France, we’re still not sure. We took advantage of being in the big city by visiting the Troc in search of a piece of furniture to go under the stairs. We couldn’t get to one of the places due to construction and the other didn’t have anything that fit the bill so we returned empty handed.
That evening, we had Paul, Nat & Francoise over for dinner / cards. Francoise made the apero, which were two types of pate feuillette with various cheese and spreads, rolled up and baked. I wasn’t feeling terribly inspired so went for an easy meal of veggie burgers, made from the leftover lentils and roasted veg, served with mashed potatoes and salad. We defrosted the freezer for the first time since buying it, and discovered some coconut bars that Mom made and some brownies, so that was dessert. We played cards and Francoise fell on her sword to ensure that I didn’t win (Nat did).
Paul is going to replace Christian in our “band”, singing and playing guitar / bass. He’s not nearly as accomplished as Christian on the guitar, but can sing lead and will try to learn a few numbers on the bass. That should free me up to play keyboards and bass on some songs, which will be a nice change. With the help of Nat and Francoise, we came up with a number of French songs to add to our repertoire. Paul came by on Saturday to further work on the list, and he’s coming by today for our first rehearsal.
Our other weekend event was dinner at the folks’ on Sat night. It was just the four of us, and really nice to spend time with just them. Anne was the chef, and we started with nibbles including a lovely salami, followed by mustard chicken, potato Dauphinoise and green beans, all of which we very tasty. Dessert was shortbread with caramelised strawberries, topped with a splash of vodka and ice cream. We played cards for a while after dinner, and everyone won a game except Will, who didn’t have much luck either night. We took it easy yesterday and dug out some old songs to prepare for our rehearsal today.
We’re both taking this week off to celebrate my birthday. Will will tell you all about it in his next post.