So, it’s the week of Christmas, although it may feel more like spring! As I write this, Matt’s out on a stroll taking advantage of the gorgeous afternoon sunshine. It reached a high of 17 last week and it looks set to continue like this until at least the end of the year. Call it global warming, El Nino or whatever you will – either way, I’m loving it.
As you’d expect for the time of year, work’s calmed down for me. It’s a little vexing when all your clients go silent at the same time. There are several sites that could have gone live (and so, have been billed for) but they’ll all have to wait till the New Year now. At least I know I’ll have a good first quarter of 2016. Ironically, work’s just now picked up for Matt, but I think even he’s pretty much done for the year too so tomorrow, les vacances commencent at Port 80!
As part of this, we’re off to the cinema on Wednesday this week to see the new Star Wars film, which I’m insanely excited about. The cinema is a new one, just outside of Angouleme. As they live close by, we invited Lee and Richard to come with us, but Lee is not a fan (weirdo!) and Rich is busy till after Christmas, so we’re off on our own instead. It’s a 7pm showing which isn’t ideal but all the reviews I’ve read promise us we’re in for a treat.
Our week was largely uneventful, barring a trip to Nontron for some Christmas shopping, so I’ll move on to the weekend. We didn’t do much on Friday, partly because that in itself is still a pleasing novelty as we take a break from Musique en Herbe. I spoke to one of our singer friends, Ghislaine, on Saturday to ask how it went and the news was not good, but entirely expected. The first problem is that our neighbour Gilles has insinuated himself into the group and is going every week. By all accounts he is making few friends as he just sits and plays continuously while people are trying to talk. Even when he’s supposed to be playing, he rarely does so along with the other musicians. I was also entirely unamused but unsurprised to learn that Musique en Herbe are now signed up for 3 gigs in the space of a month this coming summer. This means that at least two of them (or more likely, all three) will be underprepared train wrecks. Matt and I also have an additional gig to rehearse for at the same time – our annual one at Jenny’s – so it’s all sounding very much infeasible. I’m actually having serious doubts about whether I want to return in the New Year. I’ve been loving the simple pleasure of just playing for myself again and am loath to get sucked back into all the politics.
On Saturday, we invited our new French friends Emmanuel and Olivier over to dinner. They’re the gay couple who live about 50 mins away that we met this year and who came to support us at our Milhac gig. With them was a friend of theirs called Sofya, a lovely Russian lady who’s lived here since she was 16 so has virtually no trace of an accent. After a round of our new signature cocktails (espressotinis) Matt served up a delicious and asian-themed meal of porc fillet mignon with egg-fried rice and broccoli. Dessert was sweet potato pie – not asian, but always a hit. Afterwards, we played a fun charades type game and then the guests left us.
We don’t normally do 2 nights in a row, but our friend Louis is currently home alone as his wife Pary has gone back to Iran to see family. So, we invited him over for a meal yesterday. This ended up being a larger affair than anticipated, especially for Lew as he received a last minute invitation to a french sunday lunch, so was already full, and a few glasses ahead when he arrived. In the afternoon our friend Benoit, who has spent most of this summer working on the island of Martinique, rang to say he was back home for Christmas and did we fancy a drink. Having checked if it would be ok to bring Louis, we said we’d love to. We started off with an espressotini apiece at ours and then drove the 5 mins to Benoit & Virginie’s. I had a feeling we might not be the only invitees and indeed, it was a full house that greeted us. We knew about half the people so spent an enjoyable hour or so chatting before coming back home to eat. None of us were terribly hungry but we got through our lasagne and then had a few hours of catching up and digesting before he left and we called it a night.
In other news, we appear to have a new stray cat in town. Well, either that or the presumed-dead black cat from this summer has done a bit of a Lazarus and is back from the dead. Smeagol had a day of shut down a while back, but we just assumed he was under the weather as he bounced back the following day. We now realise he was probably recovering from a fight, as is poor Louis this week. He came on to our bed early on sunday, mewling plaintively and limping badly. Since then he’s been in his own shut down mode. The swelling has gone but he’s still limping and he has scratches all over his neck. Just when we thought our boys’ woes were over…
The mention of Lazarus actually brings me nicely on to my last item: David Bowie. In case you hadn’t heard, his royal highness The Thin White Duke is putting out a new album on the 8th of January next year, which is his 69th birthday. So far, two tracks have been released: Blackstar, the title track, and just this week, Lazarus. The first track, at 10 minutes, is a challenging one – a foreboding, jazzy song in several parts, featuring utterly impenetrable lyrics. I love it, but just don’t know what the hell it’s about.
Lazarus however is more immediate and utterly gorgeous, but with a sinister undertone that gives me shivers. You can check it out below: