Apart from cleaning and shopping, not much happened until Friday, when Will collected our guests from Limoges. This was his mum, brother Dave, and his fiancée Amy. Their flight was slightly delayed, and they arrived here around 4pm. Will and I had a meeting at the mairie that afternoon, concerning the public right-of-way that crosses our large field. In brief, the people at either end wish to buy their bit from the commune, so the meeting was to see if the people who own the land in between also wish to sell. Although we wouldn’t have to pay much for the land itself, each transaction requires paying the notaire €800 for his services, making it a very expensive proposition. Therefore, it doesn’t look like anything will happen since no one wants to pay that much.
Will and I had rehearsals that night, so we decided to go out for dinner at L’Italien, the pizza place in St Pardoux. It was quite busy, mostly English and Dutch, and we all enjoyed our pizzas. Rehearsal started at 8:30 so we headed there right after dinner. Our visitors stopped at a local bar while we rehearsed, and we wrapped up our bit around 10 before heading home. We played some cards that night before going to bed sometime around midnight.
The wedding was the next day in the southern Dordogne, about 100km south from us. Since everyone in France takes vacation at the same time, this particular weekend is the absolute worst for travel. All the warnings said to avoid the southwest, in particular, the Gironde and Bordeaux. So we left home around 11:30, allowing plenty of time, and arrived at the town nearest the chateau in 1.5 hours, less than expected. It was a nice day, around 25C and mostly sunny, so we strolled down to a beach along the Dordogne river before driving up to the venue. This was Chateau Cazenac, situated on a hill 2km from the river, with beautiful views on three sides. The ceremony itself didn’t start until 3, so we had an hour or so which we spent with the other guests drinking Pimms or beer.
The ceremony itself was held outside, under two rows of trees, making a natural aisle. There were around 80 guests in all, of which 25 were family and the rest, friends. The ceremony was performed by a lovely Scottish lady. It was completely secular, and lasted about 25 minutes in all, which is my idea of a perfect ceremony. Afterwards, we had champagne and canapés on the terrace overlooking the river valley. The champagne was excellent, and the canapés included scallops wrapped in bacon, served fresh off the grill. So far, so good in my book. After a few hours of picture taking and mingling, we were called to sit down to dinner around 6pm. This was held in the main courtyard, under umbrellas that were set up to block the sun.
We were sat a table with Will’s family, including our visitors, and his nan, who came down on the train with his aunt and her family. They arrived the night before and despite having numerous legs, they made it all the way to Bergerac before having any difficulties with their journey. They were meant to get a local train about 20km to the nearest station, but it was cancelled due to a strike, so had to wait a few hours for a replacement coach service. Despite this, Nan appeared to enjoy the day, and the food, like the rest of us. The only exception was Will, who volunteered to be our designated driver. When we first got the invitations back in January, I suggested staying down there, but he insisted on returning home that night, and volunteered to drive.
So Will got to watch while the rest of us helped ourselves to red and white wine throughout the meal. This started with a giant platter of various entées, including fois gras, rillettes, goats cheese wrapped in aubergine and various other delicacies. The main was steak, or risottos for the vegetarians. Dessert was also a platter of different goodies, but I must admit that I’d had a few too many glasses to remember exactly what they were. After dinner were the speeches, including a very nice one by the father of the bride, who can be a bit of weirdo. The rest of the evening was spent dancing to a live band, and featured an open bar. By this time it was 10:30 and with a long drive ahead of us, Will and Mum decided it was time to go. We took a slightly longer route on the way home due to my less-than-sober navigation, but arrived here around 12:30. Will, Dave, Amy and I stayed up for another hour or two, with Will attempting to make up for lost time.
I was up far too early the next day, and didn’t feel that great. Dave and Amy slept until nearly midday, so they seemed to feel fine. We only had one activity for the day, and that was to purchase some wine in Brantome. When we saw our usual suppliers back in May, they said they were nearly out of the 2009 vintage, but if we arranged in advance, they would bring us some in August. Will remembered to call the day before, and when we arrived on Sunday afternoon, they had a case brought there especially for us. Dave also bought a few bottles, and then we had sausage or bacon sarnies with chips for a light meal. This was followed up with a beer at our usual cafe by the river before heading home. We had a bbq that night, which included salmon in addition to the usual chicken, sausages and potato salad. I managed a brief nap in the afternoon, so wasn’t feeling too badly by the time evening rolled around.
Will took our guests to the airport the next day for their afternoon flight. Since then, we’ve been rehearsing for our upcoming gig this weekend. We had practices on Thurs and Fri of last week, which went ok, but neither of us feel ready. We’ve got two more this week before we perform on Saturday night. Work is slightly busy for Will, including a new client that we’re meeting next week. I’m making some progress on the new site for Andrew.
The last thing to report is another trip to the vet, this time for Louis. He got in a fight with our neighbourhood menace, the neighbour’s black cat. He had a wound on his neck that appeared to heal up quickly. Yesterday, however, Will noticed that it was seeping puss, and correctly diagnosed it as an abscess, requiring a visit to the vet. Much like last time, we got an appointment for the same afternoon, and after tracking down Louis, got him there and in to see the vet very quickly. It turns out the danger had passed, but she still gave him some antibiotics, plus some cream to rub on the wound for a few days. Louis mewled the entire way there and back, and even managed to stab Will a few times through his cage. The vet wants to see him again next week to ensure everything is healing, so we get to do the same thing again on Monday.