Well, this is the first entry I’ve done on my new laptop! My previous one was nearly 5 years old and was in a dire state – buttons were missing, the case was cracking, and various keys would stop working at random making it very vexing to use. I wanted to run it into the ground before investing in a replacement and I think it’s fair to say I managed that. I ordered my new one – a small, sleek and sexy Dell – off Amazon on Sunday last week, and it arrived on Wednesday, which was most impressive. It’s taken a few days to transfer everything over and get it all working nicely but I think I’m finally there now. Just got to get used to the new keyboard (apologies for any typos).
In other news, it’s been seriously hot here all week long. Every day was above 30, hitting a sticky high of 36 on Thursday. We had a storm last night which has finally cleared the air and brought us down into the 20s, though it’s due to climb back up again next week. My folks are currently in Greece for their annual hols and I’d be surprised if it’s any warmer there than the Dordogne. Happy holidays by the way, folks!
We’re not sure how our harvest is going to be given the lack of rain since June. We’re also down to just 5 plants now, having weeded out another crop of males. Our local expert, Eva, is coming over for drinks on Monday to inspect the remaining, and hopefully all-female, plants and give us some tips. We’re unfortunately likely to be in a very poorly state that day, as I shall come to.
We had a very neighbourly week this week. On Monday we were invited down to Bryan and Carol’s for apéritifs, which we enjoyed out on their baking hot terrace. Desite the heat, the boys were bursting with energy. Carol has since taken them back to the UK after their mammoth 4 week stay (“never again”, says Carol) leaving Bryan to recover in peace.
The following day we were invited to Lucien and Mauricette’s for dinner. They had their youngest grandson, Florian, with them. He’s now a teenager and a very polite and mature one at that, so it was nice to have him there for the meal too. This was, of course, copious and delicious. We had a cold courgette soup, melon in a home-made honey sauce, and BBQ chicken and turkey with ratatouille, then a creme caramel for dessert. This was all washed down with various home made beverages, meaning we left both full and tipsy at the end of it all.
We had a couple days off from socialising after that and spent them lazily indoors to escape the heat. Work’s very quiet for us both at the moment although I have at least 3 websites that are oh-so-close to going live now, so there will be a bit of cash coming in soon. Oh yes, in other news, the company that installed our new water heater and our electric rads is doing the rounds again. They nearly managed to get us to part with several grand to get our front door replaced but we decided against it given the meagre year we’re having. We did however order a sort of water softener. It’s not a real one as they’re apparently not advised if you have a fosse septique. It’s something that takes cartridges and is almost but not quite as effective at dealing with limescale, which is a huge problem for us here. The work will be done some time in the next two months.
On Friday, we had two back-to-back events here at Port 80, for which Matt had to run out and get supplies in the morning. The first was a meeting with Gilles & Myriam, Barry & Carol and Sophie, to discuss Milhac Loisirs. We’d all met up (minus Sophie) at G&M’s place earlier this summer for the same reason. At the end of the evening, a tentative agreement was struck about who was going to take up the 3 requisite board positions needed for the association to continue. The meeting at ours was to firm this up and discuss the new vision for the association. Barry threw an early spanner in the works by announcing he no longer wanted to be actively involved, having previously agreed to be Secretary. Luckily Sophie stepped up instead. She’d already offered to be vice-president, but this isnt an officially-required position, so on paper she will be the secretary. Between them, the new board seem to have some good ideas and more importantly, they all agreed on a direction so that was promising. Now it all just needs to be ratified at the AGM next week and then Matt’s officially President!
The new board’s first task is the Soirée Britannique on 19 November. For Matt especially there’s a lot to do as he’s not just in charge of all the logistics but is also in one of the groups providing the entertainment. On that, we’ve hit a few snags in getting our band together for the concert. First off, one of our singers has moved to Périgueux so now has a ways to come for rehearsals. We’ve recruited a drummer – Harry, from Musique en Herbe – who is up for it but will have quite a lot of new songs to learn. Meanwhile our other singer had gone AWOL and wasnt answering any messages. It turns out she’s very down in the dumps at the moment and doesnt want to do any gigging. We hope we can persuade her to say yes, but we might be one down. Another complication is where to practise now we have a drum kit to factor in as well. We hope the mairie will let us use the Salle des Fêtes, but that’s not a given. And finally, we will of course need equipment for the gig – which means Musique en Herbe, which in turn could mean a whole world of Alain Astier-related headaches. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, we’re just trying to sort out the setlist.
Back to Friday, we had about 15 minutes to clear away after the meeting before our guests arrived for event #2 of the evening. This was dinner with Lewis, Parry, and her two sisters who are over visiting. We had apéros outside then moved inside for a mexican meal of chicken enchiladas and salsa. This was followed by a nectarine and chocolate cake – a new recipe Matt tried. It was all delicious. It’s back to Paris and to work for Lewis and Parry next week so we’re glad we got to cram in one more evening with them beforehand.
Yesterday was a very quiet and very hot day in which we didnt do much, which was just as well as it meant we had a chance to recuperate in readiness for tonight’s excitement. This is the big annual fête in Villebois-Lavalette, so we’re off to Lee & Richard’s this afternoon for our traditionally boozy Sunday of watching the parade, riding the dodgems and generally having a silly time. I fear the hangover already. So with that, I shall wish you a très bonne Fête de Saint Augustin and a happy sunday. Au revoir.