Last evening there was a little soiree in the courtyard here at 42rvh which was orchestrated by Brigitte and Christine (beauty salon) and Sophie (music teacher). They all prepared a bit of food and we all bought a bit of wine and everyone moaned about the chavs renting the apartments upstairs, with their babies and dogs and filthy habits. The music teacher played some lovely jazz on the piano, we all applauded and wished each a 'bonne soiree', lots of kissing and it was all over as quickly as it started - but not before we had tidied the rubbish away and left the place spotlessly clean like the honest decent middle class folk we are.
The excuse for the event was the end of school for another year, which everyone in France seems to mark as a special occasion and then all pack up their Renault Espaces and head for exactly the same bit of beach that they headed for last year and the year before and when they were babies and their parents were babies etc. They are such creatures of habit - but then maybe I just notice it because it is slightly different - maybe the majority of Brits are just as much creatures of habit but I have never noticed.
I said last time that I wasn't going to talk about the heat, but it's too hot not to talk about the heat. At midnight last night it was still over 30 degrees and it doesn't feel any cooler this evening. There is no air movement either so no feeling of respite. It's ok if you just sit still but as soon as you move you start to sweat - which is not nice at all.
As for sleeping, it's difficult. Last night I slept fitfully and got up at 5.30am because it was better to be up than lying in bed. I finished all the outstanding ironing and cleaned the studio apartment ready for new guests tomorrow and the spare room ready for Amy arriving today - and then made breakfast for the guests before driving them down to Domaine Gayda and VinEcole for a wine tasting and lunch. All my jobs were done before midday - it has been slow work since then with a bit of sleep grabbed both before and after collecting Amy from the airport.
It is fabulous to have Amy here but she has been knocked out by the heat too. They told her on the plane that it was 42 in Carcassonne - I don't believe that for a minute but 38 or 39 is definitely a possibility.
We had a lovely dinner at La Roulotte. I am always amazed how few people are there considering how much everyone enjoys it when they go. I hope they survive. The owner was telling me that the problem with really hot weather is that everyone just goes to the beach and therefore isn't in town. He would be quite happy for it to rain, or be cloudy or cool, because everyone would look for other things to do besides being on the beach and may well end up in town eating at his restaurant.
We came straight home after dinner and took advantage of no-one being in the studio apartment and watched a movie. It was OK as long as we didn't move but Amy didn't last the course and went off to try and get some sleep - travelling is always tiring.
It all reminds me very much of the first day that I arrived here in Carcassonne, on my own, in July 2005. It was five months after we had completed the purchase and the first time that either of us had been down here since then. I arrived with a van full of stuff and (useless) builders on site. The electricity cut out in mid evening so I had no light and no music and there was so much noise on the street and it was so hot that I think I only got about two hours sleep.
I wondered what I was doing, why I was there and what was going to happen. It all feels a million miles away from now and it is a story in itself that I really should get around to writing down. One day.
Showing posts with label Amy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amy. Show all posts
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Monday, 8 September 2008
Long Weekend
I am back in Carcassonne after my weekend of family fun! Everybody just about held it all together but I am thinking only just - I did call one of my sisters-in-law a 'bitch' at one point, but I was leaving the room and maybe it was out of her earshot (although Debrah assures me it probably wasn't - oh well) - I really don't think she's a very nice person so I am not that bothered about it.
I feel a bit sorry for my other sister-in-law because she recognises how hard it is to please my mother and what a strong 'matriarchal' influence she imposes and because she really has tried very hard to fit into our difficult family. On the first afternoon she was very jolly and chatty and out to enjoy the weekend, but she gradually seemed to retreat into her shell, as I guess we all did under the withering glare, which was a shame.
Debrah wasn't exempt and was extremely upset by some of my mothers unnecessary comments about clothes or hair or behaviour. Debrah was brilliant this weekend and I couldn't have done it myself without her and without the girls. We stuck together as a little support team for each other. It would have been ideal to have have been just the four of us away - or five, if we could have got Christian involved too.
It was so good to see my daughters again - it has been too long - and I am so proud of them and the lovely young ladies that they have grown up to be. Amy is just about to start her final year at Lancaster and Isabel is just going off to find herself at Leicester - good luck to you both and hopefully we will see each other again sooner rather than later.
The part played by Anna and Aib, our hosts for the weekend, should not be under-estimated in the slightest. I would go as far as to say that without them the weekend would have been a disaster - I can't wait to see you both again in more relaxed circumstances, which we will do soon as it is Anna's birthday in a few weeks time.
A highlight of the weekend was the wine tasting given by Alex Hall on Saturday evening before dinner. We tasted six wines in total, with mixed results on my part when it came to recognising what I was tasting - the more I learn, and I learned a lot on Saturday, the less I seem to know! It was, though, a great privilege to be afforded the chance to taste a young 2005 St Emilion, which will age wonderfully and comes from one of the best vintages ever, apparently, and an 18 year old St Estephe, from another great vintage in 1990, that would set you back £300 in a restaurant today. Both were fabulous.
It is wine harvest time and that means that the Autumn is on it's way. We awoke this morning in the Dordogne to a heavy dew and mist in the valley but the prospect of a gloriously hot clear blue sky day - mellow fruitfulness indeed. Also, perfect conditions for the development of noble rot on grapes and the wonderful transformation into a golden nectar late harvest dessert wine - I told you I had learned a thing or two recently.
Back here in Carcassonne, the mobile 'fauconnier' introduced last year is already patrolling the streets - another sign that Autumn is upon us - the poor starlings are being scared away before we have any chance to see a display from them - what a shame.
My new guests have arrived - a mother and daughter from Australia. They dropped a couple of surprises on me - not forwarded on by the travel agent in Australia that made the booking. Luckily I am not phased by the late arriving information of no wheat or seafood or peppers in their diet, and not just because of dislike but because they are allergic. I will cope thanks to the wonderful array of produce available here in the fantastically fertile Aude valley and because at 42rvh we can cope with anything.
Even family.
I feel a bit sorry for my other sister-in-law because she recognises how hard it is to please my mother and what a strong 'matriarchal' influence she imposes and because she really has tried very hard to fit into our difficult family. On the first afternoon she was very jolly and chatty and out to enjoy the weekend, but she gradually seemed to retreat into her shell, as I guess we all did under the withering glare, which was a shame.
Debrah wasn't exempt and was extremely upset by some of my mothers unnecessary comments about clothes or hair or behaviour. Debrah was brilliant this weekend and I couldn't have done it myself without her and without the girls. We stuck together as a little support team for each other. It would have been ideal to have have been just the four of us away - or five, if we could have got Christian involved too.
It was so good to see my daughters again - it has been too long - and I am so proud of them and the lovely young ladies that they have grown up to be. Amy is just about to start her final year at Lancaster and Isabel is just going off to find herself at Leicester - good luck to you both and hopefully we will see each other again sooner rather than later.
The part played by Anna and Aib, our hosts for the weekend, should not be under-estimated in the slightest. I would go as far as to say that without them the weekend would have been a disaster - I can't wait to see you both again in more relaxed circumstances, which we will do soon as it is Anna's birthday in a few weeks time.
A highlight of the weekend was the wine tasting given by Alex Hall on Saturday evening before dinner. We tasted six wines in total, with mixed results on my part when it came to recognising what I was tasting - the more I learn, and I learned a lot on Saturday, the less I seem to know! It was, though, a great privilege to be afforded the chance to taste a young 2005 St Emilion, which will age wonderfully and comes from one of the best vintages ever, apparently, and an 18 year old St Estephe, from another great vintage in 1990, that would set you back £300 in a restaurant today. Both were fabulous.
It is wine harvest time and that means that the Autumn is on it's way. We awoke this morning in the Dordogne to a heavy dew and mist in the valley but the prospect of a gloriously hot clear blue sky day - mellow fruitfulness indeed. Also, perfect conditions for the development of noble rot on grapes and the wonderful transformation into a golden nectar late harvest dessert wine - I told you I had learned a thing or two recently.
Back here in Carcassonne, the mobile 'fauconnier' introduced last year is already patrolling the streets - another sign that Autumn is upon us - the poor starlings are being scared away before we have any chance to see a display from them - what a shame.
My new guests have arrived - a mother and daughter from Australia. They dropped a couple of surprises on me - not forwarded on by the travel agent in Australia that made the booking. Luckily I am not phased by the late arriving information of no wheat or seafood or peppers in their diet, and not just because of dislike but because they are allergic. I will cope thanks to the wonderful array of produce available here in the fantastically fertile Aude valley and because at 42rvh we can cope with anything.
Even family.
Thursday, 3 January 2008
Mad Week
I was rubbish at blog writing over the festive period and now it is 2008 already - too many guests and too much to do is my excuse though even I don't believe that for a moment.
It has been absolutely fabulous to have had Amy here for the past week and I am very sad that she is going home tomorrow. It feels so right to have her around, pulling me up on my bad habits and errant ways. She feels so much like an extension of me and I will miss her terribly - but she has her life to live and so back to her mum in Lincolnshire and then university in Lancaster she will go - with my deepest and dearest thoughts until the next time we can get together.
Out of the blue, Tim and Giovanna came to stay - nothing was planned, then Gio was coming, then they were both coming. They arrived on New Years Eve which turned into a dinner followed by nightclub type silliness which was followed by a slower early to bed night and then another over the top drunken 60's/70's/80's music night at home followed by a slower early to bed night and then departure tomorrow. It has been a bit all or nothing round here this week.
On the hungover calm days I seem to have spent my time driving which isn't good.
On New Years Day we drove down to Argeles to see Nick and Chris at their beach house where they always have a party on the sand to welcome in the new year. What could be better than being wrapped up in scarves and hats, sat round a brazier on the beach overlooking the Med and the Pyrenees - well, the sun could have been out for a start and we could have got there before all the soup was consumed. In fact, it was a glorious day until we got within 10km of the beach which was a bit of a shame and we were very late setting out on account of the big night the night before which meant that we were late arriving so of course all the soup had gone - but we drank champagne and ate cheese and baguette and sat around the fire and had a good chat with our friends so it was a journey well worth making.
Today I drove to Ikea in Toulouse to try and get the shelving that we need to put in the office. I say try because it wasn't altogether a successful trip and it wasn't just I because Amy came with me after Debrah refused to come on account of being sick in the night and her almighty hangover as a result of the vodka and tequila shots and the massive night we had 'chez moi'.
It was a most frustrating shopping trip in all respects - they didn't have all that we needed in stock and what they did have wouldn't fit in the car so I had to arrange a delivery and, basically, it was a complete balls up. We either have to go back or we have to arrange another delivery and none of it is ideal and just proves that you shouldn't try and do anything sensible the day after a massive blow out drunken night - even if you have got your sensible daughter with you, in fact, especially if you have got your sensible daughter with you because it makes you look even more of a fool.
A mad mad week - it is now pissing down outside and everyone has gone to bed. I think that is a good idea - goodnight.
It has been absolutely fabulous to have had Amy here for the past week and I am very sad that she is going home tomorrow. It feels so right to have her around, pulling me up on my bad habits and errant ways. She feels so much like an extension of me and I will miss her terribly - but she has her life to live and so back to her mum in Lincolnshire and then university in Lancaster she will go - with my deepest and dearest thoughts until the next time we can get together.
Out of the blue, Tim and Giovanna came to stay - nothing was planned, then Gio was coming, then they were both coming. They arrived on New Years Eve which turned into a dinner followed by nightclub type silliness which was followed by a slower early to bed night and then another over the top drunken 60's/70's/80's music night at home followed by a slower early to bed night and then departure tomorrow. It has been a bit all or nothing round here this week.
On the hungover calm days I seem to have spent my time driving which isn't good.
On New Years Day we drove down to Argeles to see Nick and Chris at their beach house where they always have a party on the sand to welcome in the new year. What could be better than being wrapped up in scarves and hats, sat round a brazier on the beach overlooking the Med and the Pyrenees - well, the sun could have been out for a start and we could have got there before all the soup was consumed. In fact, it was a glorious day until we got within 10km of the beach which was a bit of a shame and we were very late setting out on account of the big night the night before which meant that we were late arriving so of course all the soup had gone - but we drank champagne and ate cheese and baguette and sat around the fire and had a good chat with our friends so it was a journey well worth making.
Today I drove to Ikea in Toulouse to try and get the shelving that we need to put in the office. I say try because it wasn't altogether a successful trip and it wasn't just I because Amy came with me after Debrah refused to come on account of being sick in the night and her almighty hangover as a result of the vodka and tequila shots and the massive night we had 'chez moi'.
It was a most frustrating shopping trip in all respects - they didn't have all that we needed in stock and what they did have wouldn't fit in the car so I had to arrange a delivery and, basically, it was a complete balls up. We either have to go back or we have to arrange another delivery and none of it is ideal and just proves that you shouldn't try and do anything sensible the day after a massive blow out drunken night - even if you have got your sensible daughter with you, in fact, especially if you have got your sensible daughter with you because it makes you look even more of a fool.
A mad mad week - it is now pissing down outside and everyone has gone to bed. I think that is a good idea - goodnight.
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