Making the most of it

I was determined to make the most of my unexpected, unplanned and unwanted extra day in Carcassonne, although it was still far too cold first thing in the morning to contemplate rushing out of bed.

By mid-morning the sun had made a welcome appearance and I ventured out - hmm - the quid pro quo for the sun bonus was a biting bitter wind that cut straight through you. My mind was constantly thinking about that runway up at the airport - sun good, cold wind bad.

For the past three years I have bought a Christmas tree from the same stallholder at the Saturday market and remarkably she remembered me straight away when I got down there today. "Ah Monsieur", she said. "Un grand sapin pour vous". She was right. I always buy one of her biggest trees because I want to make the most of our 4m high ceiling and she always tries to tell me it will be €50 for that one because it is special and she has been saving it for me and I tell her that that's bollocks and I'm only paying €40 for this one here which is better. (We don't actually say that of course because her English is rubbish and my French is just as bad but that is what we both mean with our limited words and sign language).

As I leave with the tree hoisted on my shoulder ready to take out the eye of any careless passer-by she is probably cursing me as an English cheapskate whilst I am thinking 'I wasn't born yesterday, love'. Anyway, she got her sale and I got my tree - so we were both happy.

At the meat market M Devillechabrol, the purveyor of the best confit de canard in town, was initially amused to see me again but was rapidly put in his place when Mme Devillechabrol pointed out that it wasn't at all funny that my flight had been cancelled yesterday. Bless them both for actually being interested.

By midday I realised that I hadn't eaten anything so the call from Bob was most welcome and I hurried down to the Longchamps to meet him and David and for the menu of the day which was a hearty onion soup and a plate of sauerkraut - warming, filling and ultimately windy.

I spent the afternoon and late evening in the kitchen preparing some advance goodies for Christmas and in between I took the opportunity to visit 'O' Vineyard in Villemoussetassou. I had first met the owners at the truffle fair in Moussellens back in January this year, some of my guests had visited during the year and then through a series of chance meetings and twitter contacts and blogs we were back in contact again. They were holding an open evening today which I thought I was going to miss but as it turned out I had the opportunity to visit.

Ryan's video blog of visits to vineyards in the Languedoc Roussillon region is well worth a look if you are at all interested in wine - it's very quirky but vignerons seem to open up to him more because of it. It's a new take on wine promotion and let's face it, most French vineyards in this region are rubbish at promoting themselves. Go to love-that-languedoc.com to have a look.

Dishearteningly, when I left the vineyard there was a fresh layer of snow on the ground and a slow steady snowfall has continued all evening - not serious enough to stop me driving home without a problem but I suspect with a heavy heart that it might just stop me getting back to London tomorrow. We shall see.