France, Summer 2010: Week 6

Sunday 4 July - Saturday 10 July

For most of Sunday we stayed in, reading books & relaxing.  We had dinner early again so we could go for a walk, which Roger had spent some time earlier in the day sussing out.  This was along the side of the hills towards Fontès, through the gap in the hills on the Fontès road, then to and along the farmers' road towards Caux.

The planned route back over the hill turned out to be on private property, but we took it anyway and didn't see anybody.  Then it was back through the vineyards on farmers' tracks to Neffiès.  The day had been very hot and it was only just cool enough to walk when we left at around 7.30 pm.  It took 2 hours 35 minutes to walk the 11 kms so we arrived back home after 10 pm.  The thing that most struck us was the noise of the insects, presumably cicadas, which was very loud, particularly in the trees.  We didn't manage to catch a cicada or anything else making the noise but we saw lots of large insects, mostly from the cricket family.

Monday was very windy, so a planned trip to the beach was postponed.  I (Roger) cleaned off the graffiti under our letter box, done in magic marker.  Google advised Colgate toothpaste and it worked wonders, together with a washing-up sponge and a little effort.  It was still windy on Tuesday, so we stayed in and did not very much except the usual reading and lazing about.  Went out to dinner in the evening at Les Goutailles, very good as usual.

The wind had gone by Wednesday, so we went to the beach (Serignan Plage), taking our lunch with us.  On the way home we bought fruit at a stall near the beach and stopped at Pézenas Intermarché too for a few things.  Delia drove there for practice and Roger drove back.

On Thursday I (Roger) took the storage heater to pieces, because Simon had reported that it didn't seem to be working when they were here in the winter.  The three pairs of storage heater element connection screws were all very loose, so that probably meant they didn't come on at all.  Also the output flap control seemed very sticky.  It was very hot and we decided to go to the lake in the afternoon at around 3 pm, via the motorway to give Delia some driving practice, both there and back.

On Friday Roger continued to look at the storage heater a bit to try to unstick the output flap control.  It was a bit cloudy (but still hot) and we decided to go for a walk, leaving at about 3.15 pm.  This time we went down Chemin de Caux Vieux from the village and through the vineyards east of the Roujan road.  There was again lots of noise from cicadas in the trees and vines, which we couldn't see at first.  First we saw some on a concrete telegraph pole, then in the vineyards we saw lots flying around and on trees.

Here's a picture at a refreshment stop just before we crossed the Roujan road near la Peyne stream.

Then we more or less followed the stream to Source Mineral de St-Majan, then up towards St-Andrieu and back into Neffiès on Chemin des Geissières.  It rained a bit, enough for us to have to shelter near La Grange.

In the evening we went to a Conas church event at Puissalicon.  It was a film evening, starting with drinks and nibbles and voting for one of ten classic British films.  Then it was the "supporting programme" of news, ads, cartoons etc, from the 1950s, very entertaining.  They have a "cinema" in what would normally be a garage, with real cinema seats.  Supper was a take-away pizza with salad & potatoes etc.  Then it was the main film, the winner of the vote being "The Ladykillers".  This was shown outdoors on a screen suspended over the pool; a couple of people even went for a swim while it was being shown.  This was to French timing, of course, so the film didn't start until 10 pm.  We got home around midnight.

On Saturday we stayed in all day and Roger finally fixed the storage heater flap.  We were both fairly tired after our late night.

France, Summer 2010: Week 5

Sunday 27 June - Saturday 3 July

On the Sunday we went to Sérignan Plage, most of the day, taking our lunch with us, although it was lunch time when we got there.  We left the beach at 6 pm.  Unfortunately so did everybody else because it went a bit cloudy, so it took quite a while to get away from that area.  Delia drove there for practice and Roger drove back.

After our day out we stayed in mostly for the next three days.  The hot weather seems to have set in.  On Monday Delia did a lot of cooking and food preparation.  We did  a bit of washing.  Delia went to the library to get some more books whilst she could.  It was Bérénice's last day and she was running her sewing class.  We ate early so we could go to an "end of term" show put on by the "Claquettes", a tap-dancing class.  Angela from Roujan, who comes to the Neffiès French group, is in this.  It was very short (30 minutes) then some of the audience were invited to have a go.  Afterwards there were drinks and nibbles outside.  Very hot still.

On Tuesday Delia spent some time fighting with the EDF website and I wrote up our diary blog and this weekly one.  Roger is also reading La Vie Outre-Manche.  It was Delia's French lesson at 4.15, then we had early dinner on the terrace.  After that we went for a little walk, along the Fontès road, down to the frog pond after a diversion to see where it goes if you keep straight on instead of turning to cross the stream.  Then past the mill and back home via the Caylus road.

We stayed at home on Wednesday, another hot one.  In the early evening Delia went to a "spectacle" at La Place de la Chapelle, basically a man and a woman telling stories aimed at the children - very well done and followed by free drinks and nibbles, ie "appero".  There was also a presentation to Bérénice.

Then we had a fairly quick dinner and a walk: along the Fontès road and to the frog pond again, then right at the farmers' road, across the Caux road and through the vineyards a bit before coming back into Neffiès opposite the Cave Cooperative.  We saw lots of snails at dusk (it had rained a little before the spectacle) and some strange insects a bit like small frogs.  The sky was some amazing colours, from a beautiful deep blue to light blue with pink tinges.  The hills look lovely too, in the pinkish evening light.

Thursday was another beach day, Serignan Plage again.  On the way (via Pézenas as is usual now) we went to the Carrefour supermarket at Pézenas, on Avenue de Verdun.  We needed some light bulbs and something to kill the paper wasps nesting above our terrace amongst other things.  The wasps build a beautiful nest, with open hexagonal compartments like a honeycomb.

They're not agressive but do sting if provoked so it's recommended that you get rid of a nest if it's near where people go.  And this nest was under the eaves above the doorway to the terrace.

We also bought a nice little suit as a present for Max, Michael & Becky's baby; and a spring stopper to keep champagne / fizzy wine fizzy.  On the way back from the beach we stopped at the Intermarché and bought things that would have died if we'd bought them in the morning and left them in the car all day.

Squirting the wasps' nest with the insectiside at dusk worked like magic; if you squirt it on lintels and around doors and things it's supposed to discourage insects from even coming near.  We shall see.

During the day on the Friday Delia got dinner sorted (carbonnade Nîmoise).  We also started a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of what we're going to do with the rest of our lives.  Delia went to the Friday market, moved to Place de l'Ancien Couvent near the Mairie because of a disco & food at Place Jean Jaurès.  After dinner we went for a walk, bumping into Marie from next door on the way, who said were we going to the "spectacle" tomorrow (Saturday) to see the dancing girls.  She said we didn't have to go to the meal.

The walk was Chemin de la Marelle, Chemin des Geissières, left at the farm track near La Grange, along the Neffiès-Vailhan little road towards Neffiès, straight across the Neffiès-Roujan road, then through the vineyards to the old water mill and the Caylus road.  It was quite dark when we got back.

On Saturday, yet again, we did very little, staying at home reading, either a book or something to help with learning French.  Delia reads a book in French that does both, I read a book for fun and La Vie Outre-Manche to try to improve my vocabulary.  We had dinner early, about 7.00 pm, so that we could have a look at the "spectacle".  We might have done better to go to the meal as well, actually, it looked quite fun.  The show was very elaborately done, a minute stage but with all sorts of lighting and other effects and excellent sound.  There were even lasers.  So the wrapping was first class.  The content was girls singing or dancing or both, in some very good and elaborate costumes.  But the songs were either 1950s or sounded it and the girls' movements reminded me a bit of the Youth Club pantomime.  They simpered.  10 out of 10 for presentation but maybe only 3 for content.