Sunday 15 August - Saturday 21 August
On Sunday we went to church at Conas and enjoyed the sermon by Mark. Mark and his partner Nick were staying in Neffiès, it turned out, for a week, so we gave them our number and suggested they give us a call and come round for a drink or dinner or whatever.
Then we had been invited to Sheila and David's for a barbecue lunch. There were 25 of us, lots of room in their lovely garden next to the pool. There were several people there that we knew (Diane and Nick included), plus some British people living in Neffiès that we hadn't met before. Later some went for a swim. We got home around 7 pm. This is the life.
Then we had been invited to Sheila and David's for a barbecue lunch. There were 25 of us, lots of room in their lovely garden next to the pool. There were several people there that we knew (Diane and Nick included), plus some British people living in Neffiès that we hadn't met before. Later some went for a swim. We got home around 7 pm. This is the life.
All we can remember about Monday is that we went for a short walk in the early evening, but otherwise stayed at home.
On Tuesday also we did not do much during the day. In the evening we had dinner early and went to a concert by Cambridge Chorale at Roujan church. They were in Roujan at La Maison Verte for a week and were really, really good. The programme was:
* Extraits de Lamentationes Ieremiae Prophetae - Alonso Lobo (1555-1617)
* As torrents in summer - Edward Elgar (1887-1934)
* The Blue Bird - C V Stanford (1852-1924)
* All Creatures Now - John Bennet (1599-1614)
* Messe - Frank Martin
* Psalm 121, requiem aeternam, I heard a voice from heaven du Requiem - Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
* Chattanooga Choo-Choo - Harry Warren (1883-1983), arr Dave Maychel
* The Nearness of You - Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981), arr Mark Gillard
* Country Gardens - Percy Grainger (1882-1961), arr David Tall
The Frank Martin piece must have been particularly hard to sing but they performed it so well that they sounded like one instrument instead of many voices. There were lots of people there that we knew. We went to the reception afterwards and talked to Angela and also somebody from church called Bobbie and a French lady. Most of the Neffiès people had gone home for a late dinner, we assume. Delia is now on the e-mailing list for La Maison Verte, which is an arts centre but specialising in music, as the (British) people who run it are themselves musicians.
* Extraits de Lamentationes Ieremiae Prophetae - Alonso Lobo (1555-1617)
* As torrents in summer - Edward Elgar (1887-1934)
* The Blue Bird - C V Stanford (1852-1924)
* All Creatures Now - John Bennet (1599-1614)
* Messe - Frank Martin
* Psalm 121, requiem aeternam, I heard a voice from heaven du Requiem - Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
* Chattanooga Choo-Choo - Harry Warren (1883-1983), arr Dave Maychel
* The Nearness of You - Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981), arr Mark Gillard
* Country Gardens - Percy Grainger (1882-1961), arr David Tall
The Frank Martin piece must have been particularly hard to sing but they performed it so well that they sounded like one instrument instead of many voices. There were lots of people there that we knew. We went to the reception afterwards and talked to Angela and also somebody from church called Bobbie and a French lady. Most of the Neffiès people had gone home for a late dinner, we assume. Delia is now on the e-mailing list for La Maison Verte, which is an arts centre but specialising in music, as the (British) people who run it are themselves musicians.
We had planned for Wednesday to be a beach day (postponed from Tuesday because we heard about the concert), but Mark phoned in the morning to suggest a meeting. He and Nick came around at 4.30 pm for "afternoon tea" in the courtyard. We had a very enjoyable time; they are on the same wavelength as us.
Delia went to French in the morning on Thursday. The meteo had said that it would be cloudy, so we went on a three to four hour walk. Unfortunately the meteo was wrong and the sun shone most of the time, so we sweated and glowed rather a lot. The walk included some new bits that were very nice, on the Roujan side of the main Roujan/Vailhan road.
On Friday we went on a Balade Vigneronne, with the Cave Coopérative. This started at 9 am with a two-hour walk through vineyards and up the hills west of Neffiès. It was a bit too hot for this really. There was not time to come down via the mineshaft so we returned by a shorter route, to dégustation in the cave. Then there was a short tour of the winemaking bits, followed by an excellent lunch at Les Goutailles, with three wines, one for each course. It cost €13 each. Then we came home to bed to sleep it off.
We finally got to go to the beach on Saturday, to Serignan Plage. On the way, when we were driving parallel to the A75 just before we had intended to get onto it at Pézenas, we noticed that the traffic was stationary. So we kept on the N9 to Valros, where there was another little bouchon for the traffic lights in the village, just like when we used to stay there. We turned left at Valros and went across country (Montblanc, Saint-Thibéry, Vias, Portiragnes), avoiding all main roads except for a bit of the D612.
When we left to come home Delia picked some of the blue flowers that grow in profusion near the beach (we've been waiting for them to come out) for a dry flower display. I took some photos of her doing this; the camera made a funny clicking noise when turning on and didn't seem at all happy. More of this in a day or two. We bought fruit from the stall near the beach and also went shopping at Pézenas Intermarché. The unfinished bit of the A75 had been opened, one lane and our direction only with a 50 kph limit. There was still a bouchon in the other direction all the way from the unfinished bit west of Valros almost to Pézenas. We had simple dinner, only two courses, starting with pizza.
When we left to come home Delia picked some of the blue flowers that grow in profusion near the beach (we've been waiting for them to come out) for a dry flower display. I took some photos of her doing this; the camera made a funny clicking noise when turning on and didn't seem at all happy. More of this in a day or two. We bought fruit from the stall near the beach and also went shopping at Pézenas Intermarché. The unfinished bit of the A75 had been opened, one lane and our direction only with a 50 kph limit. There was still a bouchon in the other direction all the way from the unfinished bit west of Valros almost to Pézenas. We had simple dinner, only two courses, starting with pizza.
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