Monday 4 November 2013

“The time has come,” the Walrus said…

 

… to talk of many things.

Time is short so you’ll have to wait. I’ve allowed myself 20 minutes for this post while I drink my mid-morning cup of tea. Usually it would be Earl Grey, but this holiday I’ve discovered Lipton’s Lemon. I’ve bought a few boxes to take back to the UK. Anyway, I digress!

The highlight of this holiday was our annual curry evening. A large group of friends, old and new, gathered at Le Pre Vert. Delicious desserts were brought. We enjoyed a chestnut souffle cake with blueberries (Susan), sweet apple bahjies with pumpkin ice cream (Tim), Apple and blackberry crumble (Sally), chocolate gateau (Julie) and strawberry meringues (Elizabeth, who went far beyond the call of duty and covered her gorgeous black dress with meringue, cream and strawberries). She also cleaned my kitchen floor! 

We didn’t take photographs, but as it was Hallowe’en we did manage a photograph of Tim’s handiwork…

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We thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the many friends we’ve made in France. As is the nature of these events we didn’t have much time to talk to our guests but do want to thank our friends for coming, some of whom live more than an hour away. There were some notable absentees, friends who were unable to come through illness or late changes to travel plans. Jean, next year we’ll have to coordinate our dates a bit better!

Getting back to what the Walrus said, the poem, with apologies to Lewis Carroll, should read “to pack up all our things.”

Today will be busy; too busy to line up the oysters and eat them one by one. We’ll be packing up, cleaning, loading the car and trailer, draining down the central heating system and bolting the shutters.

Even though it has been raining Tim has done final brush cut along the bief. Strong winds and rain overnight mean that the bief is almost in flood. It won’t be long before it covers the path.

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27 minutes… Apologies for any mistakes. Editing takes time!

12 comments:

  1. Packing up or "closing up" the house is a hard, unhappy task I find. Something we have to do properly but don't want to do at all, especially if it's going to be many long months before we are chez nous again.

    It sounds like your curry night was a great success, I wish we could have been there, I especially like the sound of those puddings !!

    Have a safe trip home and we shall see you again next year........we will both be completely off the lead by then !!

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    1. Hi Jean,
      Shutting down for the winter is always sad and this year it could be April before we manage to get out again. We plan to have another curry evening next year so we must coordinate our dates!

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  2. Sounds like you had a great time. We have had so much rain here and 34mm just last night. Safe trip back to the UK. Diane

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    1. Thanks, Diane. A lot of rain on our journey back to the UK too. Home now and should be unpacking!

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  3. It sounds like a really fun evening with good friends. Impressive pumpkin carving!
    Hope you have a safe and uneventful journey back.

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    1. Back safe and sound.
      The pumpkin carving was a work of art. I wonder what he'll come up with next year...

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    2. How about Darth Vader [or Dark Vader in France]?

      Last night's rain caused the top of Tim's wonderful H-Van to collapse inward...
      it is now a flooded open-top!!
      I'll rescue it later and replace the top of the window with a stick...
      there is life in the old pumpkin yet!!
      We've had another centipede's worth of wet overnight...
      the bief is back up...
      potatoes are extracted with a pop from the ground rather than dug...
      can't mow...
      can't garden...
      can't get the car out of the gate (almost)...
      the longére got covered with mud from the back wheels on Monday when we returned your plate!!
      Walls, by the way, are now clean!!!

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  4. Doesn't seem like you've been there more than two minutes, Gaynor...but hope you've packed enough in during that time to feel the benefit when you get back. Batteries fully charged and off you go til Christmas!
    Axxx

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    1. Hi Annie,
      I doubt we'll be back in France until mid April, although we are off to Switzerland skiing for Christmas. I'll certainly need to have all the energy I can muster for that!!
      Hope your bonfire party goes with a bang!! ;o) x

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  5. Visits like this just fly by don't they ? It felt strange for us packing up the house in Caunes, knowing it would probably be April before we return....I hope you've had a great time, and as Annie says...wont be long before you can be back again. Jx

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    1. Same for us, Janice. We choose to drain down our systems and leave the house unheated over the winter. This works well for us.
      Have a good trip to Liverpool. Will you be staying with Jess? x

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    2. Yes... I'm with her at the moment....her teaching practice starts for real ...tomorrow. She's based in a school all the time, as part of the Schools Direct initiative, but from tomorrow, science, maths, "topic" which is history, and RE are all down to her, for her year 1 class. Today I have been making light boxes out of shoe boxes, and laminating sets of number cards and photos of Victorian kitchenalia. Her stress levels are quite high too, so I have been providing chocolate biscuits and encouragement in bucket loads. Jx

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