Thursday was a big day. We began with a swim at the pool, and were delighted to find that the lifeguards had put in lane ropes in the 'swimming lengths' portion of the pool. It was just so much better, and we both had a really good swim. No-one was colliding with anyone else. After giving profuse thanks to the lifeguards, we headed off to Le Comptoir to meet our good friend Liz for a coffee. Liz has lived in Ceret for many years, then decided to retire to Wellington to be near a son and his family. However, she found that she missed Ceret too much, so earlier this year she returned to live here again. She has another son and his family now living here. We spent a very enjoyable hour catching up with each other.
With not too much time to spare, we jumped into our trusty car (we love it again now it has a new battery) and drove into Perpignan to Hyundai for its long delayed check to have the leak in its air-con fixed. Alas, after waiting in the reception area for two hours, the verdict was that, while they could recharge the air-con as a temporary measure, it was necessary to put a tracer in the system which they could use further down the track to find out where the leak is. In short, we had the air-con up and running but would have to bring the car back after our trip to Tuscany. The ultimate fix might be easy, or it could be extremely expensive. Also, because the car is so old, the type of gas used to recharge the aircon is being phased out, and Hyundai only have two containers left. Once it is gone, it is gone, and the system won't be retrievable. So we are hoping that when they look at the tracer in September, the fix will be easy, reasonable, and we will be able to refill the unit with the gas they have left. That should see us through for the lifetime of the car and the lifetime of us living in Ceret. We prefer not to think about Plan B. A car without aircon would be impossible in this changed climate.
Arriving home at 6pm we had a quiet evening, and in fact a fairly quiet next few days. We have done the odd walk early in the morning while it was still coolish, and picked blackberries that are starting to ripen beside the tracks. The Saturday morning market was fun, as usual. It is still very well patronised, even though it is hot and sticky. It seems to be the men who suffer most, with their shirts or T-shirts plastered to their backs.
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| Market stall sign - Ail (garlic) Violet and Ail Rose (the names of our two granddaughters, more or less). |
The gods delivered bigtime when we had a deluge of rain at around 3pm. Thunderstorms had been forecast, but this time they delivered serious rain, not just a few drops. It was magnificent. We stood on our balcony and looked out at the rain soaking the trees and the square below. Sylvie, the hairdresser on the ground floor of a building on the other side of the square, gave us a big thumbs up and punched the air. Everyone was so relieved to see some rain.
This morning, Sunday, we set off on another early walk, hoping to spy some more ripening berries. It was clear to see that at least some of the vegetation, which had been gasping, was looking like it had perked up. With more rain forecast this afternoon, hopefully this will mean the drought is coming to an end.
Monday. Well, the rain didn't eventuate yesterday and it's looking unlikely this afternoon too. We set off on one of our circuitous walks just after breakfast. The rain on Saturday had definitely helped bring along the blackberries and we managed to collect almost two kilos that are ripe or almost ripe. They aren't very big, but they will be perfect atop our breakfast muesli. We usually harvest enough to see us through the months until we depart for home.
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| Ant hills created by very large ants. You can see the lines of entrance and exit from their nests. Before the recent rain these tracks were clearly visible across the field for quite some distance. |
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| View from Le Comptoir |
