Saturday was rounded off with an evening of music and conviviality at Le Comptoir. The skies cleared, the BBQ was set up, the band arrived and customers started to sit down at the tables. It turned out to be a great night. The band consisted of four guys, all very cheerful, who clearly enjoyed playing their Spanish/Catalan/French style of music, and it was all quite rollicking. A couple of women got up and danced in flamenco style. It was a nice experience to feel the Spanish influence here.
We stayed on for the food on offer, which turned out to be a long Catalan sausage, stuffed into a baguette with ketchup!
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| John's sausage was on the droopy side |
We decided it was time we went on a decent walk so set off on Sunday morning for the two-hour walk to the Ermitage San Ferreol. Knowing it is the hunting season, when every hot-blooded Frenchman heads to the hills with his dogs to try and corner a sanglier (pig), we wore our bright fluoro T-shirts and caps. However, as we neared the bush we heard the mad yapping of dogs nearby, plus the odd shout from a hunter, and thought it a much better idea to abort the planned route and take a more gentle stroll along beside the river that borders the town. It ended up a reasonable walk in the end, and definitely a much safer one.
Some of our English friends are starting to depart for their homeland. We had a final coffee with one of the older couples on Monday morning before they started the long drive northwards. Straight after, we jumped into our own car and headed into Perpignan. Our internet bill each month is excessively high and we'd decided to opt for one of the other options available with Free, our service provider. Given it is not possible to change by email or internet, we thought the best option was to front up at their office, with all the appropriate documentation in hand. A quick meal at our usual Moroccan restaurant just around the corner sounded just the ticket. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the restaurant all we found was a closed shutter. Having checked it was open on its website, this seemed rather odd, but French. There was no 'Fermeture Exceptionnelle' notice (closed for exceptional circumstances) on the door. It just wasn't open. Stymied. A couple of other restaurants were nearby, so reading their signboards for what was on offer for the day, we sat down at one of them. Unfortunately, we sat on the wrong seats for the restaurant we had chosen, and it was too late to get up and change after we realised our mistake but had already received water and a menu from the waiter. Stuff-up No. 2.
Never mind. The plate of the day was nice and we were soon around the corner again, standing outside the Free office, bang on 2pm when we thought that the all the appropriate people should be back after lunch and we'd get our service plan changed over without a problem. Alas, when we fronted up at the counter, clutching our account numbers and everything bar our son's original birth certificate, we were curtly informed that they couldn't do the changeover on the computers in front of them. It had to be done over the phone. Alas, they could not just dial '1' or something similar, to put us through to the appropriate number within their office. Incredible. We came out of the office swearing blindly at 'all things French'. After driving home, and going onto the Free website again, John found that our request could be dealt with through their WhatsApp dialogue. He typed in our request, and after a 10 minute wait received a response to say that it wasn't possible at all. We can't change our box. Fullstop. More hair-pulling from our end (have you seen how short John's hair is at the moment?), and we made the decision to dump Free as our internet provider. We are now in the process of starting up an account with Red by SFR, and a Red man is duly organised to appear next week and install it, along with fibre. Once we know it is up and running we will pull out the Freebox. It's only possible to post it back - we can't drive into Perpignan and hand (throw) it over.
Enough. The day ended on a high note because we'd invited two couples around for apero and we spent a very enjoyable evening recounting everyone's trials and tribulations with the French. We all still love it here though. At the end of the day, it's 'c'est la vie'.
A cruisy Tuesday morning, and then lunch with Australian friends at a restaurant in our square, and all was well with the world. These friends share an apartment with another Australian couple, and the four of them have decided, for a variety of reasons, that it is time to sell up and move on. They will all be clearing out their personal stuff while here, and then putting the furnished apartment, plus car, on the market next year.
Tuesday 11th October was a huge day for two reasons. First, it was Alastair's birthday. He turned 36. But cracking the bottle of bubbly was required because he and Sophie announced their engagement to family and friends today. John and I had known it unofficially for a few weeks, but A&S wanted to choose a ring first and have a special weekend at Lake Tahoe to seal the deal before they made the announcement. The first available weekend was last weekend, and, although the engagement ring was yet available, they made do with a temporary rubber one and had a fabulous and memorable two days kayaking and camping at Tahoe. It was the best ever when they could break the news, and so could we!
John and I have been keeping up our walking, and the odd trip out and about exploring, but are finding that as our days here are now numbered, we're feeling that we are running out of time. We have yet to meet up with the lovely couple who rented our apartment here in Ceret for 5 months while they had their house built in a small town about 20 minutes away. Serge is a retired gynaecologist from Luxembourg and Danièle is a retired French businesswoman who lived in Vienna for many years. They have become very good friends to us, but unfortunately we hadn't managed to catch up with them since we arrived in Ceret this year. However, we had a rendez-vous securely inserted in the calendar for the middle of October.
Danièle wanted to cook for us, so lunch was set for 1pm at their place. We arrived on time, and basically we all took up from where we had left off three years ago, i.e. pre-Covid. What a wonderful afternoon we had. We dined at a table outside as the weather was a balmy 24 degrees. They have the most amazing house, beautiful swimming pool and an array of eclectic artworks. We have a lot in common, so much so that it was 7pm by the time I looked at my watch.
That has got to be a record for 'lunch'. Six hours later and we could have kept talking! It was a fabulous time, and we are just sad that we will have to wait a year to see them again. Serge, is probably a few years older than us but has shrugged off any reference to 'old age' by growing his hair to collar length and dying it fair and by donning Bob Dylan glasses. Daniele calls it his Aussie surfie look. Danièle is nine years younger than us and is bubbly and fun.
Thursday was a wander and coffee day, and also meeting up with the other Aussie couple who share an apartment here. J&P depart next week, after spending two months here, and R&L have just arrived and will be staying through until January.
Friday has become 'group walk day'. We meet at 10am and one person leads the walk for the day. Last week it was John, this week it was Jon and, seriously, next week it is Jonathan. It was quite a jaunt today, all on the flat, but took in 10km and lasted over two hours. The destination was Château d'Aubiry, a cigarette paper magnate's son's chateau, built in the late 1800s. It's been on the market for perhaps the last decade, with its price reducing progressively down to the current 'low' of 12 million Euros. A large working winery exists next door. We crept around the boundary and took a few photos. It is gradually deteriorating, which is such a shame to see because the structure and its surrounding grounds are magnificent.
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| Chateau d'Aubiry |
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| Beautiful ironwork by Gustave Eiffel on the chateau's sad greenhouses |
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| Views up and downriver from the old railway bridge at Ceret |
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| A group of schoolchildren around the fountain in the square below us |
