Summer over, time for Holiday Report

It has been a hot summer, too hot for much action, but I have just returned from my holiday to Kenya and below is the link to the Safaritalk forum where you can read my full report.

http://safaritalk.net/index.php?showtopic=7591&st=0&gopid=57082&

Tour de France short

Had a great day out at the Tour, it was amazing to see all the floats and advertising vehicles which drive through before the bikes. Unfortunately this was a much longer video but Youtube would only allow a maximum of 15 mins so I had to cut it short.

We have had really hot weather since my last entry and it has been too hot to sit in front of the computer. I would write more today but Eddie our old dog is not at all well and I am not really in the mood for being jovial, so enjoy the video and more news will follow eventually.

SPRING ROSES.wmv

Just a short video of my Spring roses. I must admit to being very pleased with them this year so far. You cannot really see how big the bushes are without being here! Sadly I can never remember all the names. Alexander, however has to be my favorite and is at its peak today on the anniversary of my Father's death (John Alexander). C'est la vie

HAPPENINGS IN APRIL

First of all the choir concerts went down very well and it was really interesting meeting the choir from Goring who seemed to enjoy their stay in France.

A couple of days after the last concert Dave's sister Cynthia and her family arrived. It was lovely to see them and thank goodness the weather was kind. They hired a car so spent quite a lot of time out and about and enjoyed the sights of Narbonne, Perpignan, Beziers and one or two other places. India was delighted to see her cousins for the first time and the three girls all got on well together.

I have almost got all my reservations settled for the great Safari in October, all that remains to be done is the visa and the anti mozzy pills!

We are experiencing warm weather and heavy rain at the moment - not good for the Easter Holiday but excellent for the garden and the roses are exceptional this year, so, sadly are the weeds! Ah well c'est la vie.

AFTER THE FLOOD

The river is almost back to normal although you can see all the rocks which have been washed down with the flood. The centre part of the river bed used to be all sand. A large tree has been uprooted and rests on the walkway which is not yet clear of water.

Since the downpours the weather has improved considerably and we now have much warmer conditions and good sunshine most days. The garden looks more like a spring garden now with the tulips giving a good display. The peach tree and the apricot tree have flowered and the cherry is about to. So things are looking up at last although I have to say that we have had a much better winter than last year.

Lunch club is still going strong although, sadly, we have had to cancel our appearance at this weeks meeting as one of our neighbours died last week and we are attending the funeral on Wednesday.

The exciting news, for me anyway, is that I have booked another safari in Kenya for October. David was hoping to come with me but has decided that because of his health it would be too risky, so the lone intrepid adventurer is off again! Three days in the Samburu, four days in the Masai Mara with my "boys" from last year and a week in Mombasa at our old stomping ground, the Mombasa Serena Hotel. Arrangements are all confirmed and I have Tina to thank because she and Tony will be coming down to do the hen, dog and "baby" sitting.

The Lamont family are due to join us on the 12th April. David's sister, two nephews and their children are coming to Bize for a week. On the 9th and 10th the choir have concerts in local villages and we are being joined by a choir from the UK so that should be fun.

In the meantime I have vowed to cut down on the vino as I had to buy a size bigger trousers the other day ! ah well c'est la vie.

Day 3 of Flood.wmv

After the last video we had a further 36 hours of rain and in the middle of the night the river invaded the village, it missed the family's house by a matter of centimetres but the local shop and the bar have been badly damaged as have many of the villagers houses. We photographed this at about 10 in the morning when the waters had receeded but the mess is obvious. Today, as I write, the river has gone down quite a lot but we have a gale blowing now which is knocking all the plants to bits, and my washing has been on and off the line now for days!!!!!

We are off to a local restaurant tomorrow for our lunch club so hopefully I will have more enjoyable matters to report.

C'est la vie

The Cesse in March 2011.wmv

We have taken this film over a couple of days, yesterday when I went to choir practice the river was calming down but today after more than 24 hours of rain it is up again and more rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
The village has been put on alert and there has already been water seeping into houses in low lying areas. Cars owners have been advised not to park their cars on the promenade. This is not the worst inundation that Bize has seen as it reached record levels in 1999 but it is definately the worst we have seen.

I was going to post about our latest lunch experiences but this flood is far more important. Our poor chickens are paddling about like ducks, at least their next boxes are dry.

More news tomorrow if I can get to the computer. At least we are not suffering like the people of Japan. C'est la vie

My Mimosa Tree

Just had to show you this, I wish you could smell it on a warm February day and we have had quite a few warm days this month. The perfume fills the garden. Must buy another!!

MAYORS PARTY 2011

Once again we were treated to a four course lunch with wine and cabaret by the Mayor of Bize. It was a beautiful day outside with warm sunshine, ideal for the garden and also ideal for the choir, who were singing at the Capestang carnival. I wished I had been with the choir because although we were given a very good meal we felt that the cabaret was not up to its usual standard. Maybe we have been to this party once too often, so I think we will probably give it a miss next year.

Earlier in the week Dave was released from the Clinic at Perpignan after having another stent fitted in this artery. He is fine thank goodness, eating, drinking and smoking just as much as ever.

We had a lovely meal with our friends in the "lunch club" on Thursday and are looking forward to the next one, next week!!! I am also hoping to go to the lemon/orange/mimosa tree plant sale next week-end. The mimosa tree I bought there two years ago is about 15' tall and full of flower at the moment.

The chickens are much happier now Christopher has built a larger enclosure for them. Their feathers are slowly growing back which is a relief and we still get an average of 3 eggs a day.

C'est la vie

Another Good Lunch

Since writing our Lunch Club has visited a couple of restaurants but yesterday's lunch was something very different. We drove down to the Canal du Midi and had our meal on a beautiful barge owned by a Dutch family who only cook for guests once a week.

It was freezing cold when we arrived although the sun was out and the canal looked beautiful. We had a short walk from where we parked the cars to the barge but we had to walk over the side of the old aquaduct which had no barrier between ourselves and the deep, choppy and no doubt very cold water. It was a rough path and my arthritic hip was not too happy, and I wondered what it would be like walking back across after a few wines!!!!!

There were 11 of us this time and we were warmly welcomed by the family. The first course was a beautiful hot soup which we thought was probably made from squash and coconut milk with coriander or something similar making it a real warmer. There were copious bottles of local wine which was delicious and the main dish was beef with various vegetables and rice. There was plenty for everyone and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The hostess then gave us a lovely warm fresh fruit salad with cinammon and cream, followed by coffee. The meal including lots of wine cost us only 8E each. Well worth the visit.

Last week I had the honour of proposing a toast to the menfolk at a Burns Supper. That was another excellent meal, haggis of course!!! and a good fun evening, with whiskey and wine flowing well. Unfortunately my camera's batteries let me down so there is no photographic record of the event.

Then came the bad news (well just when you think it's safe to go back in the water!!) David went for his annual heart tests and they found something irregular. So off we go again, he is going into Perpignan clinic on Sunday for another Angiogram and possibly a further operation. A further update on this situation will follow in due course.

The chickens are sick as well so life is a bundle of laughs at the moment. The choir is keeping me sane although we are attempting some quite difficult music at the moment but I am sure if I didnt have the rehearsals to go to I would jump off the nearest bridge. Unfortunately the nearest bridge is over very shallow water ! C'est la vie

BIRD FORMATION OVER BIZE .wmv

This was an amazing site which happens, I believe, at this time of the year all over Europe. We do'nt remember having seen it before, well certainly not in numbers like we did yesterday. The spectacle lasted for most of the morning and afternoon. Today is cloudy and the only birds we can see today are sparrows and my sickly chickens.

A few months ago the chickens started to lose feathers and we just thought they were moulting, but things have got steadily worse and now a couple of them have nasty sores which the others are pecking. I have moved the worst affected to a little cupboard I have on the terrace and things have quietened down. They are eating just the same and dont appear to be ill apart from the fact they looked plucked and ready for the oven!. We are still getting eggs although not as many. Everybody thinks they should be out in the garden all day but there is always so much cleaning up to do when they have finished scraping the earth and sh*****g all over the place. So we have decided to enlarge their enclosure yet again and in the meantime until the fencing arrives I will just have to put up with the mess.

The choir has resumed after the Christmas break and we have some new members. There will be a concert in April so we are learning some new pieces. An update on that will follow before long.

Temperatures have gone from below 0 to 15 degrees and we sat outside yesterday evening with a glass or two of red. My copy of the new Somak Africa holiday brochure arrived last week but I havent dared open it yet. I am trying to convince D that he should risk another trip, so will it be us in 2011 or will it be me in 2011/12???? Who knows - c'est la vie..................

CHRISTMAS 2010

Well it was a very white Christmas for some but we had a mixture of rain, frost, sun and wind. Some days have been quite warm others have been really cold.

The choir finished off their official performances in the seaside town of Marseillan where, like last year, we had a most appreciative audience. Several of us went to a local cafe for dinner afterwards which was very pleasant. The next day was our choir party, more food and wine (I need stronger elastic, everywhere now). David came along to the party and actually enjoyed it! The following morning we sang carols at the local supermarket.

Our lunch party returned to the Three Little Pigs restaurant in Ginestas last Thursday and had another memorable lunch (more wine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Then came Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, food, wine, food wine, food wine. Chris, Penny and India were away in England so there was only Dave and I eating and drinking! Talk about couch potatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway that is the news up to date,, just waiting now for New Years Eve - yes you have guessed it - Wine Food Wine Food literally ad nauseum!!!!!!!!!! C'est la vie.

CHATEAU CASSAN CRACKER FAIR 2010

The choir was invited to sing at the Cracker Fair in this beautiful chateau. The ancient Priory was hugely successful as the dramatic 11th century chapel attest - it was consercrated in the presence of 2 Archbishops and 16 Bishops!.

The magnificant chateau is 17th century and is said to have been built for the mistress of Prince Conti, but the Revolution put paid to such splendour. Over the years various owners including the French State have done little to preserve the building and much to damage it.

Ten years ago it was brought by a Paris property company who have slowly started to restore the building. The present plan is to turn it into a Corporate Wellness Cantre with accommodation in a new hotel to be built close by.

The choir sang a collection of Carols and Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols" in the splendid music room.

There were some amazing stalls filled with wonderful Christmas gifts which were all, sadly, too much for my pocket! Outside, although it was very cold, there were cafes serving hot and cold drinks and a great variety of food. It was a very interesting day out and a good "rehearsal" for the choir. We have two more concerts next week-end and then the choir party which should be another enjoyable occasion. Lets hope I can get all the right notes in the right order! C'est la vie.

REPAS NOVEMBER 2010.wmv

This Saturday saw us once again enjoying a superb meal with the villagers of Bize. Gosh and do the French know how to enjoy themselves. We started with Appero's which consisted of what we would call a fortified wine accompanied by local olives, this was followed by pate and salad, a very boozey sorbet, then a pork dish with potatoes dauphinoise, then cheese plate and last but not least a scrumy pudding. All washed down of course by copious amounts of wine. The coffee was served accompanied by liquers. As you will see by the video we staggered around for about 6 hours before we finally went home. David actually managed to dance this time which made a nice change he usually chickens out! So its back to the choir this afternoon for a 3 hour rehearsal before our first Christmas concert on Saturday. We have lots of new things lined up to sing which is exciting. I am finding Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols hard work but interesting and we are looking forward to learning some Bach in the New Year. The weather has turned quite cold and wet although we still get sun during part of the day. I am missing the warm weather, the cold is definately not for me. Still its only another 12 months and I will be able to start planning for my trip back to Kenya with my friend Kate. We might even manage a trip to Paxos to see Kate and Terry in 2011 if I can convince D that he will be able to travel without mishap!. C'est la vie

Your comments

Just to say thank you for all the comments I have had regarding my photos etc. The good news is that I will be going back to Kenya but maybe not until 2012. I can wait but it will be hard. I havent figured out if you can reply to comments so this is my best way of saying hello to those people I dont know. If anyone needs any ideas or help with going on safari to Kenya just let me know. I am not connected to any company I can only give advice from my experience.
C'est la vie

My Holiday in Kenya 2010

I promised some more photos and at last I have been able to sort them out. I hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed taking.

Kate and Terry's visit

Kate and Terry were amazed by the choice of produce and the size of our supermarkets. They have to go by ferry to Corfu in order to do any substantial shopping so we spent quite a lot of the holiday looking in the shops, drinking the odd glass and playing lots of cards. The weather was better than expected which was a relief. We ate out on a couple of occasions once in the steak house in Narbonne and again at our local restaurant La Salette which they prefered. Meals in Greece are more expensive now than they are in France and Kate and Terry were pleasantly surprised but the cost of the menu's.

It is very quite now they have left but I will be off to choir again tomorrow and I have managed quite a few jobs in the garden this week. The mimosa tree is full of buds and should look great this winter.

I hear regularly now from my friends at the Ashnil Camp in the Maasai Mara and there is a chance that I will be going back, hopefully with Kate towards the end of next year, sooner if we win the Euro Millions - c'est la vie!

French Strikes

This little video proves that not all demonstrations are violent or threatening. This was the scene in Narbonne during the Pension strikes. It was a carnival atmosphere which everyone enjoyed. Our friends from Paxos were with us and they thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Narbonne.

http://youtu.be/XW1_jFbelpA

Tried to put these photos properly but no luck so the above is a link to Utube.

Next photographic safari will be following our friends Kate and Terry who will hopefully be hear on Tuesday from Greece.

C'est la vie.

CHEETAH WITH KILL