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.