Well, we were either brave or stupid, or perhaps both, but we invited two French couples for dinner a few nights ago and served them an Asian stir-fried main course. It was a hugely successful evening. We have got to know both couples quite well and they are extremely easy-going and good fun. The four hours of conversation went very quickly, with a wild mix of English and French going on in all directions. Pascale and Miquel always bring a lovely gift when they come to dinner here - this time a beautiful hand-blown glass bowl. For Véronique and Jean-Pierre, it was the first time they had seen our apartment. They were intrigued by the whole building, especially the two generous staircases and lobbies. The latter are very unusual in France. They brought us some gorgeous yellow lilies. In France, one doesn't generally take wine when going out to dinner. It is the job of the host to choose which wine will suit the meal the best. Instead, they usually take flowers or some other gift.
The father of the owners above us, Francis, is planning to pull all the owners of the apartments in our building together for a meeting of the copropriété sometime in the next few weeks. We hope to discuss a repaint of the inside lobbies and fix a few leaks in the overhead skylights. It would be really good to get a new coat of paint on the interior walls. Two apartments have serious renovations going on at the moment, but when those are completed virtually the entire building will have been overhauled within the last few years.
Autumn is definitely here. Over the last few days council workers have been out in their cherry-pickers, pruning off lower branches from the plane trees around town. They are now starting to drop their leaves with a vengeance. The pruning has created a lot more light in the main street and has opened the place up quite a bit. We are enjoying being two of about only a dozen people who regularly sit out at Bar Pablo with a coffee. The waiters don't even bother coming to take our order any more. After just 3-4 minutes they front up at our table with our café and noisette in hand, and a kiss on each cheek for me :). C'est bon!
We invited Madame Delard, our neighbour from the other side of the church square, to join us for coffee at Pablo today. She is in her 80s, very sprightly and always very keen to chat with us. She is very sad that her parents' mas (farm and house), which has been in the family for over 750 years, is about to be sold. No-one in the extended family wants to live there as their lives are elsewhere.
Tomorrow we are off on an exchange to Sitges, on the coast near Barcelona for four days. It will be a home-hosting for us, instead of a home exchange. We hosted the young Spanish couple who own it at our place on Walters Bluff over New Year's Eve earlier this year. They are interesting and we are looking forward to seeing them again, and jumping in their lap pool :).
