So many events can't remember them all. But we're feeling sad as many we have spent the past three years with over winters are leaving for places back further north, mostly Briare. We will miss them terribly.
Gorete and Niki the two women onboard Puddleduck got married back in Guernsey and hosted a wedding celebration party back here in Castelnaudary. Mike went mad and produced many different balloon shapes for all and sundry.
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| Muriel was the lucky recipient of this one! |
Sally organised a collection to buy a wedding present, and it was decided to buy them their hearts desire - an ice maker. As a joke Sally first presented them with this plastic ice tray!
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| They did appreciate the joke! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Then came the real thing
After many problems the cake, which had been ordered from Marks & Spencer in the UK, finally arrived and miraculously was still intact, despite being dropped upside down by Steve!
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| The Wedding Cake! |
Jude contacted her friends Sandra and ?? in Buzet who came and played at the bar l'Indus for her birthday party.
I thought it would be a good idea to hold a pancake race on Shrove Tuesday - 5th March this year. It was a beautiful day and a good turnout with 19 people attending. I bought pancakes/galettes for all to toss and Sally provided tea and coffee.
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| Nigel trying to give the rules! |
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| In progress |
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| The winners! (Linda, Sally and Jude) |
The Book Club this month was held on 7th at the premises of Petra and Paul who have a large house they converted in the centre of Bram and now has gites to rent. Their property is truly a gem in the middle of a typically scruffy French town. Aptly the phrase " One can't judge a book by it's cover" comes to mind. One really has to poke around to peel away the layers of debris and to find the gems! We gave the actress Victoria Carling, who lives along the canal from us, a lift to Bram. It was a well attended group, about 20 gathered. Perhaps the sunshine brought us all out.
Over the weekend of 9/10th we finally managed to get together with Geoff and Carina. We haven't seen them for several years when they were running their guest house in Bournemouth. They now have a small house in Grou d'Agde, where they will spend their winters. Having also bought a cute little wooden summer house near Linkoping in the forests. So we hope to see much more of them now they are closer to us. Lovely to catch up with them. Such relaxing people. It completely changed my views of Agde. When we cruised through on our way down here, we just moored at a grotty bank, which was full of down and outs, camping alongside, and all we saw was the old town, which is built of black asphalt rock. Very depressing. Either side of the old town is much brighter! The mayor is now also encouraging artists into the centre and the shops are full of very interesting objects for sale.
Someone else likes Tashi's bed.
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| Delilah making herself at home! |
Tuesday 12th saw the arrival of the previous owners of our boat, Gea and Gerritt Bosma. I was feeling quite nervous, like a pupil awaiting the verdict of the headmaster. But they were as charming as ever. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very kind to them. It rained and was cold. They are on their way down to visit his brother in Benidorm where it will be much warmer.
The first LeBoat of the season passed us by on Friday 15, and after that many more joined them. Hope that's not a foretaste of what's to come!
Earlier that morning I went for preparatory treatment for a tooth implant. I don't know how I got talked into that. I swore I would never had one. Now I know why. Once the anesthetic wore off I was in agony, and the painkillers made me feel as though I was living on another planet! Completely out of it. I spent quite a while in a daze. Then a huge black bruise developed on that side of my face. Of course Ni took lots of ribbing from fellow boaters about the bruising!!!
That evening Sally organised a champagne and wine blind tasting in the quay side boulangerie. Another event enjoyed by all.
Cary was the first to leave port, allbeit backwards!
The following week it was Castelnaudary film festival, with particular emphasis on Britanique. I indulged in three films:
The Guernsey Potato and Peel Pie Literary Society, The Bookshop, and
Mary, Queen of Scots. A good week.
Saturday 23rd saw the return of the British owned Fish & Chips van, who came over especially for the festival. They will now come back monthly for the season. Such a treat!
As I didn't manage to hold my planned Ladies Tea Party during the winter, I invited all on Tuesday 26th. I had checked the weather forecast beforehand. It was certainly sunny, but the wind had a cool edge to it. Nevertheless we braved the elements for a few hours. Funnily enough not one cup of tea was brewed, just one coffee was made, but we got through a hell of a lot of bottles of champagne. Strange that!?As luck would have it, it was Sharon's birthday, so good timing in the event.
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| All the port Ladies onboard Gesina. |
Wednesday 27th we had a strange surprise late afternoon. A character looking very like Kenneth Connor, knocked on our window demanding to see 'Monsieur'. He was dressed in black, narrow legged trousers, and what looked like a black frock coat, but was in fact an overall, white shirt, and red ribbon tied in a floppy bow at his neck. He looked like a characature and at first Ni thought it may be a Candid Camera sketch. Looking around he could see no-one else with the man. The The Man gabbled away in French demanding to know how many fire extinguishers we had onboard, and to see them. Still no identification produced. A very helpful young teenager who had just come out of the boulanerie began to translate the conversation. It transpired The Man was checking extinguishers, re-pressurising them and updating them, on the authority of the Mairie. So there we were €63 poorer and our systems updated. It would have been nice to have advanced warning of this as Ni was in the middle of servicing the engine. During all these goings-on a couple stopped with their bicycles and asked if we could lend them a pump as the man had a flat tyre! Chaos reigned with a household neighbour butting in and producing 4 different pumps. We never knew what happened to the couple!
Someone's in for trouble if they meet this dredger on a narrow bend. At the moment it's heading upstream so hopefully it won't bother us when we finally get going.
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| Mothers Day flowers. |
