Spring?

It is exactly 2 years since we left the UK, and it is weekends like this that confirm that our decision to move was a good one. The weather has been fantastic. It has been more like spring rather than the end of January.

Yesterday Richard and I decided to walk on the plateau at Leucate. We have a book of local walks and have tried this particular one several times. In spite of following the signs carefully, we never seem to complete the route as planned. I think we have cracked it now, with a few deviations. The sun was warm, sky was blue and it was lovely to see the almond blossom beginning to flower. Bees and butterflies were flying everywhere. We even found a flock of sheep with lambs.

Today we went to a truffle fair. Again as usual, it is based around food and drink.
There were stalls in the village selling baguettes. There was a choice of foie gras, magret or truffle omelette. I decided to have the magret and Richard the omelette. They were lovely. One could also sample a variety of wines from local vineyards. One of the highlights of this fair is the Banda, Les Bestioles de la Garrigue. Their music certainly put a smile on everyone’s faces and made the feet tap.

Health Cover

After coming home from shopping, I put the computer on checking for e-mails, checked the next Scrabulous challenge that my daughter, Sally, might have set me and checked the latest forum updates. There it was on the Anglophone-direct forum. Someone had written that there had been an update on the latest health issues for Ex-pats. As "early-retired inactives", we knew that our health cover would run out this month, so since the news was announced last year that our health cover would cease, we have been looking for a good assurance policy. We finally made our decision and received our acceptance from the company last week. Fortunately we were given a 14 day cooling off period which runs out tomorrow, so we quickly sent the appropriate paper work, cancelling the policy.

I guess we will have to wait at least another couple of weeks for the message about the new rules to get to our local CPAM. It is then going to be a matter of filling in CMU application forms and getting our Cartes Vitale re-issued. Remembering how long it took to get them first time round I am not going to be holding my breath. After that, we will have to re-start our Complementary Insurance. In the meantime, I assume, we will just have to pay for any medical treatment and keep all our receipts.

Our route home from the post office took us past the local bergerie. The herd somehow had got out and were blocking the road. They decided that they would return home, slowly, in front of our car. Thirty minutes later, they arrived at their field. It was amazing that we didn't see any cars during this time. As it was at 12:30, I suspect most of the usual people using the road were probably sitting down for lunch.

Sunday Lunch

The forecast was right. The sun is shining and after the last few days of grey skies we decided to head to the Med. When we decided to move to France, one of my criteria of places to live, was to be able to have Sunday lunch overlooking at the sea. We did that today, outside and in shirtsleeves. After our lunch at Cap d'Agde we drove to Marseillan Plage. The sun was so warm, it even encouraged me to paddle. It was lovely seeing people on the beach making the most of the winter sunshine.

Fresh Air and Fun

This week, we had read in the local papers, "If you walk around Puichéric on the 2nd Sunday in January, you risk being surprised by the noises that you hear". As the sun was shining, we decided to visit la Foire du Cochon and find out what was going on.

We walked around the village looking at the variety of stalls. To be honest, we have seen most of them at the various fairs that we visited in the last 2 years, but somehow they always look a little different. This fair was based on 'porc' products, with samples of sausages and other foods.

The highlight was the pig racing. There were 2 races at 11:30 and more at 3 o'clock. The piglets were released from their pens and had to run around a small ring, encouraged by a number of children. The piglets ran everywhere with no idea of the urgency of the occasion. One little pig even managed to get into the area in the centre where the smaller children stood. There was more squealling coming from the children than the pigs. Here are a few photos as well as a video of the event

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38gMzHwfgOQ

After the races there were the customary apéros donated by the Mairie.

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As we have joined a gym which is staffed by Carcassonne Rugby League players we have been to quite a few league matches. We hadn't seen a live Rugby Union match since we left the UK, so after lunch we decided to rectify this and went to see Carcassonne versus Villefranche. The match was good and Carcassonne won, but boy, was the wind cold! It is quite exciting watching the match with a backdrop of the Carcassonne Cité.

Garden Visitors

We have just seen a red squirrel running around the garden. It went off the pool-house roof, down the BBQ, up the palm trees then into the hedge. We have known it was about because of the tell-tale eaten walnuts and scrunching sounds coming from the hedge but haven’t seen it for over 2 years since the cat chased it. They are so much sweeter than the common grey one sees in the UK.

We’re off to Ikea to buy a mirror. It seems to be a common thing to do at the moment.

A Walk in the Malepère

Every Tuesday, weather permitting, Les Randonneurs de la Malepère, walk around the countryside. As it takes about 10 minutes to greet everyone with a traditional “2 kiss” or hand shake, one always has to turn up early. Yesterday there were 24 on the walk! We drove to Montclar and set off. It began with a steep climb into the Malepère hills. Once we got to the top, the view was worth the climb. Looking towards the Pyrenees, we could see the mountains of Pic de St-Bartélemy, Pic de Soularac and les Monts d’Olmes.

Once we arrived back at the cars, 2 galettes des rois and bottles of Blanquette were produced. The gateaux are usually eaten around the 6th January. The tradition actually dates back to the 14th century. It is an ancient festival which celebrates the 3 kings who brought gifts to Jesus, soon after he was born.

A ’fève’ (*originally a bean but now tends to be a plastic trinket) is baked inside the cake and the cake is shared around the table. Whoever receives the fève is then crowned king or queen for the day. The Queens on this occasion were Bernadette and Christianne. The refreshment was much appreciated.

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For the last few weeks we have been having major problems with our computer. There have been pop-ups and horrible blue screens warning us that we had serious viruses and needed to download software. Richard wrote to a local forum, based in the Languedoc area and they suggested contacting “Security Cadets”. After much communication between the two, I think that the problem has been solved (touch wood).

Château Comtal

After living near to Carcassonne for 2 years now, we have visited the Cité numerous times but we still hadn’t visited the Château Comtal. This is partly due to the cost, (nearly 10 euros each) or the fact that every time we think of lashing out, the queues are usually too long. Anyway, we noticed yesterday in L’Indépendant, the local paper, that until March, entry is free on the first Sunday of each month.

We arrived at the ticket booth, half expecting it to be heaving, but no, it was so quiet, as was the Cité. This could be due to the weather, which was rather drizzly, the end of holiday festivities or people getting ready for work tomorrow.

The Château is amazing and the restoration that is going on must cost millions of euros. It makes one realise how difficult life must have been during the Cathar wars.



I think that if the sun is out on the next free Sundays, we will go again and may be this time see the Pyrenees. Today, we could barely see the Black Mountains.

After our visit, we had a coffee in a café in Place Marcou. It was great to be able to visit a café or restaurant without the smell of cigarette smoke!

By the way, Tabby brought another mouse in last night. Unfortunately this one was past helping.

Tabby's Adventure

At 4 o’clock this morning we heard the tell-tale sound that means that our cat, Tabby has brought in a little friend to play with. Yes, she had a mouse! I have got mice trapping down to a fine art now. Fortunately Tabby usually drops her “little friend” in the same place, so I quickly get the humane mouse trap and place it appropriately and within 5 minutes, the poor little mite is back outside. It usually takes me a little longer to get back to sleep than the cat!



This is the cat in question.