We have just returned from a very pleasant afternoon sampling wines at Château de Cointes - one of our local vineyards
As we tasted a wide range of wines under the large pine trees, we were entertained by Jeff’H, who played a variety of Rock, Blues and Country music. It was a lovely setting with views over the vineyards and the Malepère Hills. Needless to say, the wine we liked the best was the most expensive!
The lorries and trailers that were here for the Fête Locale this week have finally left Arzens. The stage has been dismantled and everyone is getting ready for the Rentrée and vendange.
The fête ran its usual course. On Saturday we went to the repas at the Arzenais, which was Paëlla. It was lovely to meet 2 Irish families who were staying in the village and were taking part in the village activities.
Over the four evenings there were a variety of groups which followed meals or tapas at the Arzenais and apéros in front of the foyer. If you didn’t feel inspired to dance, you could go on the dodgems or any of the other attractions that were on the road.
On Sunday, members of the Comité des Fête came round the houses giving out plants. We were entertained by a piano-accordionist who played a melody of tunes. As soon as he realized we were English, he played ‘God save Our Gracious Queen’!
The other evening, as we were getting ready for bed, we noticed that a scorpion had walked into the dining-room. We managed to put the offending beastie in a glass and took it down the road. Our reference books told us that scorpions here are not dangerous to humans, but we weren’t going to take any chances.
Yesterday the weather was amazingly hot, 34 degrees! It was lovely sitting by the pool doing crosswords, Sudokus and reading my book then dipping into the water to cool off. We ate dinner outside and just before bed had a lovely refreshing swim. As we swam the most amazing full moon appeared. According to the forecast, we were to have a clear night and the same weather today – no, (we should know the France météo forecasts by now). At 3 o’clock we could hear the distant rumble of thunder over the mountains. Gradually the thunder and lightening grew closer until it was right overhead. The noise was incredible. Once the storm had blown over, the rain arrived. Fortunately it didn’t last long and we were able to get back to sleep.
