Something for the Weekend

On Friday afternoon Cyrille told me that they would be working on Saturday. He is obviously anxious to press on, especially as the weather forecast remains unsettled with spells of rain. So, we had a full complement of men here at 8.30 and they have fitted the 'roofing felt' and batons to the front face of the 'second' house.

They won't be putting the tiles on until last because the weight of the roof with the tiles could push the beams on the 'back' face whilst the men are working on that side.

On Friday John saw an advert for a concert by the Brive Symphony Orchestra. It was to be held in a chateau in the next village. We've lived here nearly two years and we've never seen a chateau . So we asked directions from the local shop keeper and set off to do a reckie. It was hardly surprising that we hadn't seen it. As usual it was in the back of beyond, although the plus was fantastic wild flowers and views along the way. Well we decided that we would go for it on Saturday night. John is always worried about parking and on this occasion it was justified. The parking was in the hamlet which was about a kilometre below the chateau. A minibus had been laid on to ferry people to the summit. However the bus only took eight people at a time and as we were "younger" than a lot of those waiting we chivalrously decided to walk up/climb. On entering the courtyard we soon realised that the hike was worth every weary step. The chateau was magnificently restored and the architect had managed to incorporate the ruins without physically restoring them.

It would seem that the French are inately nosey and therefore when in Rome... We poked about peering over terraces at magnificent views and looked into some rooms that were visible from outside. Doing likewise was a lady who we talk to most days when she walks her dogs past our house. It soon became obvious that she had no idea who we were. She's never seen us in anything but work clothes so it was reassuring that we must "scrub up well", even if it is on very rare occasions. Eventually we were ushered down into the cave for the concert. What a venue! We estimated that it was a bit bigger than our barn, with a vaulted ceiling and beautifully lit. The capacity audience of all ages eventually took their seats about an hour later than the scheduled start time, but of course that is "de rigeur" in France. We thoroughly enjoyed the pieces of music by lots of different composers. However the highlight was returning to the courtyard , by a route which was lit with candles and emerging into a wonderland with the chateau and battlements stategically lit. You know I've got a thing about lighting. We said our thank you to Madam the owner and picked our way back to the car in absolute darkness. One street light, run by a generator, had been rigged up at the car park. What a magical balmy evening it turned out to be and all for 6 euros (including the night cap of a glass of wine served at the village hall afterwards). Sorry no photos, well you wouldn't expect all this when you were just going to a concert.

Today, Sunday, I was clearing up in the house because our plumber is supposed to be starting to fit the underfloor heating in the ground floor bedroom, bathroom, and the stairs passage.

Sue was planting in the veg patch; tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes and lettuce. At about 5 o'clock our neighbour Michel arrived with some trout for us. He'd spent the day fishing and he happily detoured on his way home to stop by and give us some of his catch.

We can't get over how generous our neighbours are! We try to rack our brains for what we can do in return but it is very difficult.