Rabbit on the Menu

As Betty is with us , today we decided to go to a local chestnut fair and then on to see a repeat of the Balloon display we saw at Rocamadour a couple of weeks ago. We found the village, sorry hamlet, which was hosting the chestnut fair and nothing was happening. We decided that "the fair" was infact a meal this evening. We never cease to be amazed that there are so many posters about advertising these " non events''.

Oh well, off to the balloons.However, a wild goose chase makes you hungry and thirsty so we stopped at a village on the banks of the Lot for refreshment. It turned out to be the local bar and was full of "Characters". When we arrived there were about 10 chaps playing petanque on the gravel opposite the bar. Lots of banter and all supervised by an ol' boy wearing his beret (of course) and seated in the middle of the court. Everybody soon adjourned for a drink and we began our meal. Meantime another car had drawn up and out of the corner of our eyes we noticed a rabbit was sitting on the roof. We all did a double take and assumed it was a toy, that was until its whiskers started twitching. An 'hombre' then emerged from the car and scooped up bunny covered it in kisses and took it into the bar. Soon bunny was being passed amongst pastis drinking, boule playing, rugby loving men with each giving him a kiss and cuddle and joking about him going into the pot. One of these men then decided that Betty should be part of the pass the bunny game, to her delight.

Bunny was then placed on a chair with his friend the dog until hombre was ready to go. His departure was as bizarre as his arrival. Hombre had a beat up BMW which obviously didn't have a starter motor because all of a sudden we saw him pushing the car down the slope which led directly into the Lot. Obviously he had done this many times because half way down the slope the car started and instantly he was charging up the slope in reverse. We decided that he was limited to drinking at this bar as it had the necessary geography for departure.

Feeling very mellow and thoroughly entertained we drove across country to the balloon festival. The autumn colours were magical and we stopped in a vineyard to admire the view and the produce.

Although the weather today was very warm it was also very windy, so, you've guessed it the balloons couldn't take off. Nevermind we had thoroughly enjoyed our day out.