We’ve had a week free of  MEN! However, a week ago on  Friday (9^th) Martyn fixed up a water butt for us at the SE corner of the house:

By Sunday morning it was FULL and overflowing! It does rain here sometimes, and when it does ……

But on sunny days we have lunch out on the terrace and the temperature, in the sun, can still be over 40°C.

We’ve had another battle with THAT BANK, Santander; I set up a standing order to have most of our money transferred each month to the currency brokers. A few days later I found our account was blocked. It took two 20 minute phone calls, much of the time on hold listening to S-der’s ghastly music to discover that the account was blocked because of that standing order. They restored access to the account online but DIDN’T tell me the standing order had not been actioned. I found that out by checking the account again later the same day …. Another phone call …..

French red tape is irritating, but we knew that before we came. We’re trying to organise healthcare. The internet said we could go to the Mairie in Chalabre on a Monday afternoon and register the S1 forms which we now have from the DWP in England. A phone call to confirm this said no, we had to go to Limoux. Well, we go there about once a week anyway and the drive over there in beautiful weather and autumn colours was a pleasure, but at the office of CPAM (never mind) we were told that we would have to make an appointment to register the S1s. We’d also need the ‘usual’ sheaf of supporting documentation. So we made the appointment and we didn’t seem to mind too much because we then enjoyed a lunch in bright sunshine on the square surrounded, we guess, by Limoux’s office and shop workers taking their 1½  hour lunch break.

 Next day, Friday 16^th, we closed the doors on Sunejo with all the decorating and unpacking still to do and set off towards the mountains. Just before we left, we phoned M. Antoine in Poitiers and were pleased to learn that he has the part for Harry’s repair and was ‘on the job’.  (I sense an intervention in pink approaching ….)

 Harry est en train d’être réparé ? Harry is being repaired ? When do we go and find him?

 We don’t know – soon, we hope; tell us about the trip to Andorra if you like. 

Ah, oui. Avec plaisir! C’était magnifique ! It was wonderful! First, there were those autumn colours all around,then we stopped so that M’sieur et M’dame could have their pique-nique – oui! Le 17 novembre ils pique-niquaient en pleine air! Not only in open air, but in full shade – the sun was shining on the other side of the valley ;

and they were sitting on a stone bench! OK, OK, they did put a rug on it, but still. …

Then on up to the snow (nearly);

a long climb with many ‘squiggles’ (bends, hairpins).

At the first town in Andorra  we stopped and they went and booked into the hotel where they had a meal last time we came. They were able to keep an eye on me from their room:

But they soon came out and drove a bit further up the hill. The snow was not really close by, and it looked as if people had tried to make a ski run (a piste) with some artificial snow, or moved some from somewhere, but no-one was skiing and none of the chair lifts was in use. 

 Back down in the town they started SHOPPING! Stuff in bottles, mainly. Then they were lucky to get a parking place right outside the hotel, almost under their own window.

Dinner was ‘à volonté’ – as much as you want for just 10 euros ; buy an apéritif and get a small glass of bubbles free with dessert! Then a ‘digestif’ with coffee. This is why we didn’t want the 2 hour drive home after the meal. The night would have been good but for some late-arriving young men in the room above ours who appeared to be re-arranging the furniture at 3am!

Next morning, after a bright start,

the weather was not quite so good, but we drove on to the town of Andorra La Vella  

and nearly bought a new computer. But fortunately the assistant told us that ‘Office’ on the computer was in Spanish! No sale – but we bought a camera instead. 

And then I had to bring them all the way back up the mountain 

and down the other side,

then along the valley of the Ariège, through Ax Les Thermes and Foix. At Pamiers we stopped to visit Isabelle – the partner of the man who played the guitar with M’sieur at Puivert. Unfortunately Assan was not there but it was nice to see Isabelle again and meet her little girls. Then we came home. 

We did. Now we have new neighbours! 

The cows have been grazing on the hillside till now and we just hear the bells that some of them wear as they come in in the evening, or go out in the morning, but on Monday they were let into the field opposite the house.

 

Also on Monday we heard that Harry is ready for collection ….. 

En route, alors?! What are we waiting for? ….