Bathrooms finished! THE MEN returned for a couple of days, so we now have a complete en suite to the guest room:
(with gruesome, ghostly image in the mirror!)
as well as a little cloakroom off the corridor.
Living room furnished! Carol got down to staining the woodwork round the stove,
and laying the new carpet:
The piano and other items got moved to their intended position,
and on Tuesday December 18th we took delivery of the sideboard:
Yes! As if we didn’t already have an excess of furniture, we decided we needed a sideboard and found this one in a second hand depot in Mirepoix. We’re very pleased with it.
Christmas and Boxing Day Less than a week before Christmas we were having lunch outside, followed by a siesta in the sun, and wondering whether it was true that Christmas dinner is sometimes taken on the terrace …
Anyway, we bought a duck ( a dead one!) and tried to find the base for the fibre-optic Christmas tree; then we learnt that Daniel had decided to join us for Christmas and would be arriving at Carcassonne airport at 17.20 on Sunday evening. The duck, we were sure, was enough for three, and the tree base came to hand just in time:
Well, that matched the cake. My cake is usually underdone, if anything, but I haven’t fully adjusted to Sunejo’s electric oven yet, and I think we have a few burnt currants!)
Given the choice between Galamus Gorge and Andorra as Boxing Day’s exursion, Daniel chose the latter with its prospect of snow scenery and tax-free shopping.
[Galamus, of course, is just beyond and below Bugarach, the one place on earth where the world wasn’t going to end last week; it caused traffic chaos all around, lots of police activity and the cancellation of several evenings’ events in Quillan – perhaps that was the end of the world for some!]
As we climbed towards Andorra, it became apparent that we were indeed in for a snow-fest and I was a bit worried that we might be turned back, having no snow chains. Or that fresh snow might fall while we were up there and we’d get trapped.
But the cloud burnt off, and the roads remained clear, so that at Pas de la Casa, although we might have benefitted from more suitable footwear, driving little Sally was no problem
Where last time we went there was a thin line of (probably) artificial snow, this time the mountains were a hive of activity; all the lifts fully active and skiers and snow boarders sliding down, falling down, whatever else they do.
We went to our usual “buffet à volonté” restaurant for lunch, which was very busy, and thanks to Daniel for picking up the bill, then we drove on up and over the highest point for the less expensive fuel and the shopping. Still not wanting to be ‘up there’ after dark we shortened the return by taking the tunnel back to Pas de la Casa. This let us start the descent into an interesting sunset:
‘Interesting’ because it seemed to be in the wrong place! In the east, not the west – we were travelling North, we thought, and it was on our right?!
Daniel left this morning, and we are turning our attention to our next episode: we return to the UK on New Year’s Day; Trevor, our host for the three weeks of Harry’s breakdown in May (Esperanto hospitality to the rescue!), is getting married on January 6th and we intend to battle whatever England’s weather chucks at us to be in Mudeford for that event.
Et moi, qu’est-ce que je fais?
Tu restes là, et tu gardes la maison – that’s a big responsibility, you know!
Is it? Vraiment? Oo là, là!
– and we’re hoping to get him sorted with an MoT (he’s still UK registered). We’re also hoping to get me some treatment for this leg which has been playing up all year, and, of course, we’ll visit as many family and friends as we can.
What a year it’s been! Perhaps our wish for ourselves is that 2013 might be a little less exciting – or exciting in a different way! And for family and friends we can only wish you health and happiness, and if there’s anything left – that n all!
Stephen's space 
Glad things are getting sorted. What’s up with the leg, Stephen? Is it arthritis? I.ve been SO much better since my hip replacement, though it did take a while. Now my left hip is beginning to play up a bit! C’est la vie! If you’re anywhere near Holyhead when you come to England do pop in. You’d be most welcome.We could put you up if wanted. It’s good to be able to look out of our kitchen and lounge windows and see the sea to the left and, in the distance on the right, Snowdonia with some snow on the tops. Very peaceful here. Just right for our stage of life!!! Cats are enjoying it too. Hope Harry gets ‘sorted’ all right. Tell Sally that she is privileged to be trusted to look after the house! Well, Happy New Year and safe travel over here. X
Thank you! This vist will be England only, we think, with no wanderings westwood into Wales …. – this time! As for the leg, we don’t really know what’s wrong with it, though it’s not arthritic. It just doesn’t want to function properly all the time, and then gives sudden twinges of greater or lesser severity for no consistent reason.And in reply to Mark’s e-mail, no, the winder for the table hasn’t turned up yet, so it’s a good thing there were only three of us for Christmas!
"vist" = visit
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{page:WordSection1;} –></style><!–[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" /> </xml><![endif]–><!–[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout v:ext="edit"> <o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" /> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]–></head><body lang=EN-GB link="#EB7400" vlink="#EB7400"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>This came through as an email – rather than a link – and no pictures – though the text was clear!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>Safe travelling – see U next year!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>CLT is now installed at 47 and she and JWT have worked hard all weekend to clean the place – which had been left VERY mucky. I drove the van on Saturday for two trips – so we did about 10 miles! (And helped load it – well the first time: JWT was hard at cleaning so that the place was able to receive the first load.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>We spent a fair while this afternoon trying to remove the broken loo seat (the seat was broken not the loo) – but one nut has defeated our best efforts so far (and lashings of WD40)! We may need to give in and call in a specialist – grrrrr….; we have been trying to get a plumber since before Christmas so sort out our loo’s flushing mechanism – no calls returned and then we were away in the New Forest and had to adapt to a whole week with no internet!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>We shall look forward to seeing you both on 13th. At present weather is mild (though wet in some places with serious problems) so probably no need to hook up – if we can park here – or I come up with a better option.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>Phil Thompson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>020 3583 0638<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’>07866 541 890<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D’></span></p><div><div style=’border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm’><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style=’font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"’>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style=’font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"’> SoKoTo’s Posterous [mailto:post@sokoto.posterous.com] <br><b>Sent:</b> 29 December 2012 12:06<br><b>To:</b> phil.cpt3@tiscali.co.uk<br><b>Subject:</b> [sokoto] NOVEMBER …… DECEMBER ….<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal></p><p align=center style=’text-align:center’><span style=’font-size:8.5pt;color:#999999′>This is a private email. Please do not forward.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=650 style=’width:390.0pt’><tr style=’height:12.0pt’><td colspan=3 style=’background:#EAEAEA;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;height:12.0pt;border-top-left-radius:5px;border-top-right-radius:5px’></td></tr><tr><td width=20 style=’width:12.0pt;background:#EAEAEA;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’></td><td style=’padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=610 style=’width:366.0pt’><tr style=’height:36.0pt’ id=header><td width=610 style=’width:366.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;height:36.0pt’><div id="logo_container"><p class=MsoNormal><span style=’font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333′><img width=610 id=logo src="http://posterous.com/images/emails/design/logo.jpg" alt="Posterous Spaces"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></td></tr><tr><td style=’padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=610 style=’width:366.0pt;background:white’><tr style=’height:12.0pt’><td style=’padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;height:12.0pt’></td><td style=’border:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’ width=594 colspan=2><p class=’MsoNormal’> </p></td></tr><tr><td width=16 style=’width:9.6pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’></td><td width=578 style=’width:346.8pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=578 style=’width:346.8pt’ id="first_section"><tr><td style=’padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm’><p><span style=’font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333′></span></p></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div></div></body></html>