One week to go - what have we been doing?

Well.............

We went to look at Lastours and have a delicious home-made ice-cream (the choice includes a citrus fruit and Prickly pear fruit sorbet!)

Part of the Lastours châteaux complex looking threatening

Part of a huge field of solar panels near Villanière

We've had visitors from the Lot. They have a house there where they spend the whole summer. They have had a small vineyard,, from which they made wine for their own use, and have therefore had to be there at critical times during the season.  This year they decided that it was not worth the trouble and have dug them out. This meant they were free to visit for my birthday. So we had lunch out by the canal in Trebes, in the first sunshine we've had for several days.

But first we went round the vide-grenier (like a car boot sale without the cars) in our own village. Jon and I don't really do birthday presents any more, so I was told I could spend €5 at the VG if I could find anything I liked. And I did!   €3 got me a razor-sharp long-handled secateur which is great.

Then €2 found a ball-hitch to go on the van to carry my bike easily. Yipee! Job done.

Apart from that, we have had a pleasant evening with Tom (the English conversation group leader) and Dominique, at their house just below the ramparts of the cité. The group is still working on English language songs to perform at the end of term. Cockles and Mussels, Cleaning Windows, and the Wild Rover are favourites and there's talk of dressing one of the men up as Molly Malone and offering cooked mussels from a barrow. On verra!  We shall see!

And our second meeting with our French friends, who came to us this time for a couple of hours of English conversation (our last meeting was conducted in French). This scheme is working out well and will continue next time we're out here.

After all the trauma with the "new" car we went last week to have the headlights and tyres changed, as well as brake pads and discs and a leaking oil seal. In France, if you fail the MOT you have two months to have the repairs done and, within this period, you can have a "resit" for free.  So we went back yesterday, only to be told that the tyres were still (or rather, again) the wrong size. Fortunately the chaps at the garage who fitted them were very helpful, but it seems it is a rare size and there are none available in that cheap brand for about 2 months. So we're another €160 down for the Michelins we had to have.

Right now Jon is working on the 1924 Renault, hoping to finish the job of improving the brakes so we can return the puller to old Mr Salvetat before we go back.

Our new musical link, Nicky, the banjo-playing Irishman, has told us of a Cajun evening on Saturday by a lake near Limoux, so we'll definitely go there. But before that there's the citizens' choir concert in Carcassonne, so we'll have to go late. Then on Tuesday, the last evening of the English group is finishing off with a party at Tom's, and it seems we just have to go, although we're leaving Wednesday morning and weren't even going to go to that class.

All in all it seems that, after a couple of fairly quiet weeks, we'll be coming home for a rest!