I think autumn is my favourite season here. The leaves are just starting to turn; shades of gold and red, often against a brilliant blue sky, herald cooler days, longer nights and much needed rainfall. The mornings are cool and often misty, the brume clearing by lunchtime, allowing the sun to lift the afternoon temperatures to figures only dreamed of in mid-summer in England. And best of all; after months of swelteringly hot nights, it’s now cool enough to sleep comfortably!

One thing we really miss here is a theatre; we used to go to most of the productions at the Harrogate Theatre. There’s a cinema in Nogaro, which shows an excellent range of films, including quite a few foreign ones in “version original”; you can come unstuck if the original language is Korean, but a lot are in English. The cinema doubles up as a theatre occasionally, though many of the productions up to now have looked somewhat erudite; but last Friday we went to see a trio playing Latin American and Spanish music. Two guitarists, who also sang, were joined by a guy playing a traditional Peruvian instrument, whose name I’ve forgotten, but which looked like a wooden box that he sat on. The front of it was covered in a skin or cloth and he played it like a drum. The music was fantastic; so vibrant and full of energy, that even though there were only about 60 people in the audience, quite a few of us were dancing in the aisles for most of the evening.

Yesterday Kieran was asked to take a look at a laptop belonging to a cycle club member. He repaired it and Jean-Paul took it home, only to phone half an hour later to say that it wouldn’t now connect to the internet. I took the phone call and, as Kieran doesn’t do phones in French, had to translate the conversation between them. Bearing in mind that I have only the most rudimentary grasp of computer-speak, even in English, this was no easy task; I hadn’t a clue what “wireless”, “network” or “yellow flashing light on the right hand side of the front edge of your computer” are in French and even when I tried, Jean-Paul seemed almost as clueless as me! So in desperation, I sent Kieran round to his house to sort out the problem; it wasn’t difficult; the network cable wasn’t plugged in!

So life goes on; Nick cemented the garage ridge tiles in place today and we’re hoping to make more progress tomorrow, before the next lot of rain arrives on Thursday, so watch this space; I should have some more photos to put up soon 🙂