We’ve been here a week already. People are coming and going and it’s as if we’ve been here months! But there is a constant anxiety about formalities for returning. We have to get a PCR test 72 hours before leaving France but because the only ferry we could get goes on a Monday that means travelling over a weekend when laboratories may not be open. And even if you find one you need to make an appointment and get a hotel close by. Not to mention booking the 2 day test in UK. Oh dear, my head hurts.
The weather was a little cooler recently and today most pleasant early on when we went to the market. We saw no less than three hoopoes on the road through the vines between Rasteau and Cairanne. Later on we walked round the bottom of the village and spotted the mystery hawk we often see flying with the swifts. Is it a hobby?
Our first drink in the bar under the olive trees and a quick word with Bruno. We enquired where pizza man Hussein was, as a stranger was fettling the pizzas we ordered for supper. ‘Il a fait une bétise. Neuf mois de prison avec un bracelet. Il est avec son frère à Lyon!’ came the unexpected reply. Blimey!
Back home for more Tour with prawns and mayonnaise. Today they went over Montségur round the infamous Cathar Château where they were all burned. We went up there in pouring rain decades ago. Very atmospheric.
