The Sunlit Uplands

The clouds dispersed and now we awake to short lived duvet grey. Soon booted out by sunshine. It is ridiculously warm with temperatures up to 25 and not falling much below 19 at night. Last night we had tea (cups of) on the terrace at 10.30. A brief glow of lightning was seen far to the north.

Adam arrived safely in Avignon at 6.45 only 25 minutes late despite chaos at St Pancras and delay in Gare de Lyon. The first a result of administrative incompetence, the second was unattended luggage.

And now a word about bird life. Starlings to be precise…

Thousands of them swooping and shapeshifting over the vines like a moving monochrome Pointilliste painting in the sky. We drove under them across the plain then watched them from the terrace, listening to their cheerful chattering. In Ste Cécile they were sparkling and dancing about in the plane trees above our heads outside the Bar de l’Union pretending to be blackbirds or redstarts, magpies, buzzards, car alarms…whatever they were practising today! Joyful spirit raising little creatures.