The last few days have been busy - too busy unfortunately to have the time or inclination to sit down and write this blog. Its been busy because we have had guests. My oldest friend on the planet, who lives in London came down to stay in St Chinian for a couple of days with his family - wifey Tanya and kids, Taylor (11) and Mia (8).
Graeme and I have known each other since we were 5. We grew up together and have remained the best of friends for 39 years now. Its a pretty special thing having a friendship like this and it was very special to have him and his family join us. Graeme is no shrinking violet and does nothing by halves so it was always going to be a hard few days on our respective livers.
We had a blast.
Following on from a relaxed Thursday spent at home in our little village (the calm before the storm), the Noble clan arrived on Friday afternoon. Our plan was to cook at home that evening using the ingredients that we had purchased from the Thursday market. We went for a stroll and camped ourselves outside of a little restaurant and had more than a few drinks. In fact, we had so many that the lady gave us a free round - a pichet of rose, a large beer and a small beer. We probably didnt need it (ok, we definitely didn't need it) but hey, we are in France with my oldest mate, so its on. Dinner with the family in our accommodation was a team effort and was long, boozy and wonderful. Following on from dinner, we went for a drunken amble around the village at night. The village was so peaceful in the dark, it was great fun.
Les enfants
2 hours, 2 croissants, 5 cafe creme's, 4 beers and 1 All Black win later, we stumbled out into the sunshine. Already 24 degrees - the temperature hit 34 degrees later in the day. We had a lunch reservation at 1.30pm at a restaurant that had been recommended to us in nearby Roquebrun, a town about 25 minutes away, so we headed off straight away . A couple of fellow Waihetians (Sarah and Denis la Touche) used to live and own a beautiful B & B in Roquebrun.
Lovely Roquebrun
Needless to say, the restaurant Le Petit Nice was great. We sat on the balcony overlooking the beautiful River L'Orb and downed yet another cheeky 3 courser - including snails and even frogs legs! The restaurant was packed full and you could see exactly why it came so highly recommended. The lady serving us deserves a special mention because she was 100% cool. We have yet to strike anyone that has not been anything but lovely and polite to us. I think the locals really appreciate the fact that we are trying to communicate with them in their language. I am sure it doesn't matter that much if we don't pronounce everything correctly or possibly even say the right thing, at least we are giving it a crack.
Lunch at Le Petit Nice
As soon as we left the restaurant, we decided to hit the river to give the kids a chance to have s swim. As previously mentioned, the temperature at this stage was a heady 34 degrees. Graeme, Tanya and Chris were perched under some shelter and I was keeping an eye on the kids. Mia is only 8 and this was a large river after all. The last thing we needed was seeing one of them getting dragged downstream towards Spain.
As it turned out, watching the kids splash around was too much for me. I had to join them. So, I de-robed and placed my clothes on the bank of the river then, resplendent in my bright blue undies, I was in. It was awesome, as awesome as a fresh water swim in a river, in your undies, in France, in 34 degrees can possibly be. Even saw an otter frolicking near the bank! Very cool. After a while, I decided to get out. It was then that I noticed that the place where i had put my dry clothes was now a small waterfall. Not good for iPhones!! Incredibly luckily, it was in the top pocket of my shorts which was the only part of my clothes that was not completely saturated. Disaster avoided - just. So with incredibly wet clothes on and thankfully dry iPhone in my left hand, I piggy backed Mia safely to shore and we were off
Swimming in L'Orb
The fun however did not stop there. Did I not say that this was a busy day? During lunch. we had picked up a pamphlet for a go karting track that was somewhere about an hour away in the middle of nowhere. So we did a small detour and everyone (except Tanya and Chris) had a crack. It was a ton of fun. 10 minutes of supercharging around a course - real boy stuff.
On our way back to St Chinian, we picked up some fantastic meat for dinner at the best butcher in the Languedoc, which can be found in Cessenon sur L'Orb. The French speaking was tricky but Graeme's best turkey impression was truly excellent so this helped to ensure that we ended up with something we had no objections to eating. 2 tranches or slices of entrecote steak, 6 turkey brochettes and a metre or so of house made sausage and we were off. All of this was to be cooked indoors on the woodfired BBQ in our conservatory where we eat our meals each night.
Dinner at 10pm (!) was wonderful, load and hilarious. Graeme and I soon made a pact to finish the 5L container of local vin rouge before we hit the sack for the evening. I then introduced him to the America's Cup which we have been watching on the iPad each time the races are. To be honest, when I suggested we watch the America's Cup, he was not too impressed. He had visions of those single hulled thingies bobbing away in the water at 12 knots or so. When he saw what the America's Cup of today is all about, he was speechless. I am sure that all of you bothering to read this blog are watching this final series like the rest of NZ are and it is undoubtedly incredibly compelling viewing. Chris and I could potentially have have a lot to gain from a ETNZ win because Waiheke Island would definitely feel the economic impact of the Cup making its way back to Auckland.
On that note, go you good thing Emirates Team New Zealand and bring home the America's Cup to New Zealand where it rightfully belongs.
Tomorrow - a lazy catch up day. One more week here in St Chinian then we head to Spain.
From left to right, back row - Graeme, Jamie, me and Tanya
From left to right, middle row - Taylor (8), Christine and Ben
Front - Mia (8)
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