All fêted out

A month since the last blog, bet you can't believe it! The sun continued to shine throughout August and as I write this it's still beaming down which is just as well as we now have Barbara's mum and aunt staying with us. It looks like they'll be the last in a long list of visitors we've had this year and hopefully they'll enjoy a spell of hot & sunny weather.

Traditionally August is the peak month for fêtes and parties and this year was certainly no exception. As I mentioned in the last posting we had a 'little' get together and that was followed by a birthday party on the Thursday where the meal was sun dried salted cod with sea snails and langoustine, not the ideal menu for Barbara and her seafood allergy. Rebecca arrived in Rodez on Saturday afternoon and had to quickly get her party dress on as we off to a party at P & P's, our next door neighbours. I offered to drive as Barbara always ends up behind the wheel at these events and I thought if I made the offer I'd done my bit for another 12 months! We had a great time and with several guests, including Matthew, deciding that with the temperature still in the upper 20's at midnight it would be a great time for a dip, the night went swimmingly! The night markets in Najac continued with one of them culminating in an evening of Irish music and dancing in one of the local bars. We also attended the fête in Les Mazières, another late night of eating, drinking, music and dancing all for €15.00. As I mentioned Rebecca had flown out to join her brother, there's no show without punch, and they certainly had a good week and amidst all the partying she did manage to get a bit of a sun tan.

The partying continued when we headed back to the UK for the wedding of P & C's daughter in Newcastle. The day went without a hitch (apart from the obvious one) and it was great to see the wet and windy north east again. The reception was held at the Baltic and with amazing views down the Tyne it's difficult to think of a better venue. Never being ones to miss an opportunity we also gave the house we'd bought in Blackpool a first coat of paint, organised some wall tiles and I had a haircut. Not that there's anything wrong with French barbers, it's just that they are so expensive and always want to give you a rouge tint!

It's not been all partying, although it feels like it, we have had a couple of trials and tribulations at the barn. Despite not having seen any major rainfall for nearly two months and with all the local streams having dried up we were concerned to see we were still getting water in the corner of the cave and had also noticed damp patches in the earth at the side of the barn. Upon removing the manhole cover from the water main stopcock we noticed a lot of water and decided it was time to contact the local water company. Their local surveyor was here within a couple of hours and after a very quick look he decided that the water main was leaking and he'd have to get a team out to repair it. At 9:00 the day after two vans arrive with a

mini

digger in tow and the within an hour there's a great big hole in the parking area full of water (sorry no pictures as we didn't want to give the impression we were recording their work!). It turns out that when they connected our new supply the joint wasn't sealed as well as it should have been and 22,000 litres of water had been escaping, not sure whether this was in total or per day, week or hour! Anyway after wading through a metre of mud and water the leak was plugged and the cave is now as dry as bone.

Not many new pictures this blog but will try harder for the next one.