On your bike

I had thought there wasn't going to be much to blog about this week (yippee I hear you say) other than laying concrete floors and digging up old floors in 500 year old French barns but it hasn't been all work and no play. I've been lucky enough to get out on the bike recently, I say lucky but that's probably not the right word when you consider the number of hills there are around here. When you're driving round in the car they're not a problem it's when you've been out for three hours and you know that which ever way you turn it's going to be a climb to get home. It's just as well that whichever route we've taken there's always a welcoming cafe half way round. And no I haven't managed to get Barbara out on one of our 40 mile rides, I've been getting out with a chap who's spent the summer at his house in Najac but unfortunately he's now headed back to 'winter' in the UK and I'll have to motivate myself to 'get out and ride'.

The warm dry weather has continued and everyone (it's not just the British that are obsessed with the weather) has been commenting on the fact that we're still experiencing temperatures in the upper 20's in mid October and this week we had our first significant rainfall in what seems months. In fact I think the last time we had a really dismal day was back in August when we had our party! Speaking of parties we were invited to a meal at the house where T and I have been working. I've mentioned before how meals at lunch time go so you can imagine what an evening at Jo's would be like. There was the normal 7:30 start with lots of Ricard & amuse bouche, which gives me the opportunity to tell this little story. T's daughter has spent the summer working at a French restaurant in the

UK and on her first day she was given plates of appetisers to pass around to guests and told to say 'here are some nibbles' which she did and couldn't understand why everyone burst our laughing. She returned to the kitchen with the empty plates and told the chef what had happened, 'I said here are some nipples and everyone laughed at me, why?' A definite case of the English policeman in Allo Allo but in reverse. Back at Jo's fish soup was followed by two of the biggest plates of seafood I've ever seen, not the best offering for Barbara and her seafood allergy but after a quick explanation and many désolés a mushroom omelette was rustled up. With Jo playing his guitar between courses and the other guests singing along the night flew past and before we realised it was three o'clock and time to head home. Poor old Babs, no fruits de mer or wine all night.