Brocantes and bistros

Hello Everyone

Late again I know. I am time-challenged at the moment with everything going on. How was the second half of January for you?

We had some amazingly frosty mornings, some stunning skies as ever, my eldest son turned 30, my younger son is finishing his Masters, the first snowdrops and my sister came to visit to help with our Mother and her recovery from her hip operation, which is going pretty well. Mum has graduated from a walking frame to a very jazzy stick, chosen by my sister at our local pharmacy – who knew you could get such great sticks and partly on prescription. I thought it would some grey metal thing but floral is the order of the day. Aside from nurse duties and general encouragement/nagging to regularly do the exercises set by the wonderful physio, my sister and I had some fun: a lunch out on a gloriously sunny day, brocante visiting, markets (where we discovered apple and almond chocolatines!) and some girlie shopping which I haven’t done in an age – possibly not a habit to get too back into, given the bags we came back with! We also finally had our non-vegan Christmas meal while she was here and the long awaited Christmas pudding! Precious little happened in the house or garden beyond a little tidying and log collecting and stacking.

One magical and freezing morning we were treated to the most amazing ice on the car. Frozen flakes of ice, such detail and unimaginably beautiful. Such a shame to have to scrape it off to drive to the market.

We did encounter some of the strikes that are currently a feature of news from France – taxi drivers and farmers. The main entrance to the airport was blocked by taxi drivers when my sister was due to fly home but as we arrived quite late we were fortunate to avoid much in the way of delays. The next day when we were back in the area for a dentist visit and a trip into Toulouse, the farmers were blockading the airport. We witnessed our first ‘operation escargot’, but again luckily on the opposite carriageway to the direction we were traveling in.

A wander around the centre of Toulouse and a meal in the square was a rare if chilly treat. A couple of moments helping others rounded off the day – food for a homeless girl and her dog and helping a lady whose car had been hit by another driver.

This time I am going to leave you with a selection of photos from the fortnight. The next blog post will be with you on 15^th February, a celebration of pancakes, hearts and brocante finds. In between look out for some fun French facts, on their way to you very soon.

Enjoy the start of February – extremely foggy here every day at the moment with occasional sunny afternoons – chilly and damp but rather ethereal views from the terrace.

See you soon/à bientôt

Ali xx