On Friday past the haircut went well. Perhaps my lack of a difficult and or fashionable style helped but the chatty barber spoke no English and we managed to blether away without too many problems. The hair cut was good too. It turned out he had been involved in releasing the pigeons at Tuesdays Armistice event. He asked me what pigeon was in English and was a little disappointed with it being the same as in French. Perhaps his work with them helped him with my pigeon French…
Accordingly there no embarrassing pics for you to guffaw at, sorry.
Fitba bit!
On Saturday it was a Cup Game for SYlP and it kicked off late after a very wet evening which had included an isolated flash of lighting and rumble of thunder. SYlP opened the scoring then a Vayres US sub put a free kick over the wall. Rather than stoop to catch it the home keeper tried to kick it away and missed completely… 1:1. He is keen to kick rather than catch but normally not bad. Despite a penalty which was saved by the visitor’s keeper normal time ended level. As rolling subs are allowed there were two fifteen minute periods of extra time. More chances were created and squandered by both sides until a late free kick which the home keeper blocked. As he tried to recover the ball his foot slipped and he fell forward giving the incoming striker the easiest of tasks to score the winner.
A disappointing home loss for SYlP in a game where they had rested a few regulars. It was a nightmare for the home keeper and I got home later and colder than planned… The old guy still talks to me and I’m now on handshaking “Bon soir” terms with a number of the other fans – not that there are many… End of Fitba bit
Lubersac r’aboot. There are lots of apples in these parts…
On Sunday we popped to Lubersac who have a cool roundabout and a number of other more interesting places including another chateau which seems to be the home of some rather well off folks house – obviously they avoided the guillotine! On that trip I did my weekly U turn as we realised our (often my) choice of route ends in some ones farmyard…
Monday was quiet with another trip to the cinema for another Jacques Tati film – Parade which is some way short of his best but it was cheaper than we expected so not an issue… (This country hasn’t changed me that much!) Horrifyingly one of the Brits we spoke to at the event last week didn’t know there was a cinema despite it being twenty yards from where we were at the time! Most places over here still have their own cinema’s some of which seem independent, which is cool. We aim to try a film in French this week – not my idea BTW!
Tuesday saw a shorter and more efficient trip to the bank. The Advisor having put up with us before survived another session. We got a hefty chunk of a pumpkin from Jan and Ken (they’d got it from the farmer next door). We had soup for tea. Yummy and no food miles.
Medieval Perigueux
Today Wednesday we were up early to catch a train to Periguex from Nexon a few K’s up the road. The TGV’s here are superb more local services are more limited so having checked timetables we’d realised we could get up early and go direct or arrive at lunchtime. We were up at six and on the train at just after half seven – which as it turns out was like our old routine. The tickets seemed a bit pricey but as we watched the sun coming up and the morning mist lift we realised it was cheaper than the shorter commute to Embra and we both had seats so S much preferred it here.
Many aged building
Arriving early we loitered outside the Vesunna Museum built over some rather impressive Roman ruins. Time Team would self combust with joy in a place like that… There used to be city walls, towers, temples, two bath houses and the amphitheatre seated twenty thousand and was one of the largest in France. Numerous bits and bobs remain two thousand years later. The Medieval part of the city is pretty impressive too. The cathedral is similar to Mont Matre’s Sacre Ceour in Paris.
Temple Tower – Roman of course…
It was market day and we managed to find the normal market, clothing market and the specific duck and goose market – which S didn’t enjoy as much as me. We lunched at a place called La Salamandre where I was able to have a duck starter, duck main course and a duck free pudding. S enjoyed having a small range to choose from but options all the same.
By now the sky was blue and the sun very not Scottish November, namely warmish. We went to the Art and Archaeology museum which claims to be 1st for Beaux-Art in the Dordogyne, 4th in France for Prehistoric and 7th for its collection of non-European ethnology stuff. Rarely do I think a place could benefit from a Marketing Consultant but perhaps they could…
We successfully caught the train back and polished of the pumpkin soup. A good day tho we’ll not be getting up so early tomorrow.
Happy B’Day Dr M btw!
Ramblings from France 