Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves

Going for an autumnal walk in England is great and appeals to many. Too many, that’s the problem. Just when you decide to go and stretch your legs, you find that your idea was shared by dozens of others in your neighbourhood.

We decided to go for a walk on the gentle slopes of the Auberge chateau parklands yesterday. The chateau is closed, and since there is no national trust in France to adopt it and staff it with willing volunteers, it sits waiting for a Chinese or Russian entrepreneur to buy it.

The clouds were skidding off the high Céret hills – Les Hautes de Céret – (you pronounce this with just one big vowel) Les ō de Céret.

The clouds moved to allow the slow and shy reveal of the town, and the sun cautiously danced in and out. We walked confidently past the sign declaring entry forbidden. Penal code 311.1 for the legally qualified walkers.

We walked completely alone, on a circuitous route around the chateau, for over an hour, enjoying the vibrant coppers and bronze all to ourselves. No dog walkers, no vine workers, no forestry managers, no quad bikes or cyclists. No horses either. And we were just 3km from Céret, so within sight of civilization, all 7,000 of the populace.

Coming back into Céret we enjoyed a little aperitif before supper; in other words we polished off a good bottle of Bordeaux with some olives, bits of cheese, and a fresh baguette. The bread was baked the same morning by Jean-Marc in the boulangerie opposite, and sold to me after the walk, with a cheery “Bonjour James, ça va?” and a hand-shake. The good old fashioned boulangerie artisan atelier at work below his living quarters.

Today in the place de la Liberté, where I was free-riding on Jane’s wifi signal to get e-mails, Jean-Marc’s wife, Nadine also greeted me warmly. The autumn sun glows not only on the trees, it seems.

The wind has picked up today and was gusting through the main boulevard of the town, russet leaves rustling, and hedging up against the parked bicycles and the Harley Davidson parked near the Museum of modern art. A few dog walkers ambled along, collars turned up, not really cold, just looking good and setting off the street nicely. Copper ō couture.

We had our last French lesson of the year, today marking four weeks of lessons, getting us “petit à petit” towards better proficiency.

Lundi prochaine (that is next Monday), the builders and electrician commence their works. In order to get the most out of the small garage space that currently will house only the smallest of cars, we clear the space. For a gallery we need overhead spotlights, and for this the mezzanine storage has to go. This means the pipework bolted to the mezzanine must be re-routed along the side and back walls.

The laundry appliances will move backwards into a part of the downstairs bathroom. Actually it is just a shower room, with toilet and basin, but there is room to squeeze the appliances in, although with access from the garage or gallery.

This will give us almost 3 cubic meters of extra space, and open the gallery up. A track for spots will be suspended from the ceiling. It will all look lovely. But before it does, great destruction will take place, as two stud walls are demolished, tiles broken up, and plumbing moved.

We have been in France almost five weeks, and we are soon to get the house whipped into the shape we want it to be. It will be good to get past this milestone.

It has been a long wait.