The fete de Bayonne starts tomorrow so that means lots more people for the next week of madness.The party is a very old and traditional one in the same vein as Pamplona.Everyone wears red and white and then their white shirts are stained all over from all the red wine they spill on themselves.They party for a week.I'm not sure whether we will partake but there is a chance as Corinnes uncles have arrived in town and they love the fiesta traditional.
Pauline(my sister) arrives for the weekend and we are looking forward to seeing her.Some confit de canard,or some moule frites and maybe some foie gras with some fine wine will definitely be on offer.I'm looking forward to preparing some local delicacy for her to enjoy.
Our windows arrived yesterday,and surprisinly on time.The guy(who kept us waiting for 2 months last time)is coming tomorrrow to scrape the grass away from where i'm going to build.I hope it doesnt rain coz we might not see him for another coupla weeks if it does.
One more french lesson and i have 4 weeks holiday for summer.I have an assessment 8 sept to see whether i'm ready to take the real test to gain my certificate.Strange really,because they gave me the same test 5-6 months ago and passed easily.I've progressed a lot but in real terms still have so far to go before i can really say that i speak well.My french is passable but in some areas i really need to expand my vocabulary?which is hard when you have never needed to know the word.My new word is Taupe,which is a mole.We've got the little buggers in our garden and they are a huge problem here.They are haemophiliacs(so an old fella tells me) so i'm trying to fill up their holes with blackberry branches so they can bleed to death.sounds lovely doesnt it.
I'll keep you updated

summer in Biarrritz

Well summer has hit and so have the tourists.Numbers are down but its still crazy here,check out the beach shots on a 23° day last sunday

Just loaded some more photos from Bretagne,some of the amazing Mégalithes,some huge rocks which have a history that very little is known.they are in pattern and order but it is not knwn how or why they are here.Obviously a human touch but when you see how big these pieces of granite are ,you wonder how and why they were transported here.

I went into the pyrenees on friday to pick up some old timber that i have found on the net.Some very old,very heavy oak beams and posts that are very much in demand here.An english guy that was happy to see them go to a good home almost gave them away at a ridiculously low price.Thousands of Euros worthof beautiful oak that will be ideal for our place,and plenty more.Rob came with me and when we saw it ,we wondered how the hell we were going to fit three truck loads of heavy beams into one load.After struggling to lift one length onto the truck,amazingly(and luckily) a guy turned up to slash the block next door,and just happened to have some blades on his front bucket.I flashed him a 50euro note and he happily obliged to load our rented truck.I came back the next morning an met him at 9am and he loade me again.Very lucky!!!!!Two very slow trips to Saubion and i'll go back another time to get the small stuff,doors ,shutters ,posts etc in my van.So much to mention,Great little aquisition.

Pauline arrives in two weeks so I called her to give her a list of essentials,Vegemite,promite,anticol,bluetac,twisties,jelly snakes among the list.

Just arrived back from Bretagne.Had a great week with our good friends Chris,Sylvie and Chloe Sutcliffe.We rented a house 500 metres from Emiles house(Sylvies father).Bretagne was magnificent with something special wherever you look.Beautiful rugged coastline,historical villages with beautiful stone houses and buildings.

So many villages and fishing ports,every day we found something special.Un fortunately the weather wasnt too flash.Summer and we had jumpers or coats all the time.

An hour and a half away,we went to le Mont St Michel.Wow!!!Amazing,Majestic,Gothic Abbey and village that took over 7àà years to construct on an Island just offshore.Firstly you could only access at low tide but a road has been built to accomadate the masses of tourists.Awesome,a definite must see for anyone travelling to France.After that we went to St Malo, an ancient fortress on the waters edge which was popular with pirates and smugglers.It is a magnificent city inside huge stone wall with the cobbled stone streets.I loved this place and want to go back for a week sometime.

So good to see the Sutcliffes and Sylvies family again;Lots of wine and good food every day and night .Fun was had by all.Stopped in to spend the night at Prinquiou to see some friends Corinne hasnt seen for 17 years on the way home.Another night of wine and good food and left ealy the next morn to avoid the traffic.Arrived back in Biarritz to beautiful sunshine