Our first Fish

Trout 
I've just received this photo from our friends, Ann and Geoffrey. Geoffrey is a very keen fisherman, and advised me on the purchase of the necessary equipment when they stayed here a few weeks ago. The river is teeming with fish, and I thought it would be a cinch to fill a bucket with them. After all, there is an area where they are virtually captive, and have nowhere to go except onto the hook. Or so I thought! After a few hours of trying, Geoffrey finally succeeded in catching this one shown above. And a jolly good meal was had by all later that day.

Bastille Day at Lavausseau

Bastille Day 

1 
Today we all joined in the celebrations at Lavausseau. There was a lunch held in the open for all the village, and all the newcomers were introduced to everyone. Unexpectedly, the mayor, who was in charge of the proceedings, called for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the 7th July bombings in London. You can just make out Amanda, Tony and Mimi who are at the microphone leading the singing of the Marseillaise. The lunch lasted for three hours, and, with unlimited wine, was a joyous affair. We met a number of Brits who are living in the village, so we look forward to more socialising in future.

Mishaps happen

So all I was doing was bending over to drop a chlorine tablet into the pool skimmer basket. The tablet dropped in, closely followed by my Sony Ericsson T630 that had slipped out of my breast pocket. Quickly it was fished out, and immediately examined to check the functionality. It was dead. So I waited a couple of days for it to dry out, and then I was delighted to find that it worked again. Well, almost. The connection to my PC, via a serial port that I use for synchronizing with Lotus Organizer, did not respond. But then, I reasoned, I really don't have many contacts and appointments to maintain anymore - I'm retired after all. So, maybe it doesn't matter any more.

Incidentally, I use a prepay SIM card from the UK. So long as I use the phone at least once within six months, it will stay active indefinitely with the money I paid up front. In France you can only charge up a prepay account for set amounts, starting at 15 Euros, that expire after two months. So, infrequent use can be costly.