Today the mattresses were scheduled to arrive from Toulouse at the Castelsarrasin BUT store, so in the morning we went up to pick up the bed bases before going back later for the mattresses. When we got there, the manager told us very apologetically that the mattresses would not be arriving this week (with tomorrow being a public holiday etc). After a mild panic, he calmed us down by saying that he had therefore decided to give us better quality mattresses that he had in stock (at the same price as the original mattresses), and let head office deal with the problem later. We were very grateful for his generosity, and proceeded to deliver the bed bases and the mattresses to the house that morning, with the assistance of a young Portugese couple living in a campervan at the port.

While we had the BUT delivery van, we decided to take the old windows from the house to Francoise’s house, since she had a friend who was doing renovations and often needed odd-sized old windows and doors. We got no money for the windows, but at least the area on top of the garage was now clear.

Later in the afternoon, we went out to Weldom’s to buy curtains and towel rails, and also to pick up the toilet roll holders that we had ordered last week. It was just as well we went today, since the items we ordered had been put out on the showroom floor rather than being held for us. Luckily, we saw them before anyone else had a chance to buy them!

We then went back to the house to set up the beds and other things in readiness for the arrival of the band next week.

Today, we found out that our drummer (Matty James) is most likely not coming on the tour, since he had failed to get a replacement passport in time (despite being reminded for several months that he needed to do so). I guess it’s true what they say about drummers! So Rita set about trying to find another drummer locally; we got several leads and made a few contacts, but nothing settled as yet.

The good news was that Le Sunbeam Cafe had agreed to host the Fetes de Plaisanciers karaoke night. They had been worried about being able to cater for the expected numbers (perhaps over a hundred), but had now decided to do curries en masse, rather than trying to make lots of pizzas with their limited stove capacity.

In the evening, I read about the death of Robin Williams, one of my favourite actors. While he made many great films, the one that sticks in my mind most is “Awakenings", with Robert de Niro. I can still hear myself internally shouting “No, no, no!” as de Niro slips back into his coma.