A quiet morning reading in bed, then jumped in the car to drive to Talairan, to visit good friends Peter and Kaye Coates, on my way to picking Rita up from the Karate Camp at Serignan Plage. In many ways this was closing a circle, since it was from their old house in Talairan that Rita and I set off on that fateful bike trip four years ago, which eventually led to us buying our barge.

After arriving in mid-afternoon, we got straight into talking and drinking. We paused for breath while we ate a fantastic leg of lamb dinner prepared by Peter. Both Kaye and I had colds and so the amount of laughter induced fits of coughing, which led to more laughing etc etc. Quite a tiring night.

They took me for a walk around their ”new” house which is actually older than their old house, but is new to them. It is situated at the main entrance to the village, just near the town fountain. Peter is doing most of the renovations himself. I look forward to seeing the finished product, especially the upstairs living area at the top of the old barn.