I was still waking up early (but 30 minutes later than yesterday) so I made the most of the morning by correcting more assignments from my distance-education Project Management graduate course that I am teaching at Monash University. As always, it’s a bit hard to stay awake after correcting several of these, so in mid-morning, while the weather was not too bad, I took the opportunity of a morning walk around town. I first went down to the Saturday Market, where I checked out the bric-a-brac stalls, then wandered through the market area inhaling the smell of all the fresh fruit and vegetables, the flowers and the cheese. All these aromas brought back fond memories of previous years in Moissac.

As I left the market square to go down to the port, I saw and exchanged a few words with Irene and John Plunkett, who were just returning to Moissac after another of their motorhome trips. I then wandered down to the port, through all the roadworks on the connecting road between the port and the town centre. When finished, this will make a wonderful pedestrian-friendly zone. As i wandered up and down the port, I bumped into Jim, the new Port Capitain who, with his wife Sandra, have taken over from Iain and Kaz Noble. They have quite big shoes to fill, but they seem to have started with gusto. As I walked back home past the Post Office, I waved to Thiery Giraud, our plumber, who was driving off to another job somewhere in town. His son Anthony has been staying with us in Taggerty for the past couple of months with his girlfriend Audrey. That’s one of the things I like about returning to Moissac each year. Even though it’s very different to Taggerty, I feel very much at home and within the space of an hour can bump into three people who I haven’t seen for nine months, but who immediately could resume the conversation from last year.

That afternoon, as the rain set in again, I decided to go out to Intermarche to stock up on provisions. As I entered the store, I again felt totally at home. Unlike some supermarkets in Australia, Intermarche rarely change the layout of their store. Everything seems to be in the same place, on the same shelf as it was last year, and the year before etc. I could almost shop on autopilot, effortlessly moving from spot to spot filling the trolley. The only change I noticed this year was that Canada Club (dry ginger ale, to go with my Scotch) was now being sold in cans rather than bottles, but it was in exactly the same place as before. I was proud of myself at being able to negotiate the checkout (in French) with ease. Just the usual pleasantries at the start and end of the interaction, and responding to the question about whether I had a “fidelity card”. I hope they never change that question, or I could be in trouble!

As I returned to my car, I saw that the French stye of parking bore a strong resemblance to the Italian, with me showing the right (Australian) way in the foreground and a visitor from neighbouring Lot-et-Garonne showing the French way in the background. OK, I hear you say, how did I know they were from Lot-et-Garonne? Well, on each numberplate the Department number is shown, either as a small rectangle at the bottom-right of the plate or as the last two digits of the number itself (on older licence plates). Tarn-et-Garonne (including Moissac) is 82, while Lot-et-Garonne is 47; simples.

So, back home in late afternoon to do more assignment marking into the night, while I followed the results of the Danish Speedway Grand Prix on the internet. With my favourite Australian rider, Darcy Ward, still recovering but making great progress with his paraplegia from a racing accident last year, it was good to see that his best friend and team-mate Chris Holder was doing well, taking out a podium finish for the third consecutive GP of the year, and sharing the lead in the World Championship for 2016.