It was cool again this morning, getting us to wonder if it is really summer over here this year. Around 0900h, Rita had a meeting on the rear deck with Aude Gance, Director of Moissac Tourism, who lives just across the canal from us. They discussed the proposed 2018 Fetes des Plaisanciers in Moissac, and how it might coordinate with the Mairie’s Festival de la Tarn. Aude was very enthusiastic about the Fetes, and came up with various ideas and offers of assistance which will be very helpful. It was very useful that Rita could show her the names of the people (including locals) and boats that she had collected on just one night at the Fish’n’Chips at the Sunbeam. So, it looks like the Fetes will be a goer for 2018.

As soon as she finished the meeting with Moissac Tourism, Rita was onto a Skype call with Marysville Tourism to discuss a range of issues back home concerning the development of the cultural centre and other activities. In fact, during the meeting with Aude Gance, Rita raised the idea of developing a Sister City arrangement between Moissac and Marysville, with the themes of recovering from disaster (the 1930 floods for Moissac and the 2009 fires for Marysville) and partnerships through music (with a second band coming to Moissac from Marysville in 2018, and a group of Moissac musicians going to Marysville later in 2018). Aude seemed very enthusiatic, so we’ll see what develops.

Later in the morning, we went up to La Maison to meet with Lacan to review final progress on the rendering of the facade. He has now finished, so we received his final bill. All we need to do now is get the remainder of the shutters fitted.

We then had a meeting with Isabelle about the accounts for the house rental. After going through the details with her, Raph arrived home for lunch, checked the accounts and then immediately transferred the outstanding amount to our account electronically.

In the afternoon, I got to work to repair the rope ladder. A bit of a messy job cutting out all the old rope, which tended to disintegrate as soon as it was cut. Then I had to drill out all the holes in the rungs, because the new rope was just slightly thicker than the old rope. Then measure exactly how much I would need (including the knots), cut it (and pray I got it right), thread it through the bottom rung and tie it off on both sides, then: measure, tie knot, poke through rung, tie if off again; repeat until I ran out of rope or rungs. Luckily both things happened at the same time, with just enough rope left to be able to tie the ladder to the railings when needed. Hopefully, I will not have to remind myself of these instructions for a good few years.

Tonight, we headed off to the Saint Maurin Night Market for the second time in two weeks. This week was special, as several people had arranged a surprise birthday party for Evelyn. When she got there, fashionably late with the help of David, about 20 of her barging friends were already sitting around a long decorated table. Half an hour before the market opening, a storm had deluged the area, so it was all hands on deck helping the organisors strip the wet paper tablecloths off all the tables and replace them with dry paper, then we could put our decorations back on top before she arrived. It was a good night again, with the fairy floss proving popular, and many up and dancing again to the local band. Rita had a word to the Market Director again, and it seems she loved the steelband CD we left with her last week. So Saint Maurin looks to be on the agenda for the tour in 2018.

Going to Saint Maurin, we had taken Rob and Chrissie from Rovi in our car, so when we got back to Moissac, they invited us onto Rovi for a coffee/drink along with a few others who went to the Night Market. A chatty hour or so ensued, during which time the full moon graced the Tarn with its presence.