Rita started Autumn early by staying up late rehearsing her pan music and then pinching and punching me while I was asleep at midnight. Hardly fair, but all within our rules!

In the morning, it was such nice weather (cool but sunny) that we decided to go for a walk around “our lake”. At the far end, we spied a father and son doing what all Frenchmen do - fishing.

Later in the morning, the hotel barge made famous by Rick Stein, “Rosa”, came through on her way to Castets. It was a very tight fit under the bridge, but unlike me, the captain of Rosa knew what he was doing and made it through unscathed. The sight of Rosa reminded me of friend Tom Hollows who used to skipper Rosa and whose birthday it was today, so I sent him Facebook birthday greetings.

In the afternoon, I started feeling crook. Last night at the Night Market, the stall from which I bought my “duckburger” had run out of tomato, and so decided to replace the slice of tomato with a same sized slice of foie gras! I think it was too much for my unaccustomed stomach, and now I’m paying the price. So on her afternoon bike ride, Rita bought some cans of Coke and a pack of Immodium tablets, and I self-medicatied for the rest of the afternoon.

But I had recovered enough to go for a walk at sunset and get some nice shots over the nearby corn fields.

Then it was back to the barge for an early night for me, while Rita continued to practice the pans for her gig on the 10th.