One of the main reasons for going to Moissac was to collect some mail delivered to the house. So we had to wait for a few days until all of it had arrived.

Sat 27 Aug

After a good sleep in the quiet port area, we awoke to a cool morning. While Rita had a Zoom meeting with some colleagues in Australia, I followed the rugby where the Wallabies had a surprise win over South Africa 27-20. After her Zoom meeting ended in mid-morning, Rita went for a swim in the Tarn, then went up to the house to meet with tenant Isabelle, and to collect some mail that had arrived, including the renewal of her credit card. Unfortunately, however, the Carte Grise (replacement registration papers) for the van had not yet arrived in the mail.

In the late afternoon, we headed out to Puycornet to visit Miyu and Nico and the three boys. Nico was hosting a working bee with some friends to work on the building of their new house, where they would be doing some mud plastering of the walls, and then staying for a thank-you party that night. When we got there, everyone was covered in mud from a hard day's work, but they were nearly finished for the day, so we didn't get the chance to be involved.

This building, which will be their new home when finished, started as just some partial stone walls from an older building. Nico restored those walls then built the wooden structure for the first floor, and added a second floor. The roof was finished during COVID times, and now the walls are being plastered with mud and straw to get the building to waterproof lockup stage. After this building is finished, and the family has moved in, Nico will turn his attention to the older (1700's) and larger main building on the property, which will be a much more complex restoration project.

Once everyone had cleaned themselves up, and had some apero drinks, Miyu started bringing out the various food dishes that she had been working on for a couple of days. As always, it was delicious, and the three boys and a friend were quick to sample them and confirm their quality.

The evening moved on, but by the time the African singer started to get set up, I was starting to feel the effects of several days of driving (plus some of Nico's beers), so I retreated to Vanumbra, where I fell asleep to the dulcet tones of African singing and French conversations.....zzzzzz....

Sun 28 Aug

Having plugged into Nico's mains power last night, I was pleased to see that the C7 charger had boosted the level of the starter battery overnight, and the van started easily when I tested it this morning. Today was just a day for hanging around at Puycornet and catching up with news from Miyu and Nico. Their poultry family has grown over the past year, but too many of their chickens turned out to be roosters and not hens. They have gradually been giving away the roosters and today was the day for the last of the duplicate roosters to find a new home (better than being eaten for dinner!). So Nico rounded him up early while he had the chance, put him in a cage and covered it with a blanket (so that he would think it's still night and would stop crowing). In the late morning, the cage was put on the truck and taken to a neighbour who was needing a new rooster.

As the day warmed up, the boys decided to have a swim in the pool, and since she couldn't swim in the Tarn today, Rita joined them for a splash. Then everyone decided it was time for a midday siesta.

In mid-afternoon, we left Puycornet and returned to Moissac because Rob and Cherie had invited us to their house for dinner tonight. We parked in front of the workshed at the port again, and then walked over to their house at dinner time. However, when we knocked at their door, we were greeted by a somewhat surprised Rob, who had forgotten about the dinner invitation. But no worries, we had a couple of impromptu drinks with Cherie while Rob knocked together some food, and then we had dinner as if nothing untoward had happened!  It turned out to be a nice evening with them.

Mon 29 Aug

We rose late, and then Rita cycled up to the house where she got some house keys from Isabelle, since she was leaving for a summer holiday today. While Rita was at the house, she learned that there was a registered letter waiting for us at the Post Office. She assumed that this would be the Carte Grise, since we couldn't think of any other important mail we were expecting. So she walked up to the post office only to find that since the letter was addressed to me (since I was the registered owner of the van), I would need to go to the Post Office in person and sign for the letter. So I walked up and met Rita at the Post Office and duly received the Carte Grise (finally). I then moved the van from the port to in front of the house, since we intented to stay there tonight. We then went to the Le Moulin restaurant near the Tarn, where we had arranged to have a morning coffee with Rob and Cherie. We then returned to the house, where we met up with two old friends - the ginger cats.

That evening we invited the Mitchell's to dinner at the house, to complete the list of possibilities for when and where we would meet up with them while in Moissac. After they left, steady overnight rain started. We slept the night in the bedroom in the third-floor apartment at the house, and it felt strangely comfortable. We again thought that we could happily spend more time in Moissac in the future.

Tues 30 Aug

Rita was up early at 0700h doing more reading for her thesis literature review, while I started reading another novel - about a female spy in the American War of Independence. Around midday Rita went for a swim in the Tarn. That evening we had Veronique, a music friend of Rita's, over for dinner at the house. Once again, the cats were at their cutest, trying to impress the visitor.