Family staying and a very socially distanced lunch out!

My brother and sister in law have just spent a week with us, and oh, it was SO lovely to feel normal again in these weird times. To have people in our house to chat to and laugh with and just spend time with seems all quite remote now. We didn't hug when they arrived, but we felt OK to not socially distance, again like I said when Monika came, that would be so hard to do. We knew they had been camping for several weeks before arriving chez nous so figured they wouldn't have been spending much time near other people anyway.

Imagine our surprise though, when Grazyna said, halfway through our cuppa and cake which we had upon their arrival, that she had a pressie for me and a surprise that she seemed itching to show us, despite the fact I hadn't even finished my cup of tea! We went downstairs to the basement to show them the guest room then went outside through the French doors there .... only to be confronted by a campervan!!! What?!! "Did you hire it?" I asked. "No, I bought it" said Kevin (Keith's brother)! Well blow me down, there we had been imagining them sleeping in a tent these last few weeks across chilly Europe (they came from Poland where G had been looking after her mother who has dementia (and has now passed the job over to her sister to give her a break)) when all the time they had been glamping in a lovely moho! (The pressie was lots of choc 😀 and some tea bags and coffee to cover what they would be consuming of ours!).

The inside is lovely too; they have a separate shower unit (unlike our wetroom) and a really large kitchen area complete with oven and microwave. Then two sofas opposite each other which convert to a double bed at night. Not bad at all in a van 6.39m long and is one of the van type ones with the doors that open at the back. Keith though can't stand upright in them so we discounted them from the start when we were looking at mohos. Also no garage space which makes quite a difference really. But each to their own, this van suits them down to the ground like ours does us, and Monika's does hers!

Their first full day I sent them all out for an 8km walk whilst I had a nice quiet kitchen to myself to prepare dinner! The next day, a Sunday, the weather was forecast to be lovely so off we set in the car to the coast for a meal out. None of us had eaten out since the beginning of the pandemic, but we had decided that now that restaurants seemed to be actually following rules for staff to wear masks and for customers to wear them when going inside the restaurant, that we would take a chance. We all really longed for a nice meal out and hopefully moules frites! As we turned the corner out of our road we were confronted with one of the rare really clear views of the Pyrenees, snow clad and much better than the views in summer, which tend to be very hazy. 

The Pyrenees from Fanjeaux (click on photo to see larger so you can see the mountains better).

Having left home a bit late and finding the place we originally were going to full (without, stupidly, booking, it being a sunny Sunday, duh! I hadn't realised it was French school hols too, double duh!), and all the other restos in that village with no tables free, we charged off to nearby Port La Nouvelle, which is much bigger, in the hope we would find a brasserie or somewhere that would still be serving after 1.30pm. In France everyone eats early, the norm being no later than 12.30. Usually restaurants are clearing up at 1.30pm..... 

Me at La Franqui.

Luckily for us we found somewhere with a few free tables outside, and as we wanted to sit in the sun, the waiter pointed to a table sitting all alone outside the actual restaurant patio area, which we thought would be perfect from a socially distanced point of view! I don't know why the table was there in the first place, as it was on the other side of a row of stone benches in the empty space around a bandstand/stage! It was perfectly placed and we sat and watched people roller and inline skating in this area, and although we couldn't see the sea itself, we could see the tops of boats coming from the port area, sailing past buildings, which looked very funny! The food was lovely and most of us had our moules frites so we were very happy indeed. 😀

The bandstand was to the right of us where those steps are.

Socially distanced or what?!!!

After lunch we went right the other side of Narbonne to the far end of the Massif de la Clape, to visit a sinkhole known as Le Gouffre de l'Oeil Doux. We had a short walk up to it and suddenly there it was. Typical France, no health and safety here. No railings whatsoever, just walk up to the edge and hope you don't fall down! It really was quite spectacular and we could see some lagoons and the sea beyond over the other side of the sinkhole, but with the late afternoon light it was very hard to show this in a photo, as the bottom of the sinkhole was in shade.

This is the first photo upside down, showing the beautiful reflections of the top of the cliffs in the water!

On the day they left, we had a photo shoot in front of our vans. However, as G got out a fruit box from our log pile to balance her phone on, someone noticed a rather large insect sheltering on it.

After a bit of research we learned that it was an Egyptian Grasshopper or Locust. They are apparently quite common in Europe and the females can be up to about 7cm long! This one was a good 6cm so must have been a female. Poor thing had some injuries, I hope it wasn't a cat which did it. Could have been a bird, I suppose. She had a peck hole on her eye and was missing an antennae, as well as a wound on her back.  After our photo shoot we put her back in place in her nice sheltered spot, which is under cover and away from the wind 😀.

Egyptian Grasshopper or Locust (Anacridium aegyptium)

When they left this time we did hug, as they had been with us for a week and if any of us had the virus we would have passed it on by now anyway, so we made the most of having some human contact with someone other than our own spouse! What a lovely feeling that is these days. Life is just MAD right now. 😢

Au revoir - until the next time!

Going back a few weeks, I wanted to share this magnificently coloured shrub. Sadly the leaves didn't last long, but it was stunning whilst it lasted. As it never flowered this year I have absolutely no idea what it is! Any ideas?

Also, yet another orchid appeared in the lawn, en masse! These are Autumn Lady's Tresses, and there were a good twenty or so of them. Not as stunning as some of the spring ones, but a nice surprise and lovely when you look at them close up.

Autumn Lady's Tresses Orchid (Spiranthes spiralis).


And now here we are back in full lockdown again from yesterday to 1st December, at least. Hopefully the lockdown will be lifted in time for families to be able to get together for Christmas (not that we will be having anyone visiting). I imagine that is what Bojo is planning now he has finally realised that full lockdown is the only way to really slow the spread of the virus. Anyway, next post will be us going out in the moho on the day before lockdown - making the most of it whilst we could!


P.S. Just seen a Red Kite flying over our house! Yay!! 😄😄😄