4 - 11 October

Where did the week go? It's not as if we've been in a whirlwind of activity. Just the opposite, in fact. We're back on our regular runs/walks, coffee breaks at Le Comptoir, reading, learning Italian, cleaning the apartment, socialising and generally taking it easy. Many of our expat friends have now returned to their home country so it is definitely quieter here.

During the last few days we've tackled a few maintenance tasks. The leak in our ceiling has (apparently, though we're not convinced) been solved, so John gouged, sanded and repainted the buckled plasterboard joints in the mezzanine ceiling. I repainted the bedroom windows and trim that had suffered from the intense summers during the five years since we first restored them. It's very hard to believe it's been 5 years since we moved in to Place des 9 Jets.

Our hopes and plans for the 'villa under the Tuscan sun' have faded somewhat. Feedback suggests we may not be able to do what we'd been hoping. However, to pursue it as far as we can, we have booked a return trip to Cortona at the end of October. We want to sit down with staff at the local council and get the real word on what we potentially can and can't do on the site, what permits we'd need, likely timeframes, costs, options for the water supply and so on. We'll be there just four days, but that should do the trick. We're thinking the project is going to end up in the 'too-hard, too-expensive' basket, but we've learned a lot by going through the exercise, and are still going to keep looking. 

Having said that, we are both really enjoying being back in Ceret, and realise the place has a huge amount to offer. We also keep meeting more and more people. One particular thing that appeals to us is how the locals regularly sit down and have a coffee and natter each day. There is a group of 4-5 men, all retired but in excellent health and spirits, who have coffee and gossip together every morning at Le Comptoir at about 10.30am. The local postie (a woman) has taken to joining them, with big kisses on each cheek all round, before passing out their individual mail then and there. It's all so friendly and jovial. We can't see a NZ postie ever kissing his or her clients.

Our daily medicine

We had lunch out with friends at a local cafe in Ceret during the week. The Friday special was moules frites (mussels and chips). It was a delightful meal, in a garden setting, and all for just 9.50E each. In all honesty, we dine out very little. If we do, we tend it tends to be on a visit to Spain or perhaps Perpignan. 

For a few weeks I've been putting off getting my haircut. Unfortunately, the woman we go to at a little place on the border town into Spain has closed up shop. She gave us consistently good haircuts. Everyone I've tried in Ceret has ended in awful cuts, at much higher prices. However, unable to put it off any longer, I practiced the French words I needed, checked them with John and set off for the hairdresser in the main street. Right. With instructions for a general cut, with only a little off the back and definitely leaving my ears covered, I got the complete opposite. I now believe I have the haircut typical of the 1950s, i.e. like that of a woman you would see on black and white TV advertising a new-fangled vacuum cleaner. Too late I realised that all the women in the hair salon seemed to be getting the same cut! Clearly there is only one style, no matter what you ask for.

In family news, it was our son's birthday on the 11th. He turned 33. Unbelievable. We Skyped and he's enjoying life in San Francisco as much as ever, and appears to have a new girlfriend. Our young grandson is 11 months old and on the verge of walking. It's only a matter of days we suspect.

One of our neighbouring buildings is currently undergoing a facelift. It's being painted a dark brown, with cream trim. It's a huge improvement on its rather derelict appearance up until now, however it's upgrade has also had the effect of making our building look somewhat grim. The surface of our building is basically cream, but with a dirty coating. We've talked with the developer owner of the first two floors and he's shown us quotes which are excessive for getting the facade cleaned and repainted. We then considered the option of just water-blasting the facade, which could be done by standing on each balcony rather than having to scaffold the place. 

We followed this option up with a meeting with an architect from Batiments de France, the national historic places body. He visits Ceret mairie each month. The outcome was that waterblasting might be a bit too forceful for the potentially brittle facade. However, he confirmed our colour scheme for the windows and shutters was fine, and that any repaint of the facade should be distinctly different from the colours of adjoining buildings. OK. Our new plan is to investigate just spraying the facade with a bleach/algae killer fluid in the hope that that will hopefully bring a distinct brightening of the facade. We're now on the lookout for buying a garden sprayer, not something we've had much call for up until now!

The meeting with the Batiments de France guy was strained to say the least. We'd struck the same man when we went to the Perpignan office to discuss the skylights we have put in here in Place des Neuf Jets. He is an incredibly officious, standoffish man, extremely reluctant to greet you, discuss anything, say anything (especially if it is positive) or display any positive body language. However, as with the first time we met him, after about 10 minutes he seemed to thaw out quite a bit, and ridiculously ended up being quite chatty and hard to get away from. He is a real enigma. We found out what we needed to in the end, but came away from the experience shaking our heads and declaring that he was a very sad guy - 'a glass 1/4 empty' instead of a 'glass 1/2 empty' scenario.