Just in case there is anyone out there who thinks that the Dwyers have it made living in their sultry paradise, drinking and playing the French equivalent of Beer and Skittles let me give a small reality shot here.

At the moment we are busy , have been busy since the begining of May.
Today we got one of those really lucky days , a total day off.
No-one for breakfast and no-one for dinner and no-one staying tonight.

Voila La Vie en Rose.

Síle wakes up this morning with a thorough stinking cold , the rest of her day is percieved through a cloud of phlegm.

At 10.00 am we are summonsed to a meeting in the local tourist office to discover some new informations VITAL for our Chambre d’Hote.

We then have a long powerpoint presentation by a young one in jeans from Beziers explaining the new initiative the French government have taken on our behalf.

A NEW METHOD OF GRADING !

Now we will all be given star grading with the backing of the French government.
Every Hotel , Campsite , Gite will have official grading.
(We did this in Ireland forty years ago)
But observe my statement , no mention of Chambre d’Hotes …
Madame in Jeans informs us that the government have decided that Chambre d’Hotes are ungradeable (unlike all other mentioned establishments) so our two hours of power point have been thoroughly useless.

One French proprietor of a C d’H is sufficiently upset to give the entire presentation a right bollicking.
I went up to him afterwards to congratulate him and discovered that he was (of course) married to an Irishwoman had spent 15 years in Ireland learning how to bollick and that yes we must get together soon.

The morning was not entirely wasted.

The afternoon was spent with our French Accountant .
As with all accountant’s meetings I glazed over the moment we started to talk and regained consiousness as we left the office.

This is how we spend our days off.

However the evening is our own and as soon as I finish this I am off to the glowingly warm terrace (it will now have started to cool a little) there I will find cool Rosé , fornicating doves , the sound of bells and the screaming rush of adolescent swallows as they do their nightly gorge of the flies under the tree.

Soon all the pressures of the day will be past.
I will enjoy le jour de congé.