Today I travelled to Sigoules. Jackie drove me to Southampton Airport; Flybe flew me to Bergerac; Sandrine drove me to Sigoules. All went smoothly.
Knowing I would arrive on a Sunday afternoon when everything, even Le Code Bar, would be closed, Jackie plied me with more food than I would normally eat at lunchtime, let alone 11 a.m. I did my best.
Snow began to fall again as we left, and, showing a fair amount of grit, my English chauffeuse got us out of the drive and into Running Hill, which was clear. Except for the three sorry-looking ponies walking towards us. These poor creatures, whose hair was matted with snow and mud, rendering them all a uniform dirty brown colour, brought us to a standstill. They trotted around the car so that we could continue.
It has been a feature of my air travel since my hip replacement that I always set off the security system, and consequently always have to be thoroughly searched and remove my shoes for inspection. I always inform the staff that I will trigger the alarm. it understandibly makes no difference. I could have been offering a red herring to put them off the scent. As today’s searcher said, ‘we are not allowed to ask’, if travellers have had replacement surgery, because that would offer an excuse for setting off the alert.
The bright sunshine above the clouds on my flight, glistened on a different kind of snowscape than that of the forest.
Gaps in the clouds offered glimpses of Bergerac beneath.
Once the plane descended through the clouds, the dominant monochrome changed to a dull grey.
In fact, on arrival, the little snow that had fallen around the airport had melted and the area was bathed in sunshine.
I am able to post this entry today, once again because of the generosity of the owners of Le Code Bar. I use their wifi connection, but, as mentioned earlier, they are not open on Sundays. There was, however, a group inside when I arrived. I went in to greet them. I was warmly welcomed by my friends and others who were relaxing after having given a free meal to forty needy people. So they were not just generous to me.
They are finishing up now, so I don’t have time to ‘poof redd’ this, as Becky would say.