We survived!

Despite the hot weather and a very early start to the day.

Bordeaux was quite quiet and cool when we arrived at about 8.45 in the morning. It even rained a few drops when we stopped for a cup of coffee on the way to the auction house. We ate inside at lunch time as it was windy and that is always dangerous in the noonday sun.

The auction went really well and we managed to get some good postcards as well as keep cool. They handed out cups of water to everyone there. Some of the collectors are quite elderly and need reminding to drink.

I wasn’t looking forward to the wait at the station, but it went really well. This weekend is the start of two months holidays here, so I expected a lot more people to be around. It was a reasonable Friday evening there. We got a seat in the bar and looked at our postcards for an hour and then wondered around the station shops and listened to the piano being played. Rob bought me a handbag in the sales; it took me quite a while to choose one. He was patient – anything to kill time waiting for a train.

They were handing out free bottles of water at the station so we had one each which was good timing as our supply was running low. Our train set off ten minutes late which was fine as we expected the worse. Overhead electric cables were dangerously low because of the heat all over France. It wasn’t crowded either so we chose a good seat opposite each other to eat our picnic.

I slept so well on Friday night

Bordeaux revisited

Yesterday was an auction day, so we set off for the station just before 5 o’clock in the morning. We had an excellent day. We managed to avoid the rain, we had a great lunch and we managed to get the cards we wanted for a good price.

We usually go to the same restaurant which has changed hands but is still as good.

The auction house

During our wait at the station in the evening, we listened to the piano music. It was beautiful; a medley of different types of music, which continued for all of the time we were within earshot.

The train wasn’t too crowded on the way home and armed with my Kindle, the time flew by. I slept so well last night.

One day we’ll stay over so that we can play the tourist. Bordeaux is such a beautiful city.

Postcards and Pianos

We had a long but pleasant day on Friday when we went to Bordeaux for an auction. A long day as our alarm went off early as our train was before 6 o’clock. We always allow plenty of time – especially if we have an early start.

Bordeaux was just as wet and cold as La Rochelle for a change, but we brightened up when we saw lots of very good postcards at the viewing. Rob and I plan our strategy over lunch and then go back for the auction.

We were pleased with our bids and afterwards installed ourselves at the bar at the station to look at them while we waited for the train home. We drank hot chocolate to warm us up!

I’ve written before about the shopping area in the station at Bordeaux. There is also a piano. I’m not sure if the French railways have installed pianos in all of the stations, but I know that there is one in La Rochelle too. Anyone can play. I’ve tried to find the young man who was playing in November and also on Friday evening when we were there. He was brilliant.

Here is a quick piano tour of France which includes Bordeaux and La Rochelle!

Postcards, Beaujolias Nouveau and Hyacinths

I was going to update sooner but life seems to keep on getting in the way.

 The day after Dom’s big day, the alarm went off at 3.30 am as we had the 6 o’clock train to Bordeaux to catch. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I’d be and we managed to dodge any showers thrown our way. We hadn’t been back to Bordeaux for over a year. Auction time, and there were some postcards that we were interested in. We had an excellent day, despite discovering that our favourite restaurant had closed. The station at Bordeaux seems to have had a facelift too. A new bar has opened and some very interesting shops to explore, which was a good thing as we had to wait nearly two hours for our train home.

 Olivier came home for a few days mid-month. We didn’t really see that much of him. It’s so good to know that he’s enjoying what he’s doing now and seems to be appreciated by his co workers. He might be able to move to a bank closer to Rennes next year, which could save him a lot of money in rent and transport costs. Though I won’t be able to say; “my son who lives in a chateau” anymore.

I sorted out the Christmas decorations. They are ready for the beginning of December. I even found the Advent calenders!

We had a lot of rain at the beginning of November – very serious flooding in the south, but we were okay here – just a soggy garden. The last three days have been mild and sunny; I’m waiting for the bubble to burst. This afternoon I did some gardening and planted some hyacinth bulbs.

The Beaujolais Nouveau this year is very good

Gardening question and a busy week coming up

A question for gardening experts: At the beginning of October I bought some Anemone bulbs and planted half of them in the garden. The remainder went in half way through the month. This week I have observed that they are already growing. Is this normal or has the mild weather woken them up too early? I was so looking forward to seeing the flowers in the spring.

Next week is going to be a busy one. On Thursday Dom will be presenting her Thesis. We’ll be going to Poitiers to watch and also visit their house. We haven’t visited since we helped them to move in just over a year ago. Hopefully on Friday we’re off to an auction in Bordeaux. It’s been 18 months since we were there last time. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us on our travels.

Talking of weather; it is still very mild and sunny. The news reports are still full of people swimming in the sea and dining out of doors. We are threatened with huge drops in temperatures within the next few days.

Oh, and Olivier will be home for a few days next weekend

Shiny new bridge

When Olivier came out to lunch with us in Bordeaux a couple of weeks ago, he told us that he hadn’t explored that part of town. That weekend he went for a stroll along the quays with some friends and he took this picture of the rainbow over the brand new bridge. He did take other pictures and some captured two rainbows, but this is the best one. As you can see he wasn’t the only one. The platform lifts up to let shipping pass underneath:

This weekend we had Dom and J-M, as well as Olivier home (although Olivier goes out most of the time with his friends). Dom bought me a pile of books by John Irving including the English version of Last Night at Twisted River which I read recently in French. If you know John Irving books at all, you’ll know that it is a hefty pile. I will be occupied for months to come.

As usual she sorted out my computer so that I can get at the pictures on my phone at long last. We had a lovely weekend which went much too quickly.

Olivier went back to Bordeaux at lunchtime; the house is very quiet

Time keeps on slipping into the future...

That’s how I feel at the moment. I don’t seem to get a minute to myself.

Last Friday we went to Bordeaux to an auction which I love, but is a very long tiring day. The nice part was that Olivier met up with us for lunch. We also saw the new bridge that lifts up to let the boats through. We came home with some excellent postcards.

Olivier has also been home for a few days, so I’ve been washing and ironing and preparing meals. We don’t have a bus service to this village so I ferried him to the nearest bus stop a couple of times – as well as just passing time talking.

The weather has been sunny but cold – nothing to do with the end of March here. We’ve still got the heating on and the clocks go forward this weekend!

Dom and J-m are coming to stay next weekend as J-M is in a play this weekend by Steve Gooch; Female Transport, about 6 women convicts sent off to Australia. Dom will be giving her first lecture in an amphitheater during the month of April. She’s looking forward to it! – Brave girl. She knows her subject well so there should be no problems.

Bordeaux

Friday morning found us leaving the house at the crack of dawn (if not before) to catch the train to Bordeaux. We were off to an auction. The first auction we’ve been to that hadn’t been organized by our expert. It was lovely to watch the sunrise over the fields as we made our way South. Bordeaux has an efficient tram system which was really easy to use. The only problem we had was how to get the tickets read by the machine. A fellow passenger soon showed us how.

 The auction house is along the docks. Like a lot of cities these areas have been re-built and we were surprised to find rather good discount shops and lots of restaurants and bars as well as a pleasant place to stroll along the river. The auction house was rather large and imposing but the people there were really friendly and we viewed all of the lots we wanted to see and a few more. We really were spoilt for choice. After the viewing all we needed to do was choose ourselves a pleasant riverside restaurant for lunch in the sunshine. This is the life! (Though we had to go through our notes and decide what not to bid on).

 The auction was very well run and moved along very quickly, no time to doze off. We got most of what we wanted and managed to catch an earlier train home. It really was a good day, the journey went smoothly and the weather was great.