This year, not counting a short but very eventful weekend in Paris,  I've spent 84, Jill 93, Danielle 32 and Chris 18 days in France. (You can see that it's Chris who does all the work).  Next year we intend to spend even more time there as it is a really lovely, relaxing and friendly place to be.  Compared to the UK everything seems better - at least if you are a tourist - the food is better & cheaper, the wine is better and cheaper, the weather is better, the natives are friendly and the roads are empty. Furthermore, thanks to Ryanair, it costs less than a  meal in a UK restaurant to get there (and back). We commute from Stanstead to Pau. We keep a car at Pau, where it costs £365 a year to park whilst to park at Stanstead is £5 a day (i.e. £420 last year),  so for less than a 2nd class return from York to London we can commute to the South of France!

The view across our back field towards the Pyrenees in the distance - early 2004

The French certainly know how to party - at least those in our village do. We managed to attend a few this year the most notable being the annual Sanglier BBQ where the local hunters BBQed four wild boars - shot with their own fair hands. What a party! It is held in the woods in the hills about 2 Km above our house. It started with home made aperitifs and wild boar pate, then a fish & rice dish followed by wild boar, all washed down with liberal amounts of the local wine. We finished with local cheese and home made liqueurs and Armagnac. (We have our own still in the village so villagers distill all their surplus fruit into some very strong booze - I can confirm it for I fell into a drunken sleep and fell off my chair somewhere between the wild boar and liqueurs!)

Above - Jill & Tinneke (our Dutch neighbour) in the village before the Samba started

Below - A samba band        Right - An interesting Bottom spotted by Mark  - what a mover!!!

"Shake'n an Ass'"

Monleon Magnoac style

The next party (a week later) was the village Samba festival. We have a very young and forward thinking Mayor who closed off the centre of the village, and then charged outsiders 5 Euros to enter. Those of us living outside the barriers were given passes, those living inside were given ear plugs! The festival started (well we were there drinking) at 09.00 hrs on the Saturday and finished at 24.00 hrs on the Sunday. We had, bars restaurants and stalls down the village main street and a hugh stage in the old school yard. It has to be sampled to be appreciated - we're taking bookings for next year!!

Tour de France

We attended other interesting local events such as the "Tour de France" which passes about 5 Km away enroute to the Pyrenees.  The following day's leg then starts in our local town Lannemezan. It proved a pleasant and atmospheric lunch just waiting for the riders to whizz by with the helicopters hovering over us!  Another superb event was the world famous Marciac Jazz Festival which is held near by. We had a superb day of food, jazz and wine. Well worth a visit.

Left - LWQ a late British Tour de France entry - lost in Monleon

Right - The 2nd day of the French party started with a BBQ - in late October?

Above - Luxembourg taking on Canada in the international platapus racing after the BBQ (Condoms filled with water!)

Right - Birthday boy getting his birthday treat!

Spain

I haven't managed the time to get to our little house in Spain this year and Jill only managed a week in September when she went with Shireen Shuster. The only other person to use it was Chris who stayed for a few days with some mates whilst they were on a tour of Spain. We plan to sell it next year so if anyone is interested go to our sales website at www.w4u.co.uk/Mojacar 

Right - Jill and Shireen (In Luxembourg a few weeks after their return from Spain)