Contents of article "May 2006"
Tuesday 2nd May
Sunday 7th May
Friday 12th May
Wednesday 17th May
Saturday 20th May
Monday 22nd May
Friday 26th May
Tuesday 2nd May
A bird pooed in my eye this morning. It really wasn’t the slightest bit funny. I thought that it had started raining and wiped my hand across my eye, causing my eye to sting and my hand to smell ’orrible! Olivier and Lulu are still laughing now, eight hours later and my sense of humour is sorely stretched!! It’s the last time that I look up wonderingly at the sky to remark on the beauty of the snow-covered Canigou!
Sunday 7th May
The ’Bird Poo Affair’ is gone but not forgotten. However, we now have our own birds, swallows in fact, which I hope to train to poo on unwanted visitors in the future. The happy couple have built their nest just above the light fitting over our front door, and sit solemnly on the light everyday, jealously guarding their eggs. It is quite fascinating. They don’t move or flinch if we walk in and out. Apparently, swallows defend only the nest itself and if predators or human visitors approach while the birds are around, the birds may "swoop down toward the intruder, turning at the last minute and just narrowly missing him." Not suprisingly, the nest is built primarily by the female, although the male does some gathering of materials. So, similar to real life chez the human species then, hey?
Dogface went to the doggy barber on Thursday and is now changing her name to Sean! She has had a short back’n sides converted back into puppy mode, gambolling and frolicking around the garden. Pyrenean shepherds (bergers des pyrénées) do not cope well with heat, so she is much happier without her fur coat, and still looks beautiful to me!
The weather today is warm but quite dull, following on from some rain and thundery grumbles yesterday. On Thursday however, it was absolutely beautiful and Lulu took us to the waterfalls in Céret, just near his school, which are stunning, cascading into a superb plunge pool of crystal clear water. I’m not allowed to reveal its wherabouts under pain of S.A.T. (sulky adolescent treatment) but I can say that it is within walking distance of Collége Jean Amade (Lulu’s school) and well worth the climb.
Judging by the expression on Lucien’s face, the water hasn’t quite lost its winter chill, but when you’re 13, you don’t let a little thing like frostbite put you off having fun!
The cherries are rapidly turning red and cherry thieves abound in the nearby orchards, usually shady looking characters, easily recognisable by their shifty eyes and red mouths.
At the same time, the vines are turning a brilliant green, sporting tiny, immature bunches of grapes, and the PO is really shrugging out of its winter coat and preparing for its summer finery. It’s a lovely time of year here - warm but not too hot and bursting with new life and expectations.
The traffic is already beginning to build up on the road to Le Perthus and it is worth avoiding unless you really need to go into Spain. We went there on Friday to stock up on beer and also to buy BBQ fodder (fo de BBQ) as meat is cheaper and better quality if you know the right shops. We get our steak etc from the Tramontana supermarket half way down the road on the left.
It has a separate bucher’s department, always very busy, but a lot of choice and decent quality, and is well worth the trip if you are entertaining.
Friday 12th May
Beginnings of the swallows’ nest
Living in our house is very similar to starring in a Hitchcock thriller or Jaws. "Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the front door....." Step out of the front and you nearly get your eyes pecked out. Step out the back and there are spikes sticking up out of the garden and builders running round, Benny-Hill-style, carrying planks and and waving dangerous looking implements in the air. Au secours! The Birds have started to build their nest in the front porch but unlike the cute, neat little affair that I had already planned for them in my mind, it appears to be a messy job in which they are sticking bit of mud and branch up against the wall, and leaving a helluva mess underneath where bits keep falling off!! That is not to mention the poop plopping on unsuspecting heads! Lucky for them that we are animal lovers or bird’s nest soup would be on the menu!! I did think that they were already nesting but apparently that was the mating ritual - loads of flapping around, squawking and preening and wham, bang, thank you Man, its all over and they are tied down with a wife and eight eggs. That’s life hey?
Would you order a steak here?
Lulu and I went to Barcelona on the train yesterday to meet my Dad, who has been cruising round the Med. We got the train from Figueres (about 20 mins drive from le Perthus) and arrived comfortably and easily in the centre of Barcelona. I must admit that I am very impressed with Spanish trains. we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering up and down Las Ramblas, the central Boulevard which cuts through the heart of the city centre. It is a ’vibrant and lively’ promenade, lined with restaurants, and street and mime artists, with two narrow one-way traffic roads which run on either side of the central Ramblas Boulevard, making it quite noisy if you are sitting eating. Personally, I found it rather grubby and the lunch that we ordered in one of the restaurants indifferent to very poor, unusual for Spain in my (quite limited) experience. The mime artists were fun though and we had a laugh when we happened upon the taxidermist restaurant - the kind of eatery where you could quite easily get stuffed!
Wednesday 17th May
The weather continues to be warm and sunny - not too hot - just right. It’s impossible to move around here without bumping into piles of cherries. The trees are laden and there are little stalls everywhere you look, with local farmers and their wives making a bit on the side - and quite right too.....taking care of the cherry orchards throughout the year is not an easy job! If you were following my diary last year at this time, you will know that, whilst I enjoy a bowl of cherries with the best of ’em, cherry overdose quickly follows!
Our extension is moving along. Yesterday, they finished the floor and won’t be back now for a week, giving the cement a chance to dry and me a chance to have a builder-free week! They are all very nice but so ’here’!
The swallow’s extension is also coming along very nicely and I have a daily struggle with my dear husband who wants to take a brush to it before they lay eggs, and send them packing. I admit, it it becoming a bit much, being divebombed everytime we walk out of the door, and wading through piles of cr-p, sticks and leaves, which seem to have taken up permanent residence on our doorstep, but it seems so unfair to dash their hopes and destroy their home.
Saturday 20th May
The boys are driving me mad! Olivier has had two beers, his absolute limit, and has spent the past hour picking Lulu up and dropping him on the ground! Lulu is enjoying every moment apparently and keeps begging for more. Am I the only sober person in the house? Pass that bottle!
Elsewhere on the Hareng estate, the swallow extension appears to be finished (faster than any Catalan builder I have come across) and the birds are becoming fiercer in defending their future brood in that every time we walk out of the front door, we risk losing an eye. I am a hardened animal lover and defender but there are limits!!
Monday 22nd May
Wow! Isn’t nature incredible?
Friday 26th May
Now you see her.....
What a superb day! It’s easy to forget that blue skies and sharp mountain outlines are the norm from Mid-May onwards. I still wake up every morning with that lovely, tingly ’on holiday’ feeling, which stays with me throughout the day!
We had a bit of a doggie drama yesterday. Dogface was playing in the long grass and suddenly started running around in a panic and holding her head at a strange angle. We checked for stings and bites but couldn’t find anything, and after two hours, when she was still quite distressed, rushed her to the vet in Le Boulou. He immediately looked in her ears and used a long instument to pull out a piece of grass!
........now you don’t!
Apparently, it is quite common at t his time of year, when the grass has been cut and is becoming very dry. If not treated, the ear can become infected or it can even pierce the ear drum. The vet said that we should try to prevent her from rolling around in cut and dry grass from May to June. Easy to say, not so easy to do! He then charged us 47€ for a process which had taken him approximately 2 minutes - a little over the top in my opinion - putting him on the same hourly rate as david Beckham!
