Day 8. Monday 15^th May 2017.

It is strange but I awoke early today. It must be psychological. I know I have deadlines to meet to travel home. Opening the door to the courtyard, to let in some fresh air, I do not know who was more surprised, me stood there in my "shreddies" or the plumber outside the door connecting some hose pipe. Notwithstanding, we passed pleasantries. Bon jour etc and I quickly ducked back into the room.

We were the only people at breakfast this morning. It seems we were the sole residents in the hotel last night. This is not uncommon in this area. Hence the restaurants closing on a Sunday night. Breakfast over we paid our room and bar bills and bade Madame a fond farewell. Jackie promising, as she always does, to return again soon!

Whilst Peter and Jill went for a walk down by the river, Tim, Suzie, Mike and Jackie drove the short distance out of town to the local Carrefour. We thought we might find some Crement or cheap bubbly but nothing took our fancy.  Tim will buy it for us in Langon and ship it home in the car. God bless him. Returning to the square, we collected Pete and Jill.

We thanked Suzie for all her work with translations this week and took our leave of them. They on their way South to Bordeaux we on our way West to Limoges.

On the return journey to Limoges and Bellegarde Airport we stopped at Aubusson. Jill had spotted a café, sat on the main crossroads where we could sit, pass some time and  people watch. There were no, or insufficient seats outside and as it was such a wonderful day none of us felt we wanted to sit inside. Mike did ask if we could take some chairs outside but I believe the answer was “Non” as it would obstruct customers? With our best Gallic shrug we walked off in search of another café. All up through this pretty medieval town and down we found nothing we felt matched our requirements. As we crossed the bridge over the river towards the original café we spotted four empty chairs. We doubled our pace but before we could reach them they were taken. Cursing, we retraced our steps to another we had spotted in the main street and ordered two Lattes. Now I did say at the outset that I did not know what the French for Latte was or if it was the same word, or even how I might pronounce it.

The waiter came over, I asked for un “Latte” Jackie corrected that to “deaux” Peter chimned in with his four penny worth and Mike sat there totally confused. To say nothing about the poor waiter! How is it, on the last day everyone is suddenly an expert with the lingo and is keen to try their hand? Mike said he thought we would probably get two teas. “No” the girls said in unison. Right on cue their two teas arrived. Black, no milk. “Ask for a jug of milk, quick”. demanded Jackie “it’s bad enough we don’t have our Lattes without paying three euros for milk for tea we didn’t ask for”. “I’m sorry” I replied, “It was obviously my Janner accent he didn’t understand, either that or your French!” Note to self. Look up Latte and pronunciation.

Aubusson. Beside the Creuze river.

Twitchers!

Arriving at Bellegarde we followed the map to the local Simply supermarket and garage. After a small diversion and a chat with a few locals asking directions we found the station, filled up and were back at Buggs car hire for 1455 hrs. Five minutes before our insurance expired. The staff member on duty made nothing of the broken wing mirror especially when he saw I had total cover. He didn’t even bother to walk to the car and check it. I handed over copies of the Gendarmes report but he said they would not claim on their insurance as it was too expensive.

We took ourselves into the café, ordered ice creams and savouries and passed the short period in the sun awaiting the gate to open. We were soon aboard and the short flight back into Bristol went quickly. Landing in rain with poor visibility we all knew our holiday was over. The next highlight of the trip was when we were nearing South Brent. Peter shouts “Turn left Jill, quick.” The wheel was swung hard over, Mike and Jackie in the rear were thrown against each other. It was like a scene from a Hollywood movie. It seems Peter had decided we would “pop into” The Avon for some scran as he had been on a strict diet today and had eaten little or nothing apart from a croissant this morning and a chocolate Magnum for lunch. He ordered ale steak pie and chips.

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"It’s nice to be home.” He said as he got stuck in!