Journal

24. 07 .07 Took a taxi to Stansted from Windsor at 2.45 am in order to catch the 6 am flight to Montpellier. The flight was 1p but the cab was £75! However not a lot of alternatives at that time in the morning. Usual chaos with Ryanair but eventually arrived in Montpellier at 9 on a warm sunny morning. Picked up the new Clio and drove west to Clermont-L’Hérault. Arrived around 10 to find the street blocked by a front end loader with the Pierre and his mate installing the shutters to the house. I knew that that was all he had to do but didn’t expect him to be doing it on the day of our arrival! However, the new roof was on, the new guttering installed, the new façade was complete so it was just the shutters. Of course there was dust everywhere but the work was finished that day. The best thing though was that the bill was exactly as the estimate. What with reputation of French and other builders this came as a great relief. Carole immediately took charge and after a visit to the Hyper U for solvents etc and a vacuum cleaner the house was slowly reclaimed. Wednesday, I went to my bank’s ATM only to discover that the “code secret” no longer worked and after an animated conversation with the lady in the bank who with much shrugging and useful comments like “mais ce n’est pas Paris” etc informed me that the new secret code would have been sent to my address in Canada and there was nothing she could do about it. She did allow me to withdraw some cash though! This problem has since been resolved by changing my address on my account to here rather than Toronto thus allowing the bank here to send me my new “code secret” which should arrive early next week.

Thursday, we decided that we deserved a break so went to our favourite beach between Marseillan Plage and Sête. Perfect day, hot, sunny, clear blue sky, warm water – now I know why I am here!

Friday, to Ikea in Montpellier to pick up some furniture, lights etc. Same experience as TO even down to subsidized food in their restaurant – they do some terrific beignets – 3 for 1€! And the cheapest bottled water anywhere! Spent Saturday assembling various pieces of furniture – discovered that Daisy has a real aptitude for this and is much more logical and patient about it than her grandfather!

Sunday, another glorious day at the beach!

17. 07. 07 This is the walk Daisy and I do most evenings after dinner. It takes about an hour and skirts the Long Walk but is still within Windsor Great Park. We do not encounter many people except the occasional dog walker or cyclist. Currently we have seen rabbits and the other night we saw a barn owl. There is a clearing where a group of guys gather to launch their radio controlled planes. I have only ever seen helicopters but Daisy assures me that they also fly planes. We have also seen riders practicing polo in a field. Another feature of this walk is planes taking off from Heathrow – one every minute in the evenings!

I have been looking at several scooters as possible means of transport in France. I went to a Honda dealership in Slough where I looked at various models. I soon became aware of how much things have changed since my 1959 Vespa. Everything I looked at was 4 stroke and fuel injected and all were twist and drive. Lots of plastic and other lightweight materials, all very sexy! I also soon realised that I didn’t need a big bike – 125cc would do me fine – they will do 100 kph all day. A change from the 650 Suzuki that I owned 18 years ago! So finally I asked if I could test drive one and the guy said come back in 45 minutes and we will lend you a crash helmet and get a PS125i ready to go. I went back and put this unbelievably tight helmet on, left my wallet and off I went. A bit odd at first but I soon got the hang of it. Surprised that I kept squeezing the left lever every time I stopped. thinking it was a clutch. Amazed at this reaction as I haven’t driven for so long! Went up and down the Uxbridge Road, around roundabouts out into the burbs of Slough. I had a great time and the bike was really instantly responsive and dead easy to drive. The only problem was that I got lost so took a while to negotiate the back streets of Slough back to the dealership. Reluctantly handed the keys back to guy completely enamoured with the machine. Spent the evening reading all the bumph on the bike and then went out the next day to check out Gileras, Aprilias and Peugeots – loved them all but still think I will probably go for a Honda because of their reputation. E mailed a dealership in Beziers where they had a demo on for a good price but obvioulsy they can’t hold it unless I make a firm offer. I now have to wait impatiently until I get to France.