Penultimate day in France.

And how do you think that feels? Not too good, I have to say. The internet is being disconnected this afternoon and so I imagine this will be my last 'French' blog entry. I am feeling heavy-hearted today, but I expected that, and I will be OK.
Yesterday was a really lovely day.
Marie-Helene and Christian put on a lunch for me - a garden party really, and invited a lot of my friends. Who are their friends too. And John drove up from Aigres. I may have noncholantly mentioned him. I only met him last week which was pretty dumb timing really, but there you go! All in all there were 13 of us there and the food was like a feast. Christan and Marie-Helene were fantastic hosts - it was all quite humbling in fact.

They had cooked lamb and my job was to provide the mint sauce - a new and mysterious New Zealand food! In fact John made it. I have never made it before, but it isn't easy to find here in the supermarkets. And they all seemed to like it.
Lots of wine flowing, comme habitude, and there was even champagne at the end as part of a special toast to me. I got given a book about early Poitiers, a scarf, a beautiful French-looking crocheted square that M-H had made, and a Francoise Hardy CD. I might add that they thought I could sing them a New Zealand song, but I surprised them with a rendition of Francoise Hardy's Tous les Garcons et Les Filles. A fabulous French song. (Just the first verse!)
We ate and drank for about 4 hours which I am getting a bit used to. It was just lovely. Later on John and I went into Centre Ville and had a bit of a walk round and a beer! It was stiil 32 degrees at 8.00pm. That was lovely too.

And so it's today. I need to tidy up and wash down a few surfaces - as you do. John is back in Aigres. It would have been nice to have met him earlier on in the piece but there you go. It didn't happen like that. He is an old Pom living in France and doesn't have a computer - eek! - so communication will be via that way I seem to vaguely remember - via the postal system! Lol. Que sera sera. I guess it was a fun way to wind things up here.
There are lots and lots of reflective things I could say about my year here. It has been truly amazing. But I will write those 'looking back' comments when I get back to New Zealand.
Thanks for tuning in, tout le monde. Waaaah!