Welcome to reality

We all met up for petite dejeuner in the dining room, and after far too many croissants and pain au chocolat we checked out of the hotel. G&T had to set off home, and André and I agreed to meet J&B (why does everybody sound like a drink?) for lunch at midday. We tried our luck with the Musée de Beaux Arts again and this time we were rewarded for our determination.

We spent an hour inspecting the collection, and I loved it. Highlights for me were Rubens, Van Dyke, Reynolds, Brueghel, Delacroix, Corot, Millet, Renoir, Marquet, Valtat, Kokoschka and Lhote. Yeah, I’m showing off, but then I did spend three years studying the history of art so I wanna. I was also very taken by a sculpture which turned out to be by Zadkine – the same sculptor whose museum I visited in Les Arques – funny how things turn out. Nowhere to buy any postcards though, and I love a postcard me.

We had a mighty fine lunch – a pickled herring and potato entrée, breast of duckling main and absolutely stuffed thank you so no dessert. I love the Entre-deux-mers white wine you get in Bordeaux – must look out for it. After lunch we set off for the hospital. Frustratingly we got caught up in heavy traffic, but we made it in time for André and Jacqui to visit Michael, but visiting time ran out before I could go in. Michael was asleep, and André said he was looking better.

Bob drove us all home to Bergerac – a good two hour journey at this time of day. I read the Guardian in the back and Bob helped me with the crossword – turns out he’s a bit of a crossword buff. Oh, and I learnt something new today – an architectural term: mansard. Anybody know what it means? Fascinating stuff. I was also told that the wooden barns you see everywhere around here are designed for tobacco drying – well I had noticed them before but I didn’t know what the purpose of them was. Well, you live and learn.

Back indoors I began the slow process of updating this very blogsite – which I had let lapse due to what has happened. At first I thought I would not bother with it. It seemed almost callous to be putting stuff up here while Michael is so unwell. But then I thought about it some more, and I thought how much Michael enjoys reading of our fantastical debauched exploits here (at least he told me he did!) and I decided that I should keep it ticking over for a bit longer.

So, with David Bowie’s ‘Reality Tour’ DVD blasting out of my laptop speakers, a glass of something red and wet in front of me and my notebooks spread hither and thither, I retraced the events of the last ten days, and that’s what you’ve just read. Dull huh?