Anyone for tennis?

In the UK I used to play tennis at least once a week with a group of fantastic friends.  (When I say ‘play tennis’ we didn’t really let the game get in the way of a good conversation and spent longer having coffees afterwards than we did on the actual match).  Since moving here I am regularly to be seen with a tennis racket in hand but that is only to lob the ball as far down the garden as possible for the dog to retrieve, but I really missed playing properly.  Recently I met a lovely ‘old’ (in his 70s I guess) man at an apero evening in the village and he said that he and his friends often had to play as a threesome so would I like to join them.  I now find myself an honorary member of a men’s tennis 4 and it is the highlight of my week.

The first time I played I was extremely rusty but they were very patient and recognised occasional flashes of brilliance (!) so invited me to continue with them every week.  Personally I think it is because they are so thrilled to find a woman who doesn’t speak much – I am pretty fluent in french and the words for ‘yours’ ‘mine’ and ‘out’ were easy but I have never before needed to know the words for ‘tramlines’ and the first time one of them shouted ‘recule’ at me I thought he was being rude, but now I know it means ‘run back’!

I have just played again this afternoon and have learned a lot of new french words -  none of them to do with tennis, but I am also giving them a crash course in swearing in English!  As none of them speak a word of the language so will never read this,  I can introduce you to l’equipe:

 

Here is Francis who always reminds me of Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers.  He is tall and skinny and is always accompanied by his very old dog who limps around the outside of the court.  I dread the day he decides to wear shorts!

This is Janou, who I always think of as Benny Hill when he dressed as the boy-scout (with the fetching socks and shorts outfit).  He looks like a typically grizzly french farmer but is very kind and can run much faster than you can imagine!

Jean-Jacques wears more jewellery than I do and spends much of the game announcing the score, wrongly and always in his favour.  He is quite short so when you lob him he just stands there and calls for a ladder.

And finally Joel, who has the perfect outfit for every occasion and brings several changes of caps and sunglasses, selecting just the right accessory depending on which side of the court he is playing!

So, all very different from the group of attractive female friends I used to play with, and the setting is world’s apart too.  Playing on a hard-court under a bright blue sky, with the Pyrénées in the background and the Mediterranean just visible on the horizon, and hearing the clanks and thuds of a vicious game of petanque being played on the dusty car park, makes my years of playing on an indoor carpeted court at David Lloyd just a distant memory (but a very good one!). 

It seems strange to me that even the scruffiest looking villages have such excellent sports facilities, but I am very much enjoying taking advantage of it and  have just paid my annual membership fee to the club – 40 euros!

Pictures from the Pyrénées-Orientales

The weather was so beautiful here yesterday that I was inspired to take my camera out on one of our walks.  So for this blog entry, instead of being a long ‘ramble’ about nothing in particular, here are some pictures taken on our long ramble...

 

The Vineyard at the bottom of the garden – hard to believe there will be grapes to be picked in 6 month’s time.

 

 

The track through the peach/apricot orchards (I’m sure the farmer knows why I always wear a jacket with big pockets in the summertime!).

 

 

Mimosa – not just a cocktail!

 

Council tax finally put to good use – the Mairie have dotted these little ‘rest stops’ all around an 8km circular walk around the village.  Here you can sit on the little stump, look through the frame and read more than you ever wanted to know about the ruined windmill in front of you...

 

One of my favourite places – at the top of the hill you have a 360° panoramic view with the Canigou mountain in front of you and the sea twinkling in the distance behind you.

There’s nearly always some reason to have to make a detour on the way home – usually it is seeing/hearing hunters who obviously cannot read the ‘No Hunting’ signs but on this occasion there was an out of control bonfire in the vines.  At least the dog was happy with the extra 30 minutes!

Winter in the South of France

People often ask me what’s the weather like here in winter and it is hard not to sound smug but the obvious answer is “Sunny”.  The Languedoc boasts over 300 days of sunshine per year and checking that you have your sunglasses with you when you leave the house is as natural as carrying an umbrella in the UK. 

Talking of rain; it doesn’t very much and when it does rain it seems to be during the night – seriously!  Having said that, this year we have had a couple of very bad days of rainstorms where there were flood alerts but occasions like this are very rare.  You might notice when walking around the towns that the drainpipes on buildings empty directly onto the pavements rather than into drains – definitely not designed for practical use! 

The Mediterranean climate is very similar to the people who live here – gentle & easy to live with.  Winters are mild and the summers are pleasantly warm – although there are exceptions.  I have just looked up some ‘average’ temperatures and I see that January should be around 12 degrees (today it was 22 degrees on our terrace), and last August we had a ferocious heatwave where temperatures hit the high thirties rather than the 28 degree average temperature suggested.

The small price we have to pay for this wonderful climate is that we occasionally have to endure the Tramontane Wind.  This is a strong, chilly wind that comes from the North-West and can gust up to 100kmh.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason for why it starts and every elderly resident here has a different theory on how long it will last (5 days is my longest experience) but one thing is for sure – it blows away any threatening looking clouds in the winter and makes the summer heat bearable.

Today is January 5^th and the sun has been shining all day and the sky is a brilliant blue. We have been for a long walk on an almost deserted beach, had lunch sitting outside at a restaurant, and relaxed on our terrace at home soaking up the afternoon sunshine. How is the weather with you.....?!