1st Novemberi

Very rainy again today 😦

I got up latish and finished watching a full episode of the current series of Taskmaster that I’d found by chance on YouTube. It was hilarious, especially the game at the end when Ed Gamble got really upset with David Baddiel!

I was out of the house for 11 as that’s what time the library opens on a Friday- but it was closed!!! It turns out that the 1st November is a bank holiday in France. So I came back and emailed the nice man at Kirklees council to explain why I still wasn’t returning the forms!

It was my French lesson in Tours this afternoon- 2 til 5. I left Vendôme in good time and was there at 1.30. We were meeting in the botanical gardens- and it was still raining!

My teacher for the afternoon was a lovely guy called Manu. He asked if I wanted to speak in English or French and of course I said French. I kept having to ask him to speak more slowly though- I couldn’t keep up!

The gardens are lovely. They have animals there, like goats and wallabies, and birds too, flamingos and peacocks. Apparently they used have other larger animals too, one of them being a bear, but not any more.

Because it was still a bit drizzly we set off walking towards a museum that Manu had checked was still open on the bank holiday. As we walked he pointed out various landmarks- including where he went to school- and then we were in front of the gates of the château Plessis-lèz-Tours which was the favourite residence of Louis XI. It’s not open to the public now but is home to a theatrical group who put on shows there from time to time. You can generally go in and have a look around the grounds though- but not today. You guessed! Bank holiday!

The place we were headed for is the Prieuré Saint-Cosmo. The priory of St Cosmo, home to the poet Pierre de Ronsard until his death in 1585. He was the prior of St Cosmo for the last twenty years of his life despite never taking his monastic vows. The monastery and it’s grounds are beautiful but unfortunately the rain stopped us having a proper look around outside.

We found a spot indoors where we could sit to talk and write. We wrote a role play about 2 people bumping into each other by chance after many years. Manu wrote in green, I wrote in black- and Manu corrected my work in red. Guess what colour shone out from the paper?! Actually it wasn’t quite that bad but French is a very difficult language to learn and I fear, although I have learnt a lot in the last few weeks, I still have a long way to go! 😦

It was great fun though and I’ve asked Manu if I can book some more lessons with him when I move to Tours in a couple of weeks. He said yes- brave chap! 🙂

Manu asked me whereabouts in England I was from. I said Yorkshire and asked him if he had heard of the Brontës. He said no but he knew of William Shakespeare. When I was around 15/16 years old I went to Germany on an exchange visit. I stayed with the same family both times- the Willmanns- and I remember being very surprised that they too had never heard of the Bröntes. Disappointed too because I thought everyone knew and loved them as much as I did! I gave Manu a brief description of Wuthering Heights and then, because he likes his music, directed him to the back catalogue of the glorious Kate Bush to have a listen to her version of events!

As often happens, the best weather that day came later on- and after my lesson had finished. So, instead of setting off straight back home, I went and had another walk in the botanical gardens. The colours on the trees are so beautiful at the moment. I also saw a rainbow, over the hospital on the other side of the road. October was breast cancer awareness month here in France and there are two big pink ribbons still on the main gates.

It was almost dark as I left Tours, the satnav took me a different route to the one I’d come in on- and what a sight met my eyes in the centre of the city! It’s beautiful! A big fountain in the middle of the road was all lit up in purple and the buildings are gorgeous! I can’t wait to explore when I move there!

I got back and made a delicious tea of avocado and poached egg on toast. Now I know a lot of you out there are fabulous cooks so what I am about to say will seem a bit silly- or perhaps unbelievable. But I made my first poached egg today using just a pan of boiling water! And to say that this apartment is, to say the least, very poorly equipped in the cooking utensils department, I think it went very well! Runny yolk! Yum 🙂

Queer Eye was back on Netflix tonight! Hurrah! Just four episodes from Japan! The first episode was about a nurse in her 50’s who has opened her home up as a hospice and has to sleep under the table because there is no other room for her. The Fab 5 were having none of that! If you’re in need of watching something really heartwarming, then that’s it, right there 🙂

Bonne nuit 🙂