21st to 25th November - Ceret

The last few days have been fairly low-key. The weather has been lovely and sunny, though it has been terrifically windy. The daily highs were around 16-19 degrees, so it is still quite warm if in the sun and out of the wind, but not today at 13 and windy again. Most locals are having their coffees inside the cafes now, except for the smokers who must weather the weather. 

We've been keeping up our daily walk, typically doing one of the 1-hour loops we do around the outskirts of town. 

View towards Mt Canigou (no snow yet)

Ceret's historic centre

Wall remnant from the early castle overlooking Ceret

Other than that, we've started some prep work for our departure from here next week, e.g. re-oiling the wooden benchtop etc. I've also begun sorting through everything we have here, noting things to take back home, worn out clothes that can be thrown out, culling the bathroom cupboard and so on. Our aim is to maximise the allowance we can take home in our luggage by taking home some books and other things that we would like back in NZ. 

On Thursday we had a wonderful visit from friends who live in Montpellier, 2 hours to the north of here. Andrew is a Kiwi and Marjike is from Antwerp, Belgium. We first met them when they lived in Ceret for a year before Covid. They eventually bought an amazing old church property in Montpellier and now run a B&B. We've become good friends. They stayed with us in Nelson earlier this year when they came out to NZ to visit Andrew's sister. 

They arrived mid-morning and we immediately set off on a walk before lunch. They are very fit, more than us. They loved reminiscing about their time in Ceret as we wandered along and caught up on each other's news. Lunch was had at one of the restaurants in our square, followed by coffee chez nous. It was lovely to spend time together again. They have no plans on the horizon for another trip to Nelson, but Andrew is itching to have another wee play in our MX5! 

Thursday's walk - Ceret nestled in autumn colours

Snow on Mt Canigou

We had a couple of good wins yesterday. Our French bank card was due to expire at the end of the month, but when the replacement arrived a week ago the envelope had been opened and crudely closed again with clear tape. We took it to the bank, and he instantly agreed that it should be dumped and a new one sent out. The replacement arrived, intact in its envelope and is now in use. Also a man from Enedis, EDF's (Electricite de France) working arm, arrived to replace our meter which apparently was no longer talking to EDF. Within 20 minutes we had power back on, and the ripple control for the hot water is back working. We'd been manually turning the water on overnight to avoid the higher daytime rates.

Today was our last market for this year. It's always lovely to wander through, enjoying the noise and bustle. Over the years we think it has got even better. The quality of goods has lifted, and the variety of food has lifted. Our favourite olive vendor has been replaced by another. The horsemeat vendor is no longer here though, but there's a very popular pre-prepared Asian food vendor. Times and tastes change.

We've been looking at the weather for Czechia, where we will be in only a week. Zero degrees in the daytime, -3 overnight, and snowing! That will be fun, but we will have to wrap up really well!