...And Then There Was Light!

Tue/Wed 16/17 May

Quietly at home with a trip to 'Les Mousquetaires' supermarket for some shopping on Tuesday. DHL rang to advise that a package Julie-Anne sent us from Australia on 27 April would be delivered Wednesday afternoon. I suppose it was restful reading and waiting around all of Wednesday for the delivery to occur...it did not! C'est la vie en France.

Thu 18 May

Donna's appointment with the eye specialist is this afternoon and she is optimistic as she can at last see fairly clearly however the large 'floaters' are disconcerting.

A male voice speaking French on our phone seem to suggest that the DHL man was in Caunes-Minervois but that the roads are too narrow and he can't find our place. I suggest in French (???) that he wait near the school and Donna will go to meet him. In the event, he was on the main street, near the bridge, in a very common, plain white Citroen van. Like most who park illegally here he had his emergency blinkers on. This was the obvious clue he was DHL and Donna worked it out! So much for my French but I still think there is a significant difference between 'ecole' and 'pont'!

Dr Maillard is happy with Donna's eye and the now very small residue of the bleed on her retina will heal completely. The 'floaters' are a different matter but he suggests most people get used to them and they become inconsequential. That's what they say about tinnitus also.

On the way to town we came across today's starting point for the women's bicycle 'Tour de L'Aude" There would have been at least a hundred riders all in their team colours and with an entourage of support vehicles. The organisation to get this going is extraordinary. The village of Villegelly was closed off at both ends as the Municipal Police, Gendarmerie, and officials cover the road. We could just imagine what the male 'Tour de France' must entail. On the stroke of 3pm they took off and the flashing of the wheels and splash of colour certainly creates excitement. People line the route for kilometres simply to get a short glimpse as this colourful, animated monster passes by. (See picture above)