Beyond the Fringe

My fringe hates this weather.   I leave the house sleek and coiffed and within seconds my fringe has frizzed and I look as though I have a bleached Brillo Pad on my forehead. Any advice as  to how  deal with this would be appreciated.

Yes summer is well and truly here.   Temperatures have been hovering around the 30’s all week.

With the heat came :  fringe problems, flies, mosquitoes, midges, bites, insomnia, body dysmorphia.   And, every compensatory factor in one bundle:   Grand daughter Bethany and lovely boyfriend Jordan.

In the weeks before they came Gaz and I went into many a huddle, worrying where we would take them.   Mountain climbing, mountain biking, mountain skiing, any mountain related exercise or kayaking,  canoeing, paddle boarding, water skiing , any water-related exercise or chilling in “Ibiza lounges”,  or night clubs, foam parties, discotheques.  Most chill stuff don’t happen hereabouts.

The nearest we get to “chill” are the guignettes or pailottes or pop up restaurants which are literally built every year in June, with water, electricity, kitchens and toilets and completely dismantled in September.   We did go to Mango Beach, at Agde, with its South American vibe ( such a useful word “vibe”)   Beth and Jords paddled, said the water was freezing, sunbathed and chatted, while the Agèd GrandPs flopped like Sperm Whales on the ultra comfortable beds .   There is great food at reasonable prices and killer  cocktails.   We were not charged for our beds or parasols, but  I don’t know whether this changes in the season.

So a good French Immersion for them and a relaxing day away from jobs in London.   We took them on their first ever wine tasting and were fortunate to have the most charming and helpful vigneron in the world at Caveau Morin Langarin, near Marseillan.  Delicious wines too.  We and the children shared a mixed box of 6.

However, by general consensus, the very best day of all was at home, christening the dip pool, having a barbie and singing along to Neil Diamond

Another day of goodbyes loomed and we went to Marseillan for an amazing Pottery Fair, lunch and then to our second home, Beziers airport.   We needn’t have worried about what to do with “the kids”.  It was just great being together again.

To ease the pain of parting from our lovely ones, we needed to do something different.  I had a scan booked at a laboratory on the next day in Beziers, so we looked at the map for places south of there and found Argelès.   Before the hour was out we had booked a small hotel for one night and set off excitedly.

After an interminable wait for the scan results,  we set off, once more towards Argelès, on the Spanish border.  It was getting late so we used the motorway which we  both dislike, but it meant we were there in no time.   The outside of the Hotel Mimosa (2 stars) did not look promising, but once inside we found a very modern, very clean hotel with charming owners.

We wandered for five minutes along the road and reached the sea.   Looking to our left we saw a deep and long sandy beach with just the odd beach bar, fringed with pine trees.  To our right….. oh my goodness, children’s dream, our nightmare:  dozens of 20 feet high plastic animals, fun fairs, loud music.

Well we weren’t deterred actually.   We were here for a change of scenery and we certainly got it.   We wandered around the tat shops, running 4 deep, back from the beach, then found a restaurant, sat down, ate well enough and watched the children play.   The occasional petulant screams from the children, and yelping from the hundreds of miniature  dogs in the restaurant did not disturb our sense of contentment as the sun went down over the beach.

We rose to a lovely al fresco breakfast in the hotel and went to explore the old town of Argelès.   It was market day.   It was rammed.   No matter,  it was buzzy and interesting and fun.

We took our fill and then made the two hour journey back to Roujan to prepare the house for our next guest.

On our way home we went through Bacarès and Leucate which,  as we told you bloggees, when we last passed through, only two or three weeks’ ago, were totally deserted.   Block upon block of empty apartments, whole camping villages, unoccupied apart from the odd cat.    Now the place was alive with summer busy-ness    Santa had, perhaps escaped to Lapland, but the rest of the world had arrived!   We decided to see if  the Baobab Beach Bar was now open.    It was.    And we enjoyed a refreshing break there.

(Brillo Pad  hair)

(For those who didn’t study French : “Isn’t Life beautiful”).  I’m inclined to agree.

And so home and preparation for our next guest, Sara T.   Before we go though (and my aversion to dogs is well documented) we had to introduce you to Mimi who we met in Argelès.