Dutchies galore, and the premier mai

Yesterday evening we were invited to eat at the home of our friendly local dutchie, Harriette, at 6:30.

So I spent a peaceful day catching up on chores, emails, phone calls and some preparation, as well as some flute practice - yes, music is returning to my life gradually - while Pat was in the Maison de la Bible. The kids went to the cinema. Then we went off to find a dessert to take.

Our local Carrefour didn't have anything inspiring so we got the finest things in cartons we could find and headed off. Harriette lives very near Cenon so our journey involved taking bus 4 to Palais de Justice then switching to tram A. At the tram stop there's a swanky cake shop called "The 48". We charged inside, but they had nothing left. At Harriette's tram stop we were 1/2 hour early so we carried on to the next stop where there's an Aldi and there I found two strudels and some ice-cream.

The meal was very convivial, with Harriette, the four Daveys, Sally, James and Diderich, James' visitor who is also a Dutchie, and a pancake machine with various cheeses, hams, bacons, syrups, etc...

Harriette moves to Aix-en-Provence in September. We'll miss her very much.

Now today it is 9am and May Day, which means that nothing is moving. There are no buses or trams.  There's no traffic noise. Just the gentle sound of the persistent rain that is forecast for the entire weekend.

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