Old friends & Rosé
Today we are heading just north of Le Mans, to the small village of Joue-du-Bois to catch up with an old friend who we haven’t seen really seen since the 1980’s bar a couple of times in between.
For the first time this trip the skies are slightly grey and there is rain on the horizon and as we move closer to Normandy, the scenery becomes more familiar and similar to home, but what remains very French are the tree-lined roads.
We arrived to a lovely welcome from Vanessa, Graham & Teddy the adorable Westie and in no time at all,the rosé had been opened and we caught up on old times, old friends and new and what turns our lives had taken since we were young guns in The Blue Boys at Kippings Cross in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. As you can imagine this took most of the afternoon
Ness and Graham live in a lovely old farmhouse that once produced cider and calvados. With outbuildings and a 2 acre garden there is certainly enough to keep them busy. Charlie had tractor and workshop envy and I had garden envy. I was looking forward to meeting their chickens but unfortunately Mr Fox beat me to it a couple of weeks ago and the 1 surviving chicken was rehomed as Ness doesn’t have plans to replace them immediately. The garden is huge and encompasses a wooded area with a lovely stream running through it, veg patch, walnut and apple trees, beautiful lawns and secret corners.
We sat out in the lovely garden, with more rosé and reminiscing whilst Graham fired up the BBQ. The afternoon became the evening and all of a sudden we had to make a dash for indoors, grabbing cushions, plates and glasses as the rain that had been threatening all day finally fell in huge, fat drops
Tomorrow is our last night and as the weather is changing, like Mary Poppins, it will be time for us to leave and return home.
RoundandAbout 