A guest arrives!

And the photography begins.....

Rob's first lunch at the farm.

April 14th, 2009

Morning came earlier than it seemed and a quick coffee got Christian and I on the road back to Montlaur. Rob was arriving today and I did not want to be late to pick him up. The last time he had arrived I was 45 minutes late and he rented a car and ended up lost for a while before he found Montlaur. Not this time!

I got home, cleaned up a bit and fired up the little Opel Corsa. This would be the farthest trip afield with the car so far and I was a little nervous of a breakdown somewhere on the road with Rob standing at the station looking forlornly up and down the street.

But I had no problems. I arrived 45 minutes early (thus making my average arrival time deviation exactly zero). I lounged, bought an International Herald Tribune, checked the NHL scores and got some money out of the bank.

He arrived at 12:30 and we got out of the station and out of Montpellier very quickly, hitting 120 kph on the highway. I was proud of my little car and after some discussion about her I nicknamed her CGV, Corsa Gran Vitesse after the French TGV trains and of course ennobling her high speed prowess. I did lament the fact that there was no fifth gear, which did not stop me from trying to shift in to it from time to time when the situation seemed warranted.

I had planned a lunch at home but unfortunately I had forgotten to get some fresh baguette. Realizing this as we pulled into the driveway, I turned around and headed for San Drezery and the little convenience store there that, of course, sells a pretty good selection of fresh bread. Unfortunately, this is a land that time forgot and upon our arrival all we were greeted by was a closed door. Everything was closed for the lunch break, which usually lasts about 2 hours.

So I said, “lets go to St. Bauzille de Montmel. There’s a good café there that serves a nice lunch for 11 euros.” Off we went, CGV buzzing merrily along the twisting French roads. Pulling up in front of the café we were greeted by …a closed door. “Ferme lundi et mardi.” Damn! “Well how about we go to Sommieres …there must be something open in Sommieres.”

CGV groaned out of St. Bauzille and headed down the road to Sommieres. Rinnnggg! It was Christian reminding me that I had an appointment at the bank at 3:00, on the other side of Montlaur. It was 2:30 and we were going in the wrong direction! Change of plan. “We’ll get a baguette at Sommieres and I’ll drop you at the farm and then head to the appointment.” Ok. Rob was jet lagged and drooling slightly for lack of food, an easy mark for my subtle manipulations. “Ok” he agreed.

That all accomplished I made the appointment at 3:15 and proceeded to have a pleasant transaction in opening an account at the local bank. Neither of us I’m sure understood a word the other had said but in the end I walked out with my bank account opened and to boot I had won a new account opening prize of 40 euros. “I should do this more often.” I thought.

Rob was pretty well bushed when I got home so we ended up having a quiet dinner, which he prepared and some of Jean Pierre’s great syrah to cap the evening. “And it was only ____euros!” I said. Rob beamed in appreciation of yet another joy of the Land of “Yes”, Languedoc.