Blue skies day

Ceremony in the village today. For the centenary they had pulled out all the stops and roped in the village schools - making for a turnout ten times the maximum we’ve ever seen.

As is the way here, the ceremony did not start at the advertised time, but rather when mass finished, making it easy to pick out all the heathens due to their late arrival. A list of the WWI dead were read out, with the solemn “mort pour la France” chanted after each name (I think other communes do that every year, but this is a first for us). And after some trumpet music, the national address and rounded off with the hastily-convened school choir leading the willing in La Marseillaise.

And all, of course to the backdrop of hunters’ gunfire.

After, lots of hello-ing to be done, then off to the airport to collect Mr B. Stunningly warm today (shorts, in November!) A rare Sunday fizz while sorting out travel for the next few months, then Moroccan chicken and an evening of telly watching.