The Toy part 3

Well, as they say, you have to go backwards before you can go forward ( not sure who they are).

The garage had to take the dashboard out to fix the airconditioning and what a mess we can see. Obviously other problems were found, as all garages discover.

The car will be ready next week and as near perfect as it can be got for a 15 year old car!

Unfortunately we are off to the UK for a month so I will not get it back until we return. Cannot wait.

Mr L 21/06/2012

Golf Partners

Three mornings a week I have a game of golf with my mates. Sometimes we are a twosome but more usually a threesome, however this week we were joined by my friend's son Andrew who is a basketball player and was staying with his dad before going to Camp Monroe, a summer camp in New york State, as head of Basketball.

On the left is Andrew ( at least 6' 6" ) followed by me, standing on the cart to look bigger!, and the Chris and Mark a PGA Pro.

We, as usual had a great game at St Maxime but of course the highlight was the coffee time before we played and the soft drinks after!

Mark's other son, Lewis, is a PGA Golf Pro up in Paris and we also sometimes have his company.

The fun is to see the competition between Mark and his sons!

Mr.L. 15/06/2012

Visitors

Just had a visit from my daughter and her friend Ruth,with two of my grandchildren and her friends two kids.

My daughter is more of a permenant fixture down here as she visits 3 or 4 times per year and stays in our guest house which is about 5 minutes from our home. My Grandchildren call it " our French house"!!

It is such a pleasure to see the kids playing in the pool, which takes much upkeep all year, but seeing them makes it all totally worthwhile!

It has been great to see them progress, over the years, from fear of the water to all swimming like fishes. This, of course includes my other two Grandchildren who are a little older.


Mr.L. 14/6/2012 

Carcassonne

Before going on our trip on the Canal Du Midi we spent a night in the medievil town of Carccassone. The Hotel, The Hotel du Cite, was actually inside the walls and one had to leave the car outside the wall and the hotel looked after it and transported you in with their own small transport. The hotel had grounds with a view of the renovated turrets and was beautiful.

The small town itself was a maze of small allies and squares with loads of restaurants and gift shops.
The speciality of the area appeared to be Cassolette de Canard and Canard confit, so I had to try one!

I selected the Cassolette de Canard which was a plate of white beans in a sauce spiced with bacon and with lots of very tender duck inside and topped by grilled cheese. Delicious but impossible to eat it all. Gaynor, my wife, had grilled prawns which were also delicious.

We toured the castle which must indeed have been amazing in its day and from its ramparts the new town was in full view.

This is a must place to visit.

Mr.L. 08/06/2012

 Last month we had booked a trip to rent a boat on the Canal du Midi that runs from the Mediterranean northwards.Before joining the boat we had a night in Carcassonne which is a city with a medieval castle, completely renovated, looking down on it. I will tell you about that in another Blog.
We arrived at the boat base to find we had rented a very big boat with all mod cons, even satellite TV!

As one who does not quite get why boats do not do things like cars this was fairly scary! We got past the initiation with the boat staff and set off in the direction with no locks ( I know how to protect my dignity!). The canal meandered for miles through the beautiful countryside with beautiful plane trees on either side. The experience is great and so relaxing, except for the wind! Ever tried getting a 40 ft boat onto a mooring or off the canal side with the wind blowing you in??

Every so often one would come to a little village with a nice restaurant or Cave to buy the local wine from the Languedoc and at night, just pull into the bank to moor up for the night. Of course every so often we came to a bridge. These bridges are so small that you have just a foot or so on each side and then just as you are going under you realise that actually your head is higher than the bridge!! Duck!!!

All in all a great holiday. The dog fell in once and disappeared under the boat ( we were stationary at time) and my poor wife fell flat on her face onto concrete and bruised ribs and twisted knee whilst trying to stave us off! Dangerous stuff!

There were many walkers and cyclists along the canal side and everybody was extremely friendly, even the fishermen, if you slowed down!

The boat got back without damage, which was a miracle!

It was sad to leave our temporary home but also a release from the stress!

Mr.L.  07/06/2012

The Toy part 2

Well the story continues. After leaving the car in a local garage whilst I was on holiday I returned with my job list mainly marked as " take to Mercedes garage"!!

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw this as the car had a miriad of apparently small electronic problems, however bolstered by sheer bravado I booked it in for a few weeks later. In the meanwhile I got down to doing something about the old Mercedes cassette radio matched with the great Bose sound system. Off I went to the local version of Halfords and found a great radio for a few hundred euros, but then my eye wandered to a radio with a sceen that came up from radio and would have GPS. Wow I thought, until the salesman said that really with such a good sound system I needed the better Alpine system that had GPS/Bluetooth/Automatic phone connection and wireless connection to I Pod/I Phone. I was hooked  and the next thing I realised was that I had to buy modules to make the Bluetooth and GPS work. In all went in for a decent radio and finished with the deluxe at the price of a couple of sets of tyres on a normal car. Still I am delighted.

Back to the Mercedes story then, the day finally came for my appointment and I booked it in with a very nice gentleman in his private office who went through the list of things I needed to do to make the car perfect. After 4 days he came back to me with a Devis ( estimate) that told me that with the radio that I had already bought I had just doubled the price of the car!!!!

Well in for a penny in for a pound. It is me that wants the car restoring to original condition with everything working so I agreed. The garage will have it for the next few weeks whilst awaiting parts but then my new toy will be as near perfect as it is possible to get it. Will let you know!!!

Mr. L   07/06/2012

My Toy

It has been some time since I put anything on my Blog but I am about to catch up!

The Spring has been unusually busy with visitors, mainly my daughter. My wife, Gaynor, has been away with her mum to Portugal to see an elderly cousin and I have been busy playing golf.

Last week I flew back to UK for business and to bring back a new, to me, car that I bought to play with.

I had the car, a Mercedes SL500 LHD delivered to my daughter's in Hertfordshire and drove back to the South of France with my fingers crossed as the car was imported from Japan, I had never seen it properly and I was about to drive this 15 year old car down the Autoroute for 1000 miles!

Before I left the garage got me an MOT and after changed the headlights to LHD, however they obviously did not fit the indicator lights in properly, as by the time I arrived in Troyes I had lost one from the front and the next day the other one fell off!! Not a good start.

On the way to Troyes I met, by chance, our very good friend David and Ann who were also stopping over in Troyes. This town centre is very picturesque with building that looked like Tudor buildings but where brown and cream. We ate out in a typical French Brasserie where they are more professional than friendly and enjoyed Rognon ( kidneys) de veau in a mushroom sauce. Delicious cooked rose as requested.

En route I discovered several small electrical problems which will be dealt with when I go on holiday next week on a boat up the Canal du Midi.

Today the indicator replacements arrive so I can drive it on the road and take the hard top off and change to convertible to feel the sun and fresh air!!

Mr.L.  03/05/2012

The Bio Show

The French are famous for their exhibitions and yesterday was another example of their flare.

On the way to the beach, with our dog and her friend who is visiting, we saw that there was a Bio Show in the local sports centre.

We stopped and went in. Here we found children having pony rides and two take away restaurants selling both the best Indian food we have seen in the area and also Crepes and some Chinese delicacies.

Inside the hall were a myriad of stalls selling Bio Products from Bread to Honey

I did try the Bio Ice Cream. Perhaps this is a step too far for Bio as they were really tasteless!!

My wife, Gaynor, bought some vegetables and loads of herbs to plant in the garden. I did wonder if were being non Bio by planting them with our other herbs that are not Bio. Will probably get reported to the Bio police for this!

Mr.L. 11/03/2012

Coquillages and Crustaces

On Sunday we visited a restaurant that we had passed many times and had wondered about.

The Coquillages & Crustaces is on the right as you exit the Parking Du Port, in St Tropez, towards St Maxime.

It is tucked away behind their area where they have large water tanks where one can by living lobsters and crabs.

We were stunned to find a beautiful planked terrace overlooking the bay with a view of the port and of St Maxime.

They offer a large variety of fish and seafood but no meat. We were tempted by the big Spider Crabs but in the end went for fish.

We both started with Moules Farcis and then shared a plaice. This fish was presented to us before cooking and we were surprised at its size at 1.2 KG!!

It was served boned onto our plates and was accompanied by a rice rissoto and mixed vegetables. To put over the fish we were supplied with almonds in a sauce.

The meal was terrific and the service both very pleasant and efficient. The view was indeed amazing!

Would recommend to anyone who isn't on a budget.

Mr.L. 1/03/2012

GRIMAUD

We are fortunate to live on the outskirts of one of the most beautiful villages in France.

It is full of village houses with 3 or 4 floors and terraces on the top. These are situated on small meandering streets adorned with beautiful flowering plants.

In the centre there is a Pertanque area where the locals play and chat. This is surrounded by a Tabac and bakery. Also in the village are many great restaurants, estate agents that are too numerous to count, a butchers a hairdressers, assorted pottery and clothing shops and of course many art galleries.

In the summer this is a hive of activity but in the winter it is all pretty much deserted as a majority of the homes are for holidays and it leaves it with a really deserted look.

Above the village is a beautiful chateau, around which they have concerts on a Tuesday night and also they have musicians touring the streets or performing in the central car park.

Of course this is just in summer. The rest of the time the village life goes on as it always has, awaiting the summer onslaught!!

Mr.L. 17/02/2012

Auron & Isola 2000

As if it was not so unseasonally cold down here on the coast we decided that we would spend a few days up in the mountains to enjoy the ski resorts and watch the skiers.

We selected Auron , just behind Nice and an hour up the mountain road, as it is a nice small resort with an ice rink in the middle of it When we got there there was good snow and the roads were clear, however it was pretty quiet and not buzzy

The drive up from Nice is epic with beautiful scenery and winding mountain roads.

During our stay we drove over to Isola 2000, which is a bigger resort but one we have kept away from because of the big grey, factory like, building in its centre. Imagine our surprise to find that they had clad it in wood and painted the rest in a nice colour! What a difference,

Isola has a great nursery slope, as well as many more difficult runs. There were lots of people on the piste and we could see the large number of wooden chalets that had been put up over the last years. All in all a great improvement.

Our dog, Micha , loved the snow but kept chasing the skiers as she obviously thought it a game!

We had lunch in the middle of the main piste at a restaurant called the Cow Club, which I have visited several times before It was lovely to see skiers skiing right up to it and taking off their skis. Imagine my delight when they were offering a rack of spare ribs in a delightful sauce with saffron rice. Truly delicious

These resorts are easily reached from Uk with Easyjet flying into Nice and then just over an hour up into the mountains

Mr.L 12/02/2012

THE MILANO FREJUS

Last week we went to the Milano restaurant, on the seafront at Frejus. This was with the Gourmet luncheon club that we are members of.

Normally we are given a fixed menu with just a few choices for each course. This time we were offered the whole menu to select from.

This was really good as this restaurant is well known in the area and specialises in sea food.

I started with my favourite Moules Farcis, which was great except that at this time of year the mussels are a tad small as the Spanish ones seem to be out of season

Being a Gourmet lunch I decided to go exotic, for the main course, and had a platter consisting of half a lobster, half a crab, a bowl of unpicked shrimps, about a dozen unpeeled prawns and a load of crayfish.

This all came on a bed of ice and was complete with a nice garlic flavoured mayonaisse dip.

Need I mention that I could not eat it all, however I finally solicited some help from friends on the table.

I did, however, manage a sugared pancake to complete the meal!!!!

Back to the diet!!!

A lovely restaurant with great service and a great ambiance.

Mr.L. 06/02/2012

Ice Golf

This is a picture from our Club House at the St Maxime golf course and I realise that it is looks hot and sunny and it is. Unfortunately this was taken in the summer.

Things have been different for the last week as the temperature has been around -4c at night and reached perhaps 6c during the day!! Even so it has been bright and sunny.

It has still been possible to play golf, however a mallet would have been great to bang the tees into the frozen ground and the balls were bouncing off the greens when they arrives as they also were frozen!

How keen are we??!!

Mr.L. 06/02/2012

A BEST FRIEND

On Thursday Mark, Chris and myself arrived at the 17th tee, to find a hunter's dog laying there. When we tried to call it it just barked for attention and a few moments later the bark was joined by another one just downhill from the original dog.

When we looked we saw the other dog, that had tried to get under the fence that surrounds the course, but had got its head caught in the netting.

The original dog was obviously trying to get our attention so that we would help his friend!

Chris went back to the club for wire cutters and Mark successfully cut the wire away. The trapped dog rejoined his friend and they both trotted off.

It was SO sweet!

Mr.L. 3/02/2012

The Ice Age

Snow is something we are not used to, where we live in Grimaud!!!

Last night after a heavy downpour of rain it turned to heavy snow. This has happened several times since I moved here 10 years ago, however it has never stayed on the ground more than half an hour, because it melts.

Today is different. The temperature this morning was -3c and the snow stuck, though as I write this it is beginning to melt.

The forecast for the next few nights is -6c!!! I think I had better get the fire prepared and the central heating turned up.

Mind you we do enjoy the snow for a short time but not if it effects my golf!!!

Next week we are off to Auron, a small ski village above Nice for a couple of nights so that we can get some apres ski and let our dog play in the deep snow!

Looks like a cold February!!

Mr.L. 01/02/2012

Le Mas St Donat

This restaurant is situated on the road coming down from Le Muy to St Maxime and is set back off the road.

We have passed it hundreds of times over the years but never tried it, until we visited just after Christmas and again last week.

The occasion was our regular dining club meeting, VIAC, that we belong to and I must say the place is very welcoming and the food excellent.

I started with Cassolette de Fruit de Mere which was full of prawns, sqid and white fish and was in deed delicious. I followed with Confit du Canard which was very tasty and the meat was literally falling off the bone. This was followed by a lovely fruit tart which went down very well and after such a delicious lunch we headed home for me to take a siesta!!

Need I say that I ate little in the evening!!

Mr.L. 24/1/2012

ILE SAINT HONOARAT

On Saturday we decided to take a trip to Cannes and meet up with a Brazilian friend and her lovely daughter for lunch. They had already decided to take a boat trip to the island of Saint Honorat for lunch. This is the smaller of the two islands and is owned by the Abbey and Monks that inhabit the island.

The trip out took about 20 minutes and the weather was delightful. Our dog Micha freaked a little at the floor vibrating beneath her feet, however she soon got used to it.

The island has just one restaurant and a small port and during the summer the restaurant is crowded with day trippers and people from boats moored off the island.

Needless to say the restaurant, La Tonnelle, is expensive as it is the only one on the island and it sells only its own wines grown and produced on the island. The service is very fast and friendly.

Around the island are many bays for sunbathing and swimming and there is a flat pathway surrounding the whole island which makes for a great walk.

The island is dominated by the Abbey which is huge and surrounded by vineyards and is very attractive. We were told that one can actually stay in the Abbey for a visit.

All in all a GREAT day. Would certainly recommend.


Mr.L. 22/01/2012

A Month in UK

It has been a while since I have put news on my Blog. One reason has been that we went to the UK for a month to spend Christmas in our Farm House in the North of England and to spend Christmas with Children, Grandchildren and friends.

We traveled through France, by car, as we took our dog back with us and stopped at Chateau Etoges, just south of Rheims, en route.

Our stay in London was made special by a conducted tour around parliament by a friend of my golf partner Chris who works there.

We spent 3 weeks in the North which went very quickly due to lots of shopping and entertaining and with a great Christmas with the children and grandchildren.

It was topped off by an amazing New Years eve party at my pal Mike's home across the fields, where he had 40 people to a meal and pantomime followed by everyone doing the Hokey Cokey in the courtyard, just before midnight, with fireworks to see the New Year in! We were blessed by my wife's mother Elvira, who lives near us in France, joining us and being a great help and sou chef around the house.

We returned, via the Channel Tunnel, and stayed just south of Calais in the Chateau Cocove where we often stop.

All in all a great trip!!!

Mr.L 8/01/2012

VAR RALLY

Each year we are visited by the Var Rally. This is a very exciting time for pistonheads who do not live near the main road!
The rally carries on day and night throughout the region and there are hundreds of cars participating.
These are made up of mainly super minis with exhaust tones like Ferraris. Not sure if this gives them more power but it certainly keeps all the people living on the route awake all night!

Mr. L. 25/11/2011

The Floods

As previously mentioned we had terrific floods the other week but the bad effect was purely on the low ground where the overflowing rivers covered the flat plains.

Above the two top pictures are of the road to St Tropez just before the Geant Casino. Here the road was completely covered and the mini golf and inflatable castles were all under water and even the fire trucks had problems getting through!

The bottom picture is of the Marine de Cogolin beach where water, trying to reach the sea, cut a large valley between two of our favourite restaurants, Belucia and Azzora and even left their water and drain pipes suspended in the air! It also took away the concrete foundations of the Life Guard station.

Since the storm all has returned to normal with mid day temperatures of around 20c and blue skies.

Best news of all is that the golf course has dried out!!!