Sunday Maggi and I drove slowly to Bar-sur-Loup to meet up with Gillie and David Best, as well as 3 Richardsons.
Madeleine had booked a table for 7 at The Jasmine Restaurant. We had a table in the garden with a magnificent view of the verdant valley below. I sat between Gissie and David. When we arrived Gillie immediately asked if we’d like to drop into their house for coffee after the meal. We both said yes because we had heard many times from Mad and Tom what a wonderful home they have.
We had a very enjoyable lunch at the Jasmine both in terms of the food and the company. I started with a cold tomato soup and for a main course I chose the stuffed vegetables with a meat gravy. Finally I made a mistake for dessert, I picked the cheese dish. For some reason I didn’t change my mind when I realised that the main content was cheese. However it was very pleasant but I wish I had swapped to Maggi’s choice of the figs.
We drove back to Gillies and David’s home which lies on the road between Pont sur Loup and Tourette. You follow the road to Les Courmettes. Up and up you go. You then leave the road and climb even further on their track to the house. Naturally by the time you reach these heights the view is spectacular.
On a clear day the panorama stretches from Nice airport to Cap D’Antibes and beyond. It’s absolutely beautiful. We sat around chatting for around 90 minutes and then I rushed back to watch Arsenal.
I paid for a day’s subscription to NowTV to watch the match and I’m glad I did. I didn’t arrive back until 30 minutes into the game. By that time both Manchester United and Arsenal had scored. The result remained the same until virtually the end of the match, even though Arsenal had a legitimate penalty
Overturned by the VAR referee.
On 86 minutes the Manchester substitute Garnacio ran through and scored. However the goal was disallowed for offside by the tightest of margins.
Into injury time Arsenal win another corner and Declan Rice on the far post sends a bullet of a shot goal wards and it deflects off the ancient defender Jonny Evans. A couple of minutes later a great through ball puts Jesus into a great position and he doesn’t disappoint and seals a 3-1 win.
I go to bed content.
Monday 3rd
We had booked delivery of our new single beds for the second bedroom. They were due to arrive anytime between 12 and 5. We nipped out on the morning to do a bit of shopping at Leclerc and as usual it was packed.
We made it back here before 12 and Maggi made a dish of Mussels. She had been persuaded by a woman in the queue to give them a try. They were really very tasty.
The guys from IKEA didn’t arrive until 4 and were in and out pretty quickly dropping off the two beds and taking away the old bed and mattress.
Maggi and I then spent a hot and sticky 90 minutes assembling one of the beds. A quick swim ensued and then we prepared for a few drinks and snack with our neighbours Nathalie and Olivier. We chatted quite well and most of the time I could understand what was said until they spoke to each other. They managed to down a bottle of rose between them while I drank my customary scotch.