Le quatorze juillet

Allons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrive!

An early homage to La Belle France on its national day.

This is not a great blip but what you expect for 2 in the morning? After yesterday's excesses grand day out and mid evening snooze I couldn't sleep. The blip's quality isn't helped by it having to be taken in the living room, where the light bounces off the mirrors, as the hall, the collage's normal home, is unlit at present as #3 son hasn't quite got round to changing the light bulb. (How many sons does it take to change a light bulb?) I am too vertically challenged to attempt it. To paraphrase Lady Findhorn on Tuesday we were both designed to be 5 ft 8 ins but somehow the plans went awry.

The collage was made by my good friends A and C as a 2009 calendar after their stay at La G the previous August. You can see La G's terrasse (empty now) in the middle and for you cyclists if you look closely on the right you can see 'Le Geant du Tourmalet', the Le Tour memorial statue at Le Col du Tourmalet. The statue is of Octave Lapize who was the first cyclist over the first time the Col was in the Tour in 1910. The Tour had been over the Col the month before we were there (it went over twice last year) so the road was still covered in the slogans and messages supporting the riders.

Edit - Le Tour went over the Col de Tourmalet again today. watching it on the highlights. Good timing!

We took A and C on a day trip to the Pyrenees, hence the photos at the bottom of Le Pic du Midi and us sitting in a Pyreneean meadow. You can also see Moissac, 3 fat men, no 2 fat men and a fat statue in Moissac, the look out over the Garonne valley at Auvillar, various shots of Montgaillard, including the modern Mairie, and flowers. It brings back happy memories. The tricolour badge I have had since 1989 (when #3 son was still a baby and not charged with changing light bulbs) and we were in France during the 200th anniversary of the Revolution.

Montgaillard being small (fewer than 100 inhabitants in the commune) doesn't celebrate le quatorze, apart from placing the tricolours on the war memorial, but from our deck you could often see the fireworks from Marsac appearing over the hill. We have spent quite a few Fetes Nationale in France but the best was 1998, the year France won the football World Cup. The night of the win the town erupted - car horns honked, tricolours were hung from car windows, the band belted out the team song 'I Will Survive' and as happened every week-end there was confetti bombs and a mock bull with firecracker crown in the main square. A couple of days later the celebrations continued for the 14th with fireworks over the bay. It was a great party.

I wish I was in France now but I'm not so I'm doing the next best thing - lunch with S at 'La Garrigue in the New Town'. This means that this week with 3 meals out so far and one more to come there has been no progress to one of my 5 goals, viz to lose 9 kg by 30th November.

There has also been no progress towards my unwritten goal of spending less money and saving towards my next holiday. So far this week I have bought a handbag and a pair of heels (in the sales), had 3, soon to be 4, meals out, started a new, slightly more expensive, mobile contract, bought the fizz to celebrate #1 son and grandson's marriage AND the switch made 2 months ago from EDF (which stands for Electricite de France) to Scottish Gas has kicked in (and how dumb was that?). Well there's always next week.

It is now 4 a.m. and I need to go to bed. An hour ago my laptop, without consulting me, decided to switch off and re-start to install updates and I had to re-do this whole piece - grr! Today I have an important meeting at 10, then a rendezvous with a phone guru at the O2 shop followed by the lunch.

If you're in France have a great jour ferie - if not, happy Thursday.