At the market

In a further demonstration of the ultimate in customer service, Sylvie showed no qualms about getting up to provide breakfast at 6 a.m. She even boiled us some eggs from her own hens, and gave a couple more hard-boiled ones to S for his picnic.

We drove up a mountain, and S set off up a rocky path. On the way home I decided to stop off in Mirepoix. It turned out to be market day; there was a definite advantage to arriving before 9 a.m., as I found a parking space relatively easily. By 10 a.m. the town was crammed with people. It's a huge market, filling the whole town centre, with lots of clothes, pottery, crafts and jewellery as well as local produce. There was even a large stall devoted exclusively to African musical instruments. I liked the colour scheme of this stall. Extra: one of many large piles of pink garlic from Lautrec.

At home, it was cool and cloudy. The traditional 15 August thunderstorm arrived in the evening, but as usual we only caught the edge of it, and the rain barely dampened the ground before evaporating.