Crowded

This is what the municipal pool looks like when it's crowded. Normally there are no more than three or four of us in the mornings, and most of us are ladies of a certain age who like just swimming up and down or gossiping in the shallow end. It's understandable that people are drawn to it now though; it was close to 30 degrees by 11 o'clock and the water is deliciously refreshing. We stayed all morning till the lifeguard chucked us out at lunchtime. I don't think I've ever blipped the pool in its full glory before, somewhat surprisingly given I'm there every day in summer.

In the evening we went to Ferrals to see the Bruno Perren trio in an open air concert. He used to be a regular at our village festivities, but hasn't been for a few years. He is a classically trained singer but he specialises in chanson française, notably Charles Trenet, Boris Vian, Georges Brassens, Boby Lapointe, Claude Nougaro ... all of whom are acceptable in my book, and he's very good at adapting his voice to each style. His rendition of Boby Lapointe songs is particularly impressive -- there are a lot of words that have to be crammed into a short space of time. I can't find a recording of Bruno singing this at breakneck speed, but here's Lapointe himself singing Lumière Tango with a silly tango lesson.

Bruno was performing with Marc Hévéa on piano and Jean-Pierre Barreda on bass. I really like Marc's playing -- he's not just an accompanist but a proper jazz pianist in his own right. My photos were all crappy because I was too far away, but here's a previous blip. And finally a clip of the trio performing Trenet.

The concert was free, but they certainly gave us good value, performing for close to two hours without a break. Home just in time to beat lights out at midnight.