Friends

R and A, our former catsitters, live in the UK, but recently they bought a house in Perpignan, where they spend as much time as they can (R being limited by Brexit rules). They have spent so much time in our village, sometimes when catsitting was not even required because we were in Spain, that they have made friends there. So they invited us, P, and M to come over for dinner and stay overnight.

The house, on an estate on the outskirts of Perpignan, was built in the 1980s, but was completely revamped by the previous owner not long before they bought it. The ground floor in particular is now a lovely large space, with large windows on all four sides giving onto the lush greenery in the garden. We are actually sitting in the garden in this photo, but you can't see any of the plants! Although it's on an estate it's quiet, the garden is quite private, and there's a view of Canigou from an upstairs window.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening with lovely food cooked by R, and lots of talk. We haven't seen them for literally years. In fact, reflecting on it, the last time was when they looked after Mystère in Spain while we were in the UK for Christmas ... the fateful pre-Covid Christmas of 2019, when we both came back sick as dogs. So it was good to catch up.