Wednesday 6th June

Apart from being a beautiful song, it is also a wonderful sentiment.  When all the possibilities come together and create that perfect day, it is the only refrain you can sing.  We were up quite late, travelling through France had tired us out, and we had a gorgeous pizza in the square, and returned to watch by French time 10, and by English 9, the final of the Apprentice.  The show is brilliantly edited so that you only get to see the best bits, and of course who could argue with Alan (I refuse, unlike all the other sycophants, to call him Lord) Sugar’s choice of Ricky Martin.  Almost the best bit of The Apprentice, is Dara O’Brien’s pisstake – You’re Fired, where the unlucky loser relives their time and mistakes on the show.  Happy to bed we slept quite late and wandered into the square about 9, stopped at Kismet for a latte, an almost un-acquirable object in most of the country, and decided to have a breakfast sandwich while posting tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) blog.  Then we packed some bread, cheese, tomatoes and sliced fillet of pork and set off for Marmande.  It was a bit too large and lacking in character, but as it was on the Garonne, I looked for somewhere nearby that was smaller and also on the river.  Couthures-sur-Garonne looked promising, and it surpassed all our hopes; very small – a few streets, a church and a quayside.  Just along a bit was a lovely sloping grassy bank  and some picnic tables.  We had our tea and made our lunch there, and just a few yards away the greeny-brown waters of the Garonne swept slowly by, although the current in the middle was quite fast.  So relaxing just gazing out at a wide river, and the sun was intermittently breaking free of a few white fluffy clouds, so it was never too hot or too cold, just perfect.  We drove back via Duras, another beautiful Bastide town, dominated by Chateua Duras itself, which like many in the region looks more like a medieval fort than a house.  As we sat in the sun drinking a Monaco I was suddenly so happy.  No more work worries, no need to rush, I finally really felt on holiday.  And we still have this evening to go in this quite perfect day.