• A kingfisher and some rain

    January 5, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Wow! Beautiful uplifting sightings of a kingfisher on our walk by the beck this morning! It made up for the cold and the rain, which set in later on. Walked around Carcassonne Town itself and saw some strange and dull streets plus a really colourful one, some chique designer shops, one of which I LOVED and bought a neat little cool 2024 diary with a satisfying clasp and dinky little pencil. Saw the closest parking I have EVER seen, and some rather sad has-been faded Santas.
    We had lunch, 3 course plat de jour for €41.70 (total), (£36) including drinks. Our choices were Pate and bread, Boiled eggs with dressing, Boeuf bourgogne, Tiramasu, Apple pie and tea or coffee. No photos of food though.
    Two very old school British chaps sat fine-wining and dining. I gleaned that one was/is an academic. The way they spoke was rather stifled and dull in a repressed, British sort of way. I found their conversations entertaining and fascinating. One told the other " there's a thing called nature-nurture you know" and when describing his adult offspring, said his son loved diving and is now a cameraman for natural history films and his daughter just liked towns, and the sort of things girls like. There was talk of Brexit and one said he's still got pizazz, we should just wheel him back in again. Boris presumably.
    ... Oh and John's conversation was interesting too of course 😉. Honest John! 😃
    We had another walk up to and around the ramparts and smooched in a shop or two. Much quieter there today, so more enjoyable but not quite so photogenic, and we were cold and wet by the end of what turned out to be an 8 mile walk.
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