It's quite amazing that two of William's best mates here in France also celebrate their birthdays in the same week as him. Art's birthday was on Monday and we were up there all afternoon, playing in the garden and eating an obscene amount of cheese, cake and chocolate. It was brilliant. I also got to meet Jess' sister, Belle. It was lovely to hang out and just chat away about life, and travel, and all sorts, all afternoon.
On Sunday, it was Giddy's birthday. Sandra had planned, like last year, to head up to Plateau de Benou and set up camp for the day but the weather just wouldn't play the game so they fell back on their Plan B which was Acro Jungle. As we hadn't been since probably over a year ago, it was actually a brilliant afternoon out and William had a total ball. Sandra and JN also had a really cool, eclectic mix of people there too so it was great for the adults to mingle and chat away the afternoon with a beer or a wine whilst the kids were running riot.
The third birthday story from this week takes us back to William. Sheena kept asking if his present had arrived yet but it remained a firm no. We were beginning to get really confused as to why it hadn't turned up, especially as it was ordered via Amazon, and when Ronnie went back and checked his account, he realised that it had been sent to our old address at the Mushroom House! Arrrgh. I figured the first port of call needed to be the house itself to see if anyone was living there, and if not, we could possibly leave a note, or speak to the neighbours. We arrived and the garden was completely overgrown. Clearly, no one had been living there for a long time. I had a peek in the mail box and there was a big Amazon box there! Bingo! So we tried CaVa Bien's house, and Elizabeth answered. Although it's still diabolical, I managed, in my slowly developing french, to explain our situation. Elizabeth seemed to think that house had been sold but that the new owners hadn't moved in, and that they were possibly trying to sell it on again. I figured, that if we left a note in the box then eventually, we would be able to track down the owners and hopefully get the present, so, very kindly, Elizabeth wrote one out for me. We left hers and went next door to deliver it, and it was then that I noticed a car parked right up on the pavement and the driveway gates sitting slightly ajar. I couldn't believe my luck! I just chanced my arm, headed in and started shouting "BONJOUR", trying to find out who was there. Turns out, the house hadn't been sold. Florent had had it on the market but the sale had fallen through a couple of times and this was the agent back for a final viewing with a couple who were about to make an offer. I couldn't believe the state of the place. It is a complete shell. Uninhabitable. They've also taken all the ivy off the front of the building and taken away a lot of the shitty BBQ / Bar structure that was in the back garden. Fascinating to see it like this. Anyway, back to tracking down the present. The agent had a massive set of keys on him, but none of them were for the post box. Once I had established that Florent was still the owner I was able to explain that I had a contact for his sister and that she, perhaps, had keys for the postbox and that I would ask her. I wished the couple good luck for their purchase and renovations (not before telling them which plants I was responsible for putting in the front garden!), and William and I left. Mental.
I got in contact with Aurélie and, as ever, she was so helpful. She had keys and said that she would check the post box and bring whatever was there to us. She messaged on Friday afternoon to say she had the parcel and that she could meet us on Friday evening, outside the Marie. William was very excited that we were going to meet her and that were finally going to track down the lost present. Here he is, in Place Royale, looking for Aurélie, and finally at home with his gift: a transformer.
Phew.
LM.
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