Ambiance

It's that time of year ... the meal on the square followed by dancing to the duo Toi et Moi. This type of band is ubiquitous around here: normally two people, a man and a woman, with backing tracks for scores of familiar popular songs. They are often not great singers, but stamina and enthusiasm they have in spades. Along with good memories for a vast number of tunes and lyrics: they have paper copies, but only glance at them as memory-joggers before they start singing.

This lady was actually not bad; she was singing rather painfully flat while warming up, but once she got going and had an audience to sing to, she was a rousing performer. They provided the entertainment from around 7:30 till the show wrapped up at midnight, pausing only to eat dinner (and getting up to sing between courses!). So it was an enjoyable evening with all the usual suspects present, including everyone who'd been in our garden last night.