Long time no see

I went to Olonzac market this morning, mainly to meet Sarah, a former blipper who is moving back to the UK in a couple of weeks. She's been offloading a lot of possessions and I'd arranged to take a framed picture off her (she's a former picture framer). A hot, sunny day in June -- even though I arrived early, the car park was heaving and I was very lucky to grab a space from someone who was just leaving, nipping in under the nose of another rather peeved driver who was just too late.

No tables free outside the cafe, which is the mecca for meetups in Olonzac, but I easily found one inside and we had a good chat before splitting up to do our shopping. On coming out I was pleased to see this couple busking. I often used to see them in Lézignan, but it's been a couple of years now since I've coincided with them. She is extremely talented and was doing a roaring trade with the captive audience of well-off punters outside the cafe. People always stop to listen and applaud, as did I.

It's such a large and crowded market, the way Lézignan used to be pre-Covid. A few of the same traders are there, including our cheese guy, but there's a lot more choice, many stalls selling ready to eat food, and it's generally more expensive. Tomatoes, melons, strawberries, cherries, and eggs went into my basket. Just before I left I hit on the idea of buying a roast chicken, a good option when it's too hot to cook.

Back home S improvised a salad with the chicken, tomatoes, a few nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, some salad leaves, and a mint and yoghurt sauce. We took it down to the garden to eat it, with strawberries and melon for afters. Very refreshing. The cigales are making a constant racket now, but over it we repeatedly heard a golden oriole. As usual we couldn't see it.

S had cancelled this afternoon's meeting with the bossy lady from the third construction company, but she said she would come up with a new plan to reflect the new situation. As did Michel, whom we saw yesterday. So we were able to spend a chunk of the afternoon snoozing in the garden, before going home and cooling down with some ice cream and a shower. No pizza this evening, we are both restraining our calorie intake!