Friday night fever

La fête de la musique, celebrated one day earlier here as it's easier to book musicians. There wasn't a massive turnout as Fabrezan had chosen to do the same, despite normally having theirs on the day. For the entertainment, we had the usual duo. Wincing as they did the sound check, I decided my strategy would be to go early, before they started playing for real, so that we could then escape.

Two food trucks this time: the famed friterie belge, and a pizza van (not our usual one; they were engaged elsewhere). We decided to test the pizza -- when S ordered (from a choice of only four types) the guy told him it would be ready in one minute, as he'd pre-cooked them all. Hmm! It was OK, but not as good as our regulars.  Meanwhile Monsieur Frites Belges was well-organised with extra staff, and cooking to order -- he was even doing a sideline in crêpes. He did good business despite there being fewer people than expected. After eating half a pizza we did order some chips ... excellent, crisp and hot, and he gave me samples of two of his 30 sauces to taste, as well as the curry ketchup we had with the chips.

We ended up staying till 10 pm, allowing me to photograph the inevitable  Madison. I laughed at my photo (extra) -- it looks like a military parade! The usual suspects, but note the very unusual presence of a man. Then we went home. There were few enough people by then that it all wrapped up at about 11:30, so we had a peaceful night's sleep.

Earlier we'd been to the river in Ribaute. It was 3 pm ... when we stepped outside, I said to S, "Are we tourists or what?" We were hit by a wave of furnace-like heat and the tarmac on the road was melting. Mad to go out at the hottest time of day. But actually when we got there, we had a secluded spot in the shade and there was a light breeze. Plus the water was very refreshing. So we ended up staying till after five.

Something that stayed with me all day .. the terribly sad news about Folkie. She will be so missed.