The remainder of July has been a doozer. We had first a visit by Lilan and Bill who win all prizes. They were easy, interesting and fun. Did not get up too early. Were self-sufficient and could entertain themselves when necessary. And they came with their own car! As I remember, the weather behaved as well. They left when Richard and I left for Aix-en-Provence and our two nights there for the Festival.

In general, the weather has been coolish and windy – the wind coming from many different directions unlike the steady relentless northern gusts of the mistral. But it ceased to be summer and seemed autumnal if not at times wintery. Vendors at the marché began to complain. Overall, it has been as if everything is a month ahead. Ironically, it has not mattered. It is still and always beautiful here, and though I adore the heat of summer, there has been plenty to do – more than enough to do – and little time to think much about the weather itself.

The Festival d’Aix was a dream. We stayed at the Hotel Roi René, a favourite although not the building it was once with bathrooms the same size as the sleeping rooms and an ancient lift from a long-gone era. Our first night was Verdi’s La Traviata at the Theatre de l’Archevêché. The old uncomfortable plastic seats that we last knew there, crammed together in an impossible manner, have been replaced with more spacious and acceptable wooden ones. We had cushions we had brought along with the former seating in mind. The stage was hideously bare and almost ugly, but the choreography quickly dispelled any feeling of a lack. The performance was magnificent. Both central characters, Irina Lungu as Violetta and Charles Castronovo as Alfredo were excellent (as was Ludovic Tézier as Giorgio the father), and both were believably attractive – making their love for each other completely plausible. With our seats in the third row or so and the super-titles, I was able to follow the action and dramatic nuance better than ever previously, and we both engaged totally with the story. It was a super experience. The musical score was provided by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Louis Langrée.

It was the same orchestra the following night at the Theatre de Provence this time conducted by Valery Gergiev for Debussy’s La Mer followed by Chostakovitch’s Eighth Symphony. Both were lovely, but the second was out of this world. It could be the one symphony by Chostakovitch I know the least, but the nuance and surprise and the fabulous soft, lingering conclusion became unforgettable. And we were in the very first row and right in the centre.

We have been to St. Tropez as well as Draguignan one day for the duplicate Melissa key saga at Ford Motors, various preludes to a forthcoming ear operation, securing an abonnement  so that I can actually make phone calls from my mobile whenever I wish to do so,  salads niçoises at our original eatery there, a nap next to Le Donjon Comtal and then its ascent when it opened upon our re-awakening. A truly lovely evening with Nigel and Rosamund Starmer-Smith with their Charles and his lovely wife Katie – both attractive and engaging in a manner that much youth of the day no longer seem to be. Another dinner there was at Catherine and Pierre’s with two enjoyable English couples (Lise and Chris, and Paul – and I think it was – Fanny). We had a further  dinner at the Couvent which has been rented by Barbara Brouwer for her daughter Katie and six students from her Geography of Feed class. Pleasant with lots of catching up – it being probably more than 35 years since Barbara last came to Tellus for dinner. And despite unpromisingweather for the start, we voyaged to St. Tropez for an almost relentlessly windy but thoroughly delightful time on Pampelonne and a walk about of the old city – before returning home to light our Beltane fire. In short, Richard and I are finding ourselves living in an Aladdin’s Cave with treasures all around us, and we are just too busy and into the immediate treasures we are into that we scarcely have the chance to delve into so many of the other treasures we have all around us.

Happy Lughnasad.