Where do all the colours go?

This is the walk from the carpark to the market at Mèze. I can't tell you how different it is from my habitual walk to the market.

We're are just back from a fabulous week's holiday near Pézenas in Languedoc with friends. I was hoping for unseasonably cool weather and , by George, she got it! There was always a breeze but, when it did get hot, I had ways and means to keep out of the sun.
Our accommodation was on a wine-growing estate, now largely grubbed up as no longer a viable economic concern, and we were in one of the three newly renovated farm buildings. It was a treat for the eyes. Colours, flowers, birds, butterflies, Templar castles .... I am used to the greys and beiges of Paris and these wonderful sights were astonishing. No wonder Vincent went barmy after the grim skies of the Belgian coalmines.

We spent an enchanting hour/half hour? at this old cornmill next to a Roman bridge. There was silence, fishing, frequent flypasts by kingfishers and even a graceful passage of a blindingly white egret. Magical.


Back in Paris, and it hasn't stopped raining but that's fine. Sluice those pavements !