The Hoppers

More new neighbours. Three rabbits. All allegedly female, or at least we hope. They obviously hate it next door; they're always in our garden. The relative cool of the oleander cuvettes is their fave hang-out. Or under a bush in the shade. They were even spotted in the compost heap, clear the other side of our garden. They've made themselves right at home. Pou once jumped from the terrace, all purposeful and defiant, to see one off. The rabbit couldn't care less, budged maybe a metre, so Pou gave up. Even though they're adorable, we fear plant devastation, burrowing, multiplying, so we cautiously mentioned our concerns to the rabbit owners. Their solution was to move the pathetic bunny enclosure into full sun during a heatwave. The rabbits looked miserable. We felt awful, but it didn't take long for them to break free. The little fugitives have again hopped across the frontier. The rabbits have chosen, who are we to argue?

Camping Wonders

Two years ago, the Goslings bought a three-bedroom tent with a large lounge. It happened to be Henny's birthday. They'd stopped by for an apéro in a pre-camping flourish of excitement, on their way to the wilds of the mazet for a trial-run, while we had a lovely meal at Les Goutailles. On our way home, we nodded up the hill hoping they were all right in a torrential downpour. The tent has been waiting ever since to see action again.

We'd been discussing a joint camping venture for so long, the notion was becoming a myth. Finally there came the perfect excuse. Freddie kindly bought 6 tickets to see Stevie Wonder in Nîmes the July 4th weekend. We found a shady campground near the beautiful town of Uzès. It was hotter than blazes, but an inviting 20 metre pool revived us after setting up.

On Sunday morning, a stop-off at the first Roman relic of the day, the nearby Pont du Gard...

...was followed by our pilgrimage to the 2000 year old Roman amphitheatre for the concert.

We scrambled up the ancient stones to find our places. While two warm-up acts played, you could see tarps covering mountains of instruments on the sidelines. When the roadies finally started to uncover it all, the crowd was buzzing in anticipation and Mexican waves. The man himself came on to the roar of ten thousand people. Stevie was, well, wonderful and the atmosphere was fantastic.

A fabulous weekend. So, where shall we go next?