Good Christmas wishes to everyone who reads this. The text messages do come in, but I can not send text messages. Especially JH & B and Desie / Yvonne and Marietje / T thanks for your SMS. I have not yet read the reactions to my blog.
Breakfast table with our landlady Pierrette Bats. Her daughter of 53 had given us a ride yesterday to the village to do “Christmas shopping”. We concluded that Pierrette herself then must be in the 80’s already . Cute woman chatting about anything and everything. Therefore we only left en route at 9.30. Mild weather, 12 degrees C., Later in the day some drizzling. We found a bench near the old church of Audignon. Our Christmas lunch consisted of slices of sausage for me, and pieces of cheese for Con with fresh bread that we bought this morning, outside on a wet picnic bench. In the graveyard next to our lunch spot I found a pot of plastic flowers to cheer up the Christmas table. A remnant instant coffee tasted good. Way to go! In the church, the artist of the corpus christy had made a mistake in Jesus’ anatomy. To redeem the crucified christus out of his misery, the merciful Roman guard beneath the cross, immersed a lance with vinegar into Jesus’ liver (to bully him extra, weird guys those Romans) . Normally the place of the liver is in the upper right abdomen. Some artists make the wound left. So that is wrong. I hope that many leading corpus christy-carvers, plasterers, stonemasons and painters read this. Stupid mistake! I also saw several gravestones bearing on top of it stone tablets as a tribute to the deceased hunter. (Photo). Hunting and hunters are appreciated here as opposed to in the Netherlands. Today we still spoke with a pigeon hunter. Probably a specialized hunter. See also the photo with message for hunting and wildlife. Another approach apparently than in our country. With Con I discussed the songbirds catch in Southern Europe, sparrows soup etc. If you prepare it well you can get anything tasty. I heard about a hunter in the village Vijlen ( Nl), who had invited his hunting friends to treat them to hare. They said it was delicious. Afterwards he confessed to them that it was a cat. Ha, ha. Or shouldn’t I laugh? Ha, ha! Along the way the last days we see decorated trees, on the occasion of some joyful event, eg. a birthday, a newly elected mayor, etc. (see photo). A regional tradition.
And then I started getting nervous again. Where do I leave Leon tonight? As long as they do not make problems again about Tosca I’m o.k. It was raining and I did not feel like walking a few laps around the church, looking for a suitable location for Leon. When approaching Saint Sever I looked, as usual, out to potential plots for horse Leon.
“Happiness Tree, one out of many, probably set up for Constance
Manager Philippe welcomed us warmly, speaking Flemish, in the completely empty convent of St, Sever. A dormitory for Con and another one for me. Philippe kept orating, while we still had so much to do: showering, washing clothes, cooking food, route planning for tomorrow. Con wanted to plan her bus to the station for her return home tomorrow . I wanted to arrange my route for tomorrow, 30 km., prepare an overnight stay for tomorrow, call son Servé who will come and join me tomorrow for a week etc. Anyway, eventually Philippe disappeared . I brought Leon 1 km away from here, attached to a long rope to a tree at the side of a dead ending street. Should I warn all the surrounding expensive houses with long driveways that Leon is here? We dare omitting that. I just wanted to step under the shower when I hear Philippe calling me again. I want to take a shower now, I say. But it is urgent., Philippe shouted. Hey, two new pilgrims, was my first thought. I hold a short towel like a fig leaf in front of my waist and step out of the shower cubicle. I had put my clothes in the washing drum. Hola, police. My dog or my horse, was my first thought. Then I saw that one of the two goofies (Mastricht dialect for police) who stood waiting in front of my shower was a female. But I quickly dressed with old clothes, because the laundry drum was not ready. Follow!, they ordered me like a dog. I was sitting cozy in the rear of the police car and we went the three of us, on Christmas Day, to the horse. I asked them, isn’t it shit that you have to work on Christmas day? An evasive answer. Arriving at dear Leon a crowd of at least ten men and women was awaiting me. The rope was too long. He was on the street and they could not pass Leon with their expensive cars. Nonsense. If they move their cars half a meter on the grass those few residents of this dead end road could easily pass Leon. I shortened the rope in front of the people and tell them a story about a 60-plusser who is crossing Europe as a pilgrim during one year, along with his horse and dog, while running for charity, etc. They increasingly began to smile and understand. The problem solved again. The police politely took me back to my shower. The policewoman did not want to join me. Tosca has a room for herself.
What turns out? The phone neither receives, nor sends SMS. Moreover I cannot call. 1000 Bombs and grenades , I can’t book a hostel, impossible to call Servé what time and where he should come tomorrow, unpossible to answer my nice , sweet and other text messages , lost possible contact with the outside world . Moreover, I miss the charging wire of the phone. Just turn the phone off and on again , says Con. Then I received sms again , but sending still fails . I found the charging wire back . Was in the wrong bag . Good luck. So, just like always, everything turns out fine again.
Soup was made in advance by Con , tasty fried eggs with cheese and sausage , leftover potato salad , music , last night classical, tonight salsa, blitz . Nice talking on the phone home and with the children. At the end of our Xmas diner our landlady brought us some left overs from goose liver. Very nice.
Now I still want to find a wifi spot to put this story on the blog and to read yesterday’s reactions and then going to bed early , because tomorrow the day will start very early due to the long route of 30 km. to Bougue .
Christmas dinner is entirely Constances work
Christmas shopping
That’s promising. Mmm
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