Today will be a good day. Our close friends arrived from the UK yesterday. They have a house in Roujan, the next village and have decided to pop down for a few days R & R. Why not? We await the arrival, this afternoon, of Val's eldest Brother,Bill, and his wife who are coming to stay for ten days or so. They arrived from Plymouth by car via Santander and have spent a few days exploring the northern Spanish coast, basing themselves in San Sebastien. Having done this route last year ourselves on the way to Portugal, we can thoroughly recommed it.

One of the great things about living where we do is that the Spanish border is just 90 minutes away in the car while four and a half hours in the opposite direction will get us to Italy. Switzerland is much the same. We pop into Spain occsionally for lunch. The northern part of the Costa Brava is so lovely and it is a wonderful way to 'waste' a day, simply driving along the coast road, through little adobe'd villages and ports to a favourite restaurant by the sea. After lunch, a turn inland and up over the coastal mountains to the autovia at Figueres and home with a big, satisfied smile on our faces. If we don't spend too long over lunch, we might have time to stop at the fantastic (in the real sense of the word) Dali Museum. Figueres is his birthplace and the exhibitions there are quite stunning. They say genius is inevitably flawed. If that is so, this bloke was the Daddy of them all - absolutely barking mad but what a talent. Love him or loathe him, one can but marvel at some of his creations.

Margon in the 1950's. A great view of the Chateau

This Saturday, in Margon, sees the first of our summer village 'do's'. One of the local groups is holding a 'paella night' in the village hall. I have no doubt it will be well attended, the paella will be enormous and packed with fresh produce, the wine will flow and the dancing will be the merrier for it. We have a number of these occasions throughout the year but they are somehow nicer in the warm weather - so very.............Mediterranean, I suppose - and long may it continue to be so. After all, that is what we came here for.

Val's off to the shops, I am cooking devilled kidneys (of all things) for a Dutch neighbour who has just had a knee operation and is milking the sympathy that accrues and then it is off to Roujan later today with the in-laws for drinks with friends. This life is a killer, I tell ya!

A votre sante!