Hanging loose in Toulouse (credit R Tullio)

Here we are in Balma, really suffering. The third one is Shirley beside the pool and I took it standing on the 1st story verandah outside Xavier's office. The others are Shirl around the pool from ground level and the last is the house from the other side of the pool. Notice the fabulous blue sky.

Saturday morning we headed off to the local farmers market. They sell a great range of produce, the obvious fruit and veg, a great range of cheeses as well as meat, olives and roast chickens. The most intriguing item being sold was double beds. I was interested in; who the local grower was; the time it takes them to ripen and the time before they are likely to go off! Our mate Nossie will be challenged in making his culinary delights with out being able to discuss with the vendors some of the finer points. I guess it will be a little like shopping in some parts of Footscray market!

This afternoon at around 3:00 the Tour de France comes thundering past a little village, St-Jean about 4 km north of here so I was hoping to head off to a suitable vantage point to experience it.

Here is the photo to prove that we were there as the leaders passed our little village.....
"Merde,"... (that's French for Shit. See I told you I would get the hang of the lingo.) the leader in blue and 2nd place in orange were going fast but I guess the picture shows that!

We arrived at about 4:15pm and waited for the race. The advertiser's vehicles appeared after about 15 minutes.
Then along came the first warning vehicles.
Next, the leaders about 20 minutes after the warning cars.
They were followed by the peleton (a group of 70) about 30 seconds later. It passed us in 10 seconds. The stragglers took 2 minutes more! We then walked back to the car and spent 20 minutes to drive what should have taken 10. When we arrived home, I raced in to watch the finish on TV and managed to see the winner being interviewed after his presentation! C'est la vie!