Guess who’s back in town? After missing our designated “let’s get together for drinks” slot on Friday night due to a Cuban-restaurant-service-disaster, we finally managed to catch up for a quick coffee yesterday afternoon with Marjo, who’s taking a break from her studies and came over for the weekend from Brussels.

We agreed to meet up for breakfast this morning, and armed with my camera, I snapped a few shots — firstly, because it was a beautiful autumn morning and perfect for taking pictures, secondly because I knew it was the only way to get Marjory to visit my blog!

She’s hasn’t seen the camera quite yet…

Everyone in Canterbury High Street witnesses the paparazzi and wonders who these two celebrities could be?

The gang in one of the parks in Canterbury

Marjory and Aude in the park

Poster child for the film “Never Been Kissed”?

Neil and Anne-Laure

Aude and Marjory

Always pulling a pose!

We stayed out until 2am last night, which must be a record. Except for Jerome – despite being the youngest in our party, he’d crawled back to our place at midnight to catch up on his sleep. Investment banking isn’t quite the glamorous career it’s made out to be – this was his first night of decent sleep in a week!

The extra hour of sleep afforded by the clocks going back was a real blessing, and all three of us woke up with very sore heads this morning. Aude and Jerome decided to do some shopping while I prepared a traditional Sunday roast of roast beef, roast carrots and parsnips with honey and cinnamon, roast potatoes (roasted with the goose fat from our Christmas goose last year) and sautéed cabbage. It was just what the doctor ordered.

The weather today was unbelievable – warm and sunny and totally out-of-character for this time of year. We sat in the garden to eat our lunch, not believing that it was nearly November.

I cut the grass yesterday – the third time I’ve cut it for the “last” time of the season – but this time I think it might actually be true. I really can’t believe that this good weather can continue for much longer – the cold, dark nights of winter are really just around the corner.

A traditional Sunday roast, taken untraditionally in the garden

Matthew gets tucked into his food…

I’m convinced that Jerome only comes to stay with us so that he doesn’t starve.

Lunch, if I must say so myself, was absolutely delicious. Even Daisy agreed.

Daisy and I clearly do not share the same enthusiasm for the camera.

Warm and sunny in the last week of October? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

Jerome poses for the camera.

Who would have believed that another year has passed and that Aude is another year older? Although she likes to remind me that she’s still in her twenties, I like to remind her that she’s on borrowed time, and that before long, we’ll need to introduce ourselves as a couple in our thirties.

To celebrate the occasion, we had a party at Fusion, the new bar around the corner. We got really lucky and had the bar more or less to ourselves — and with the clocks going back this weekend, we got an extra hour of partying time!

Matthew smoking a shisha

We’re not smoking marijuana. Honestly. Aude just gets excited very easily.

Gino making a grand entrance

Jiri

Anne Marie, Jiri’s girlfriend

You’ve got to keep a close eye on Aude. Lose your concentration for one second and another man is kissing her…

Vinka

Clearly a very happy girl, despite her advancing years. This sort of giddiness is characteristic of old age senility

More old age senility. Neil, at his great age, is already further down the path than the rest of us.

Neil and Anne-Laure looking very “Sex in the City”

A face for radio…

Aude and Darren

Aude, Jerome and Ivano

Lina

Matthew has a bit of a reputation with his camera. This is the reaction it normally provokes. What you can’t hear is Lina saying “would you please put that f*cking camera away?”

Alcohol + salsa lessons = who leads whom?

Our gatecrasher. This guy came in, ordered a full bottle of champagne for himself, and drank it in the middle of our otherwise private room. A particularly stylish touch was his shirt and tie, cut from exactly the same material. I’ve seen this look twice this week — I pray to God this isn’t the new fashion!

We had a great time at the party, but the reality of old age hit us hard this morning. We all had the heads that we deserved — including Aude, which was a real surprise!

Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe that Anne-Laure is another year older. It seems only yesterday we were wishing our French amie a “Very Hoppy Birthday”. Here she is a year ago, young, single, happy and free.

A year on and it’s all “my boyfriend this…” and “my boyfriend that…”, sighs and groans as her aging muscles and joints fail on her, and claims that she has to go to bed at 9pm because she’s too tired to cope.

All kidding aside, we had a great meal at the Dog Inn in Wingham. Even though it was her birthday, and she was already the centre of attention, Anne-Laure had to up the ante and shine the spotlight squarely on herself by spilling her wine rather spectacularly over the most of the table (and what didn’t hit the table went straight into Dave’s lap). She maintained it was an accident and that she felt terrible about it, but we secretly all know that it was an attention-seeking ploy.

Anne-Laure, the birthday girl

Her friend Juliette…

…and Juliette’s husband, Dave

Aude’s rather daring Tarte Tatin with flambeed Calvados

Has her birthday wish come true?

The gang outside the pub

The gang outside the pub

My mother and I were speaking on the telephone the other night, and I was describing the farmer’s market and restaurant across the street from our house. Still, a picture’s worth a thousand words — so I figured I’d save the cost of a 45-minute transatlantic call and include about 5,000 words worth of description here:

Fruit and vegetables stall — locally grown and organic

The restaurant at the back of the food hall. Most of the ingredients are sourced from the market.

The French charcuterie, which keeps Aude in saucisson.

A view over the entire hall from the restaurant.

View of the front of the market, as seen from our front door.

Say what you want, but I’d rather have this across the street as our “local shop” than a 7-Eleven anyday.

This weekend is the beginning of the Canterbury Festival. We’ve got quite a lot of events coming up in the next week, including a concert with the remainder of the Buena Vista Social Club (which I’m really looking forward to, having seen Compay Segundo in concert before he died a few years ago) and Jaleo, Spanish flamenco dancing.

It also gives me a chance to upload a photo of the statue outside the Marlowe Theatre, where most of the events take place. Tenuous link, I know, but any excuse will do….

Statue outside the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury