Sport

Boules

We duly went to the regional boules championships for rural wrinklies as planned and this time entered three teams. The championships were held at Roquebrune sur Anges, near Fréjus on the coast, and I was really looking forward to the event. When we went before, a good time was had by all. Unfortunately, that was not to be repeated.

The evening meal when we arrived was possibly the worst I have ever had in France and subsequent meals showed little improvement. One of our party, Dany Sue, called over the head chef at lunch-time on the second day to ask what was going on. The « chef » explained that it was out of his hands: Head Office dictated what was to be served as meals and he just cut it up or heated it up. The organisation running the site was Renouveau, who have a large chain of such sites. I'm not sure whther it was lack of local knowledge or budget considerations that caused that site to be chosen but the discontent was widespread so it is unlikely we'll be going near their sites again.

Disappointment at the food was compounded by my team's performance at boules. The courts were admittedly difficult to play on, a thin coveringof gravel over tarmac, but it was the same for everyone and we'd overcome similar difficulties in the national championships three years previously. None of us played consistently well and we ended up being placed 20th. On the positive side, one of our teams came 6th and the main playing day was blisteringly hot.

We didn't stay for the final lunch but took off and found a good Relais Routier which had a tasty menu for just 13 euros. Around their car park was a hedge with flowers that I thought I recognised and sure enough a twitch of my nose confoirmed it was made up of gardenias. I'd tried a couple of times to grow these in England without any success (they really need a tropical environment) but here was a while hedge of them. Their perfume surpasses anything I know.

Football

My overwhelming and totally irrational support for Chelsea (if they lose I know the ref has been bribed) cheered me up on my return when they won the Europa Cup. My almost lifelong support (an aunt took me to my first game when I was 10) was again justified. The aunt supported Chelsea too from the time she took an interest in football until her death in 1953 but never saw them win a major trophy. I was more fortunate, seeing them win four major trophies over the following 20 years and four more before our Russian saviour arrived. Rather less fortinately I also saw them relegated four times over that period. They have recently won 11 major trophies in 10 years so all is well on that front.