What a fabulous weekend ....

It is half past five on Tuesday and I am trying hard not to fall asleep but we both want to thank everyone for making this weekend one of the greatest ever. I wish I could say that I can remember every single second but I am afraid that there are a few minutes that appear to be a tad distorted!!! Andrew and I are lucky to have so many friends and family and we are really impressed that so many made such a huge effort for us. Driving from Denmark must be above and beyond the call of duty!!!! Our new friends that we have made here in France all fitted in well and I think are friends for life, even the Mayor and his wife!!!! Its not what you know ......... !!!!! The preparations as many of you know, lasted all week!! The first visitors arrived on Friday afternoon from Denmark. I am not sure whether the tent was straight when it was put up as the boys consumed the first crate of beer within the hour. The second batch of visitors arrived early evening after a rather fast, make that very fast, trip from Calais. I think the land speed record may have been broken!! A great first evening was spent, with plenty of food, drink and hilarity. The tree in the front garden survived the first ascents, although I fear the t-shirts of two rather nice smelling young men did not!!! Saturday started as it meant to go on, mad!! I fear the valley will never be the same again after a batch of very enthusiastic mad English, and Danish, people attempted to take a Range Rover and trailer down to collect some logs. Three hours later and after a small problem with some mud and lack of traction, oh, did I mention sinking, they arrived back with no logs and big smiles. The motorbikes and quad bike were well utilised by all throughout the weekend, even Uncle Kerry had a quick whizz!! Kirsty holds the record for stopping the fastest and the record for the fastest displacement of people from one area!! For those of you not in the know, she lost control of the quad and used the nearest available Mercedes to stop herself. Thankfully the only side effects seem to have been a nosebleed and some black eyes. I think she may leave the quad bike in the workshop for a while. Andrew also had a near death experience on realising that the quad bike was rather smaller than he thought and a small steep hill and a large person on a childs bike cant do forward rolls!!! The barbecue went very well and the rain that we had did not upset a single moment. Uncle Mark holds the record for drinking on the Saturday, I believe it was something to do with the tasting session that Auntie Alison organised with Sabrina!!!!! The stall holders in Aunay were only a little confused with the mad English woman with her phrase book attempting to buy guinea fowl. Sabrina holds the record for pulling the oldest guest, at 86 years of age I think the kisses and the mere mention of 'menage a trois' were just too much. I think 'Mr Mushroom' holds the record for the reddest cheeks!! The bed and breakfast Larcombes managed to find their way home in the pitch black, travelling down the third different route they had taken to the same place!! I am not sure if Saturday was also the day of the failed suicide jump from twenty feet up in a fir tree!! We have asked the victim but he is finding it hard to remember the event, although he also has some very large lacerations from a misunderstanding with another tree at a similar time! I would love to recount some tales of late night drinking but I dont remember!! There are some vicious rumours being spread that I drunk a bottle of wine and a glass of Calvados within an hour and was then unable to walk!!! Sunday morning started with a pancake fest followed by a mad rush to the supermarket to replenish the somewhat depleted alcohol store!! The food for the afternoons festivities was quickly prepared by the willing volunteers, (remember to invite them again), especially Sian and Chrissy who have decided that the best job is preparing the squid. Unfortunately they will never smell the same again!! Mike, Kaye and Tony smell equally nice, Mike didnt cry after preparing four bags of onions but Kaye did have a problem with the garlic!! Thanks guys, you are great. The weather could not have been better and the guests arrived by the barrel full!!! I believe that eight arrived by barrel on Saturday and nine on Sunday. The mayor and his wife were the most talked about guests and talked to ..... I am not sure how many times I had to ask him how many inhabitants were in the Commune and what the budget was!!! They also feature quite high on the 'alcohol consumption table' and the 'should I have really driven home table'. Our new French friends were great too, our garden is now full of beautiful flowers and a new 'COQ!'.... The pig roast and paella went down very well, I just wish that I had room left for more crackling!! We still cant believe that we managed to get so many of the Larcombes together, a difficult feat in England, let alone in France. The excitement of the afternoon was trying to catch a rather excited pony who thought that playing with the big boys was much more fun than playing with the goats. I think he may have changed his mind after the short excursion. I think Mike S and I hold the speed record for racing though a field of three foot high grass while being watched by a few anxious spectators!! Monday was spent attempting to clear up. Mike and I got rather wet on the first trip to the recycling. Mike nearly got squashed when a rather large clap of thunder threatened to launch me from the driving seat into the passenger side!! I believe that we did about half of the 700 beer bottles, half of the wine, cider ..................... The list is not safe to put on here!!! I feel like an alcoholic just thinking about it. We also had to say goodbye to most of our house guests. Contrary to popular belief I only cried once, it was something to do with the pollen and the garlic I think!!!! A big thank you must go to all of the house guests, (you know who you are), including the ones in the tents, who worked like trojans all weekend. We could not have managed to survive without you all. Today has been the first real relax since about six weeks ago!!!! Tea in bed, brought by the most wonderful house guest at seven, followed by planting, cleaning, recycling, more cleaning, washing up, digging, more cleaning, more sorting .......... And that was just what Kaye and Mike did!!!!! Lunch was the best of the weekend, on the basis that none of us had to do the washing up. The poor waitress in the village restaurant was exhausted when the whole of Danvou descended on her at once, the restaurant was full. The evening is now here and we have said goodbye to all of our guests, it is now time for a glass of wine and early bed ......... I wish we could have tomorrow off, but someone has a birthday ........ Thank you again to everyone, you are all brilliant and the party would not have been the same without you........ More gossip to arrive on a later post, when we remember what happened ......... We will also tell you how to download your photos. xxxxxxxxx