A night at the theatre

Hi everyone,
Still trying to get caught up with writing but there's been so much happening lately I've hardly had time to write.
Friday morning began with cereal and herbal tea before Carly took Basil off to the summer school he goes to on weekdays. While she was out the building reinforcements arrived in the form of Frederic and Romain - Greg's friends. Fred restores old furniture and also builds cabinets while Romain is a carpenter. They had arrived to help build Greg's new workshop. We had a quick coffee while everyone looked at the an then, once Carly arrived it was time to get started. The guys got to work on he building while Carly and I worked on refencing the  sheep field since they had escape the previous day. It was pretty heavy going because we had to try and balance on the ladder then try and use a huge mallet to hammer the posts into place then once we ran out of posts and had enough in to use the open roll of wire fence he then had to hammer long staples in the hold the wire in place.
By lunch time it was far too hot so Carly and I went into town i get some food for a bbq lunch. Romain left before we started as he wanted to get out on his boat but Fred stayed to help all afternoon.
Since we couldn't do anything else outside Carly and I relocated to the house to start getting it tidied up and presentable. We also cleaned out one of the rooms upstairs for the use of a new helper who was arriving that evening. By this point it was  time to go and get Basil from school so while Carly did that I went online in the bar nearby to use the internet. The bar is actually owned by Luke but he rents it out instead of running it now.
Once we had Basil it was time to go and get our new helper - Joel. He's 19, from New Zealand an is travelling in France then maybe Scotland for 6 months. We met him at the train station in Libourne before driving back to the house. We went in the van but Joel drove Carly's other car back which had been left in the station CD park for the week. We got home and of organised then went to join Greg and Fred at the lake. Jut like the day before we went for a swim then got some chips which we ate alongside the salad we'd brought with us. Around 9.30 I had a nice although short phone call from home to confirm dates for visit in Portugal and shortly after that we got our things together and headed home. Before bed Joel and I made some mint tea (something I think I'll need practice with) then we sat out for a while with the guitar. Not a bad first day of work!
Saturday began a little later than the day before since we weren't working but once we were all organised we headed out to St Foy la Grande where Carly, Greg, Basil and Luke were taking part in a painting competition. Joel and I were given the chance to enter but we both decided not to inflict our bad paining abilities on the town. Instead we wandered all over the town, exploring the market and swapping travel tales - he's pretty well travelled as well for his age. By 11.30am the temperature had risen drastically so we hung out in a coffee shop for a while before meeting back up with the group for a picnic lunch by the Dordogne where they had been painting.
Carly had painted part of a large deformed tomato which she had found in the market. It was really cool but I think the judges decided it was too 'outside the box' or what they wanted people to paint - a representation of the patriotism of the town. Luke, meanwhile, had used the church for inspiration and had painted par o that with the angel from one of the stained glass windows standing outside the church and a couple of soldiers to represent the fact that that part of the town had survived the war. Basil had painting a dinosaur and Greg had painted a scene with the bridge using only coffee and orange juice!
After lunch we stayed nearby while Luke and Carly finished their paintings although Greg decided not to enter his and took Basil home to sleep since he was getting really cranky. The canvases had to be turned in at 5.15pm so having done that we went over the river and swam for an hour while the judging was done. When we got back we found that Basil had won for his age range and Luke had won a section of the professional group. We stayed around for the presentation and for the wine and biscuits but after that Luke dropped us off at home so we could eat before going back out. Luke reappeared and once we were ready we were back on the road, this time to go to LA Réole  for an open air dance theatre performance. The first performance involved on man reenacting World War 2 with no props only mime. The fact he had interchange between three or four characters - including an American officer a Japanese soldier and Hitler - and make the audience understand the different settings like when he was in a submarine or anything like that was quite impressive but it was pretty bizarre. The second show however was brilliant it was about how people think, behave and interact when waiting at  the bus stop but I was done most through dance - specifically tango and salsa. I couldn't understand quite a lot of the dialect but in general the show and the music - provided by a man playing the accordion on top of the bus shelter - were brilliant!
Once the show was finished we were starting to head back to the car hen we came across an art gallery opening. We went it a look and it was pretty impressive. The paintings were abstract landscapes which were quit interesting but the sculptures were amazing. They were made from old metal wire and various other metal objects And were all sorts of strange biomechanical figures such as a wire human form with a prosthetic leg lying on a table or a figure in the starting position for a race but with a goat's skull complete with horns. They were really interesting and I would have happily stayed longer but we needed to get back so we returned to the cars and all headed back to the house for a couple of drinks before Luke went home and we all went to bed.
On Sunday we all had a bit of a lie in and just had a quiet morning in the bar trying to organise things online. We got back around half one for lunch then after a siesta we did some work outside. The paths around the property had all overgrown so we spent a few hours clearing out the nettles and other plants that were trying to take over. Back home this would have been done with a strimmer or hedge clippers but the tools are a little more old fashioned here so we used syths instead. I took some time out to take Basil out for a little row on the pond at the back but it was a pretty tiring afternoon overall so once we'd finished we headed straight for the lake.
The lake was totally packed when we got there but we swam around a while then went to get some chips as is tradition. While we were there we met a couple of Carly's friends and after we'd finished at the lake we went to their house to hang out for a bit. They had 3 gorgeous dogs that I spent half the time fussing over but we sat and talked a while and drank home made prune wine - very nice. It started getting dark and Basil was tired so we headed home for bread and cheese before going to bed.
The post for Monday onwards should be up soon too for those of you eager to keep up to date but in the mean time feel free to leave a comment, even if it's just a short message to say hi, it can get a little lonely on the road, even when you're surrounded by people and I would love to hear from you guys!
See you next time!