Wednesday 17th August - Palavas-les-Flots

Today's the big day - Peter Baars 60th birthday lunch!  Just after 11.30 he came to the boats to pick us up and take us back to the lovely old house that they had rented, a 10 minute or so drive from our moorings.  Peter and Gwen have four grown up children - two girls and two boys.  They had all made it over to France with their respective other halves, two of the siblings even flying from New Zealand!  As they had arrived a few days earlier they set to organising their fathers' party with gusto.  The plan was a long 10 course lunch for the family, and twenty-two friends......quite a major effort!  The house was a grand affair, being the house of the Domaine de Boudile with fairly large grounds  - ideal for a party of 30 people.  We started of with some bubbles (of course) and then the 'children' got us all together in the large front reception room to view an amazing video of Peter and Gwen........a very thoughtful thing for them to do!  Apart from a short storm during the afternoon the weather was warm if a little cloudy. The party got into full swing and the mammoth feast began!  The youngest daughter, Erina, had organised her siblings and some friends beautifully and the 10 courses were dispatched with grace and efficiency, while the music played and the wine flowed!!  The house had a pool so Peter and Henk had a brief swim - the youngsters made use of it a bit later. A game of boules was played and a game new to us like Skittles with numbers....good fun!  We were all flagging a bit after the 10 th course - and then, came cake!!  Sara, a lovely French girl the Baars know called a cab for us.......they would be at the end of the lane in 10 minutes.  We had to say our 'goodbyes' which, as we all know, takes longer than that!!  Piet, the Baars' second son, took us to the end of the lane to meet the taxi but when we approached, he drove off - disaster!!  Piet drove us home in the end.....a bit worrying after such a long day of carousing!!
It had been the best party.......one that will be talked about for many months to come!
Straight to bed, needless to say!!