Last day again

Back to checklists and chores.  We're moving on tomorrow, but put a fair bit of fun stuff into the day as well as vast amounts of laundry and housework.

Once the last of the laundry was out, we headed for Sallèles d'Aude, where we've occasionally had Sunday lunch in the past.  The place was jumping, since there was a flea market arranged along the side of the canal.  Our usual restaurant didn't greet us when we arrived, still less offer to show us to a table, so we found an empty one and sat down.  Twenty minutes later, when we still hadn't had a menu, we got up and left.  Sure, they were busy with extra trade from the brocante.  But if they set a number of couverts, they ought to resource themselves to serve them.  So, it was back to Le Somail for a familiar lunch menu in the shade of the plane trees. 

The organ recital was well atended by local people and the remaining visitors.  The only piece I knew was a rather clumsy Liszt transcription of the Agnus Dei from Verdi's Requiem, and the rest of the programme was made up of pieces the obscurity of which seemed to me to be thoroughly deserved.  Worse, the full organ registration for the opening Lefébure-Wély and closing Rheinberger was so loud that our ears were ringing, and we couldn't hear individual notes.  Come to think of it, I seem to remember the same problem last time I heard a big romantic piece played there.  I'm not convinced that the organist had listened to his planned programme from the nave of the church - if he had, he'd surely have adjusted the registration. Pity: though in all other respects, the performance was more than competent, the overall experience was disappointing.

I spent a while trying to work out the route from the motorway to the hotel I'd booked for Wednesday night in Tours.  It was very complicated, the location was central (risk of traffic noise) and the parking cost extra, so I found an alternative and cancelled.  We'll now be staying in Mulsanne, near Le Mans - and will resist the temptation to hurtle round the circuit.  Still a fair trek from the motorway, but a rather more straightforward route.