![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/45AB8F4F-7966-4D7B-87E4-269CAE959A91.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nGoodbye to the oldest daughter, off to spend a week with younger, more interesting people. Unfortunately she ended up having rather a fraught day, struggling with French trains. It\u2019s funny, the SNCF website will happily sell you tickets for a quite complicated journey with some really quite tight connections, even though the chances of you making every train are probably no better than 50\/50. So, her first connection of 18 minutes was looking quite comfortable until the 12:27 inexplicably became the 12:43, and she had to run like a madman to make her next train. No chance with the next one, though, which had left the station even before she got there. By the end of the day, the French railway network, and, indeed, French people themselves had begun to lose their appeal for her. I have a series of 36 texts over the course of the day becoming more and more irate, and with some quite forceful language that I\u2019m certain she didn\u2019t get from me. However, everything ended up happily, although several hours later than it should have in a well regulated world.<\/p>\n
With some time to kill in Avignon, I went to see the much vaunted bridge. Well, what a swizz! It\u2019s not even finished yet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rendezvoused (that word looks wrong) with my friends and then took the train down to Perpignan. There was a very friendly chap on the train, who looked somewhat the worse for wear for drink, and possibly something stronger, who took quite a liking to us. Not sure of everything he was saying but he seemed very happy, as were we when he got off after the first few stops. The train passed through Montpellier at 5pm, and loads of people got on, obviously anxious to get out of the place as soon as possible. A lovely young lady joined us at our table for four, and we had a long chat. She was an English teacher, originally from the Alsace region, who spoke fluent German as well as French. As a trainee teacher, she had been forced to come south to poorer areas to teach troubled youth. She showed us some of the homework she had to mark, with a shake of her head. \u00a0Their English seemed better than our French, to be honest, but she still wasn\u2019t happy. She is looking forward to marrying her Californian fiance (she met him at the Air Force base in Germany, where he was stationed, a couple of years ago. \u201cLike Elvis!\u201d I said. She looked blankly at me.) and teaching French in the US to adults who want to learn. And so it goes for the troubled yoof of the world. She was confused when I tried to explain I\u2019d be coming back to Montpellier in a couple of weeks for my sabbatical. \u201cOh no\u201d she said \u201cyou don\u2019t want to do that\u201d. Not encouraging.<\/p>\n
Eventually we arrived at Perpignan late in the evening. Checked into our Airbnb and then spent some time trying to find the charming quaint heart of the city. Giving up after an hour, we went into the first restaurant we got to which turned out to be a great find. The waitress was a class above other French waitresses we\u2019ve met. Whereas the others have been proud only to speak French, she could also speak Spanish and Catalan, as well as no English. Luckily there was another customer there, obviously a regular, who helped translate the French\/African\/Spanish\/Asian fusion menu to our satisfaction, and we had a lovely meal.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/B610EDD2-7077-4629-80C8-320916E00CC3.jpeg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
Even better was that, though my meal contained significant amounts of \u00a0The Devil\u2019s Vegetable (celery), it was conveniently placed on the side of the bowl, so easily avoided. The cooking pot is called marmite, and that white stuff in the middle is tofu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Goodbye to the oldest daughter, off to spend a week with younger, more interesting people. Unfortunately she ended up having rather a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-at","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2791,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/09\/montreal-with-an-accent\/","url_meta":{"origin":649,"position":0},"title":"Montr\u00e9al (with an accent)","author":"Interloper11","date":"July 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I am very impressed with Montr\u00e9al. The oldest daughter and I decided to rendezvous here after my original train trip through the Rockies with my husband plan fell through. I remembered a French lesson a while ago when I had to study a brief tourism video on Montr\u00e9al, and it\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/D6AD1A08-01AD-437E-807C-CB0A5086498F-300x237.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4005,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/06\/smarty-pants\/","url_meta":{"origin":649,"position":1},"title":"Smarty pants","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The neurosurgeon I\u2019m working with today is exceptionally clever, and stands out even amongst his quite cerebral colleagues. Apart from the whole business of operating on people\u2019s brains, his hobby is learning languages. He speaks to me in French sometimes, knowing that I\u2019m learning it (little does he know how\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/59497F62-C579-43C3-A9F1-EC915D605A23-300x281.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13272,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/tuesday-september-1st-besancon\/","url_meta":{"origin":649,"position":2},"title":"Tuesday September 1st Besan\u00e7on","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Another good night\u2019s sleep, lightly medicated. 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We\u2019re doing a week long road trip North of Paris, then flying\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6691-768x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6691-768x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6691-768x1024.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9983,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/14\/old-scheduling-email-mid-march-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":649,"position":4},"title":"Old scheduling email mid March 2018","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"As long foretold, the legendary third part of the ancient roster related communications triumvirate. Subject: Je suis malade Hi All, Lots of lurgies around at the moment. I\u2019m a little under the weather myself, but at least I\u2019m past the gargling hot razor blades stage that I was at yesterday.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10477,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/29\/my-french-fortnight-is-almost-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":649,"position":5},"title":"My French fortnight is almost over","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My French course this week has been really tough. I asked my teacher this morning if she thought I was in the right class for me, and she said she thought I was, and I\u2019ve found it harder this week because it\u2019s revision week for the students that will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_0218-1024x736.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_0218-1024x736.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_0218-1024x736.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}