Birmingham market

I’ve written about markets in France – but we have a market in Birmingham too. As in Lodève, it’s a 10 minute walk from our home, and as in Lodève it’s uphill on the way back, but in Birmingham I can get a bus.
There are some great bargains to be had at the market “Any bowl a pahnd” is the cry on many stalls. The bowls consists of generous amounts of tomatoes, mushrooms, courgettes, fruit, or whatever is in season. The market is popular with West Indians and stocks a lot of their fruit and veg. It’s also popular with visiting Asians who are used to street markets in their own countries.

There are always good deals on peppers, but as with much of the produce it’s a good idea to use them quickly as they may be on the point of going off. So it’s a good opportunity to stock up the freezer with ratatouille, chick pea stew, and sautéed mushrooms – and then look forward to returning to our local markets in Lodeve and Clermont l’Hérault.

Sunshine in England!

I’m back in England for the summer while our clients enjoy the Lodève sunshine – and the weather has been good there so far this summer. Amid the usual English rainy days we’ve been lucky to have 2 weekends away when the sun shone. One was to Stratford upon Avon where we saw the play Julius Caesar performed by the Royal Shakespeare company at the Courtyard theatre and did the usual tourist things of visiting the houses and gardens.

For the other weekend we stayed at the Isaac Walton Hotel in Dovedale – a lovely setting with pleasant views across the hills, but we agreed that they were really no better than the view from our garden in Lodève. The English food wasn’t too bad, but it’s strange having a large pot of weak coffee after your evening meal.

Here’s an evening photo taken in Lodeve for comparison.