An afternoon in Carcassonne

One of the golden rules of blogging according to Toby, (he who knows better than I on important matters, :ie social networking) is to post regularly, keeping your readers updated. Do not chatter to your friends on facebook, skype, and 'dollydaydream' over images on pinterest and linger on twitter unless you are applying yourself to spreading the word and engaging your followers on the benefits of your business !  Incidentally I would be delighted to see you on any of my pages especially if you love images of Carcassonne, giving me the perfect reason to follow you back and 'network'.   Working at this time of the year from the warmth of the kitchen with a pot of tea to hand couldn't be nicer.

Meanwhile over the weekend its true to say we've had our fair share of rain, I went to bed with the sounds of gutters dripping and I've woken up to the most dismal day.  However there is a wonderful saying which always makes me smile 'there is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing' and how very true this is so it was a weekend of braving the elements and doing something different once I had made my early Saturday morning visit to the market.  A visit to the thrift shop/trocante/brocante/second-hand/pre-loved, the latter being my favourite description is always a satisfying way to keep yourself occupied.  There is always something I would love to buy and renovate, in my next life I am going to come back as someone who renovates furniture rather than impossibly large houses. As I approached there was a line of people cowering under their umbrella's with a large notice 50% off, a tempting marketing ploy if ever there was.  Incidentally I'm doing a promotion at the moment if you stay at No.11 after your first night it's 50% off for your following nights if booked direct up until Christmas.

I headed (as is customary) straight for the fabrics which is laughable for some-one who has difficulty threading a needle and quickly whipped four double richly coloured tassel's under my arm and then scuttled off to scan my eye's over the china. There it was the cute blue and white tea set I had to have and a piece of ornate wood, I refuse to use the word 'hoarder' collector of pre-loved items waiting to be transformed back to their former glory is much more apt.

Afterwards we decided to hit a new 'tea-shop' conveniently placed two minutes walk away from No.11.  I say 'tea-shop' but it's apparently a 'concept' store which vaguely means 'elite and fashionable'. Anyway it's called Manu Concept Store and it's utterly divine, as soon as you walk in you feel cosseted especially if it's tipping down with rain and dark outside.  I chose 'Lungo Forte' which has a grading of 4 for intensity on the sleek chart of Nespresso Coffee's to choose from. It would have been churlish not to have tried the tempting home-made Banoffee Pie so I could report back to my guests and we awarded that 10/10.  A good look at all the unusual home and soft furnishings vaguely satisfied the longing for a humongous retail therapy blow-out on all things delicious for the home.

As I was about to depart I couldn't help but notice a large book with pages and pages of enticing colours, every shade imaginable, a kaleidoscope of visual pleasure swimming before my eye's. Turns out it's the Ressource paint range, France's answer to Farrow & Ball I guess, but then I saw the tester pots, virtually impossible to obtain in France in every colour you could imagine. I was highly restrained and only bought two.

My idea of a heavenly Saturday afternoon on a rainy weekend in Carcassonne.