Bingo!

After months and months of wondering what our fellow Cruzy inhabitants did for entertainment we were invited to join in... BINGO!

Now we are not talking Mega Bingo or any of that corporate multi-million pound industry. We are referring to old fashioned fundraising bingo. Over 200 villagers, old and young, attend the regular bingo which aims to raise money for the local fire station, based out of the village and staffed by volunteers.

Most of the people in the village hall had their own bingo counters. These were little translucent coloured rings with a metal edge. The rings were placed over the appropriate number on the card when the number was called. At the end of the game, a large magnet is passed over the card, collecting up the rings. Those without rings used sweet-corn kernels. We fell into that camp until a fellow player shared her rings with 6 strangers.

We went to the bingo with some friends and we all thought we had grasped our numbers in French. Oh, how wrong we ALL were. Turns out the words we knew and use are incorrect. Yes, we are using the numbers as taught by Michelle Thomas and heard on the radio, but they are not correct... for this part of France. It will take days to talk though the differences so lets just end by saying that we laughed heartedly during each and every game - all 18 of them. Well, when I say 18, I mean 18 planned games. Out of our little party, we won 2 of the prizes. Alan won the 18th game - a voucher for the local butcher and 2 free pizzas, but one of our friends won a huge, and I mean HUGE, leg of dried ham. She donated the prize back to the event, and received not only the gratitude of the fire-service, but of the entire room. Shouts of cheers rang through the hall when a 19th game was announced.

We had three friends over from the UK and as two had visited Cruzy before and had seen most of the local sites, we drove to an absolutely lovely little costal town as recommended by one of the visitors. Collioure is apparently a city of painters with 30 art galleries, but it’s for the beauty of the town that people visit. It has a great history (read more at http://www.collioure.com/gb/index-gb.htm), with an impressive castle and church as well as small lanes in which to wonder around. We have heard that the town is very busy in the summer with cars queuing for hours for parking. We drove down into the town and parked along the seafront without any effort.

We were lucky enough to meet a couple with a little boy who own a holiday home here in Cruzy, so along with a group of other friends, we met in the local bar for a drink. It was the first time the staff had experienced such a busy bar before 9pm on a Saturday.

With the arrival of the new Johnny Deep movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, in the post, we invited four friends over to watch the film. To make the experience a little different, we decided it was to be watched dressed as pirates. The house was ransacked in search of treasure and curtains were removed from their poles to make sails. With the aid of a mini hacksaw and some nails we managed to cobble together a couple of swords. Our friends arrived in their gear, all with pencilled moustaches and pirate hats, one even arriving with a wooden leg. The food was all themed and the drinks flowed (does Coke Cola count?)What a shame the film was dreadful. It went on to two and a half hours, without plot and without us caring for the characters. At least we had fun calling out "shiver me timbers" and "Urg. That’s fine grub"