Homps – it’s no joke

We had a lovely relaxing day today. Much as there’re things to be said for other starts to the day, being able to have cereal with fresh milk is our family’s definition of a how a day should commence. So after two bowls of cereal, and a shower we could stand under, we started the day with a collective contented smile.

Then followed a morning getting schoolwork done, and a lunch of bread from the local boulangerie. Finally we roused oursleves to set off on a minor exploration. We drove the eight kilometres to town of Homps.

Homps, it turns out, is a place whose name we cannot say without a smile. Our combined efforts have failed to come up with a good pun on its name, but we still think it’s got amusing written all over it.

The town lines the sides of the Midi canal and has walking paths running up its length.  We walked up the canal until we came to the main lock; where we spent a fascinating half-hour watching the lock in action. The lock looks fairly traditional but was controlled by a young woman with a remote-control pad. It stepped several boats up or down about three metres in the time we watched.

It really feels like the beginning of summer at the moment. There were butterflies and dragonflies all over the place and the sun shone down this afternoon.

Back in Azille, we tried out the pool with varying degrees of volition  (Jennifer got thrown in by some nameless miscreants) and had dinner on the terrace as the sun lowered over the vineyards that comprise most of our view.