Day 510 - 16th August 2008

The chainsaw in the picture was never used to massacre the picture-taker here, but when used to chop some trees it broke down, so it wouldn't have held up very long in a horror flick anyway.

That aside, the dinner I mentioned yesterday with the odd couple has just ended, weirdly of course. Actually, the dinner itself went fine, some would even say swimmingly so, we talked for most of the time about, no joke, the price of cheese. Boring but harmless.

Then, upon leaving and taking the outside steps, the woman says, 'oh no, I won't take these stairs, it's too dark.' Fine, it was dark, lit, but still dark. Then she adds, 'my brother died falling down some stairs you know.' It may be morbid and tragic, but it's a valid reason. 'Oh yes, it was last week, he fell down, smashed his head, never came out of the coma in hospital' and this part I quote precisely, 'we burn him tomorrow; see you soon then!'

Last week? What a weird time to interject with that bombshell! It's not nice, I know, but I couldn't help instantly seeing the awkward hilarity of the whole situation. Here we are, all smiles, kissing goodbye as you do, when she announces the sudden death of her 48 year-old brother. Weird.

From gory to gold, I must mention more victories for Great Britain in Beijing today. Rebecca Adlington, winner of one gold medal last week in the swimming won another today for us, cyclist Bradley Wiggins bagged a gold too, as did his colleague Chris Hoy, who was part of a cycling gold-silver finish, and last but not least the coxless four rowed their way to a victory, coming from behind the Australians to cinch the gold.

There were other medals too, but gold ones count first in the rankings, and we have climbed up fairly high, higher than France; despite having less medals then them in total, a lot less in fact, we currently have seven gold medals compared to their three. So there, rule Britannia; for now.

As much as I complain about Provence, the permanent internet connection there has tempted me back for the next week before I go back to Britain; that'll allow me to tie up some unfinished projects I started before I got to the Pyrenees. My dad leaves tomorrow, as he has to get back to work, so I shall leave with him; leaving my brother behind with my uncle, not a particularly nice thing to do, but he'll live. Hopefully.