In the afternoon I got all adventurous and got on my bike and went cycling mad! I was quite impressed. Apart from the occasional stop to "look at interesting scenery" (grab hold of a tree and wheeze against it) all went quite well, I thought. I ended up cycling through L'Age towards St Barthelmy, then snuck off a side road to Marval and down to Brian's for tea and a spliff. I flopped around there for about an hour or so before plucking up the courage to cycle home again, albeit a slightly more direct route on my way home.

Brian came round for dinner in the evening. He'd had plans cancelled on him and I didn't have any really, so I cooked a pasta thingie which he declared as "yummy" and then we sat around drinking wine and gin, playing Backgammon (I lost both games), talking about teenagers, their lack of comprehension of irony and generally chilling.

I'm waiting on a purchase order from AI which will allow me to go ahead and book Eurostar tickets to the UK for a week.

Julie's parents called to tell me they're staying in Cognac and that they're hoping to drive over and see me tomorrow at about 5pm. I'll have to do all sorts of tidying and things to get the place ready for guests. Could've done with more than 19 hours' notice, but it'll be nice to see them again. Brian and I deliberated over what I should cook; it's too late to do a nice big French onion soup, and I'm not confident with rabbit having not cooked any before. I might cheat and take them out somewhere. Hm.

Thinking of food, if I don't write this down I'll forget it:

Soupe de Poulet à l'alcoolique

Pour yourself a glass of Pineau, or a large gin and tonic. Plonk chicken left overs and bits in a saucepan and cover it with water. If you roasted your chicken with vegetables (onions or whatever) shove 'em in as well. In fact, just throw everything that came with the chicken into the pot, season a bit, cover and simmer for about three hours so that the bone is nice and soft and all the juices have gone into the water. Have a few drinks whilst this is happening as three hours is a long time to stand and watch a saucepan without some diversion.

When you have an idle half hour make a big gin and tonic and sit at a table with no sharp objects. Strain the stuff from the saucepan into another container so you are left with the carcass. Plonk that (and any other chickeny bits) onto a plate and rescue any bits of meat from the bones, stopping idly to nibble some occasionally and wash down with a swig of gin. Ideally, you'll end up with a pile of chicken meat scraps, a plate full of lots of bones and a warm feeling inside. Add the chicken meat back to the liquid stuff along with lots of yummy things like a few glasses of white wine (put one or two in the soup as well), oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, chopped up carrots, chopped up onions, chopped up potatoes.... (fresh veg, not the manky stuff you cooked it with).

Add some water if it's looking a bit measely, cover and simmer for an hour or so (add more gin if necessary) then leave on the stove, covered, overnight. If it's looking as if you've got too much liquid, just simmer lidless for a while and let it reduce. I left mine sitting covered on the stove overnight.