What a hot night. It was still 28 degrees outside when we went
to bed at 11pm and it was pretty hard to sleep. We had to be up earlyish anyway
as we had an appointment in Perpignan to get our scooter serviced (to make use
of its warranty period while we could). Got into Perpignan by 9am and had a few
hours to fill in until we could collect the scooter.
Walked the now familiar
route between Decathlon (the huge sports store nearby) and the other huge
stores further afield. Managed to find a replacement for our smoke alarm. The
one we had kept going off all the time, possibly because it was full of plaster
dust. Bought a few other necessities, e.g. vacuum cleaner bags, and then back
to collect the scoot. We were cutting it a little fine to make it before it
closed at 12pm for the two hour lunch break and ended up half walking/jogging
in about 35 degree heat, and weighed down by a heavy petanque set we had
bought.
We had brought our togs with us with the idea of possibly
heading to the beach after we had finished in Perpignan but felt more like just
heading home for a cold beer. We stopped at Le Boulou to check a few things at
one of the big stores there but of course it had just closed for a 1½hr lunch
break. We headed to the nearest bar and sat with a cold beer for an hour,
getting hotter and hotter. We had our books with us but John opted to go for a
short walk around the town. It’s a nice little place, but without the trees and
pedestrian precinct of Céret. The shop finally opened and had sold out of what
we had been after, so straight home to collapse.
