The overnight heat was not sustainable, and at 0200h the heavens sent it down with a strong thunderstorm. At least it made sleeping more possible after that.

In mid-morning, we did a bit of re-arrangement of the moored boats, to allow Polaris and Cochon Noir to join the collection of moored boats. Later that morning. Anna and Rob came down from Gray on Vintage Cru with some Dutch friends and rafted up alongside us, and then joined us for lunch in the shade of one of the willow trees.

After they left to continue southwards down the Saone, Rita and I got stuck into cleaning both sides of the boat canopy that we had taken off the boat last week. Both sides need cleaning once a year, because the outside has collected dust, bird droppings and other stuff over the winter period, while the underneath side has gathered patches of mould from the humidity under the cover. But on a hot day like today, it's a bit of fun getting wet and cleaning the canopy, and within a couple of hours it was clean and dry again, and packed away under the sofa in the salon.

Mon 10 July - thunderstorm, Anna & Rob, canopy washing, drinks, pans, asthma

Around 1700h, we noticed several people getting tables and chairs arrnaged on the lawn, and then bringing glasses and various bottles and snacks to the tables. So we joined them in doing so, and soon were having apero drinks with Clive abd Helene, Muriel and Hans, Jacque and Jean Pierre, and Gerard and Ginette (if I got all their name correct). Every now and then, everyone stood up and moved the tables and chairs so that we could all remain in the shade. After a while, I noticed that Rita had disappeared and before long she was back again with steelpan in tow. She played a few songs to their delight and amazement. After a while, a local resident who we had met yesterdsay with his son, came over to watch and then Rita offered him her sticks to play. Obviously, he was a musician she picked up the basics very quickly. After that, everyone wanted to try the pans, with greater and lesser success.

Around 1900h, we started to pack up to return to our boats, and this process was accelerated by the arrival of a light rain shower. We had dinner on our rear deck, while others dined alone or in groups. Later that night, i had an attack of asthma, which is the first time that had happened for many, many years. Luckily, I had an old Ventolin spray in my toiletries bag (way beyond its use-by date), but it seemed to do the trick and gave me some relief. Rita then phoned a doctor we knew in Moissac, and after explaining the situation and answering a few questions posed by them, they agreed to write a prescription and email it to us. Rita will take it to a pharmacie in Grey tomorrow to get some new Ventolin for me to have at hand if required again.