Sens-sational!

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Sens is a gorgeous town – bustling yet quaint, ancient yet modern and we ended up staying for 5 days. Mooring was alongside the town quay, electricity and water included and was absolutely free. Not only that, but the moorings overlooked the gorgeous 12th century St Maurice church and as the sun set every evening we were treated to stunning views of its stained glass windows shining. The moorings were also home to a family of ducks – those of you who know my love of birds will understand how this was the icing on the cake for me!! We pulled up behind a big Brit barge owned by a lovely chap called Andrew who rented space on his boat to holiday makers. He was in between guests and doing some work on his barge.
As soon as we had tied up and sorted the boat out, we went off for a wander and to procure some lunch. We found a square around the impressive cathedral packed with a variety of restaurants and bars. We selected one in the corner, cleverly named 'Cathedral cafe restaurant', and got ourselves a table. It was busy and had a lovely atmosphere. It smelled of delicious food and all around us was the chatter of tourists and locals, young and old. We ordered (trio of fish for me and lamb tagine for mike) and set about sipping our wine and chatting. After a glass or two of wine mike became alarmingly pink. 'What's wrong?' I asked. 'What?' he confusedly replied. 'Your face, it's gone really red, are you hot?'. 'Always.' He grinned. 'Not your physique, angel, your temperature – you're really red.' 'It was pretty hot in there – it was August after all and we were sat by a huge glass window in a busy restaurant. 'Yeah, I am pretty hot.' 'It's probably the wine as well, it'll go down soon'. We ate our delicious meal savouring every bite. Each of my fish samples had a different sauce and I was enjoying every bite. Mike was making lots of 'mmm' noises so he was clearly enjoying his lamb. I hate it, so he only gets it if we eat out. The place had gotten busier and hotter and I was now feeling the heat. Mike's face was verging on purple. He was beginning to resemble the girl off of Charlie and the Chocolate factory who turns into a blueberry and explodes. Splashing water had not helped, so we decided to order ice-cream,. We settled on pomme glace – an lovely apple sorbet topped with a splash of calvados. The cold sorbet helped restore Mike's face to that of a human rather than a tomato, but the dessert was a bit much for lunch. It turned out that the splash of calvados was around a triple measure. By the time we'd finished our desserts I was feeling decidedly tipsy – it was only 2 o'clock. I think Mike felt it too and we were soon giggling away at the most ridiculous things. We asked for 'l'addition' (the bill) and left to go for a walk in the fresh air.
There was a market going on and I purchased a pair of harem trousers I'd first seen in Paris the previous month. Ten euro's too. Bargain. It's a shame I later discovered they were about 3 inches too short. We also kept seeing posters advertising 'MusicaSens'. It appeared that the coming weekend was the towns annual music festival and there would be concerts going on in the Cathedral courtyard all weekend. The name of one of the bands was enough to entice us – who could resist 'Milkman and the Kittens' ? We decided there and then to stay until Monday.
The following day the sun was hot and bright so we took off on our bikes to explore. We soon found a huge park complete with fitness equipment and a parcours circuit. We wasted no time messing about on the equipment – pulling arabesques on the balance logs, running the slalom, jumping across the stepping stones and trying to do the monkey bars. I say trying because it had been years since I last went on the monkey bars and they were a damn sight harder than I remember!! I only managed half of them before my arms failed me. As I struggled, wriggled and grunted my boobs threatened to pop out. I admitted defeat and let go before I was arrested for indecent exposure. My choice of a black sundress and flip flops was not the ideal attire to be running around in. Mike found it all hilarious and immediately set about mocking me and laughing. I got my own back soon enough – whilst I looked as cool as a cucumber pulling a perfect arabesque on a balance log like a Russian gymnast, Mike leant forward too far and toppled over. It was my turn to take the piss now.
Playtime over, we continued exploring the park and found gorgeous walkways and wooden bridges over streams and through woodlands, birds swimming around, the fattest goose I've ever seen and even a little farm with chickens, sheep, goats, pigs and rabbits. All free and all in the middle of town. Running around the park and the parcours circuit was a big velodrome which went along the river too so we cycled home taking in this circuit and enjoying the setting sun.
The next couple of days were spent with Mike working on the boat. He serviced the engine and built us a big DVD/book shelf in which to house all the piles of books and DVD's hanging about. The sun was blazing from a clear blue sky every day so while Mike worked I went off on walks to find a launderette and supermarket, did a bit of shopping and then lay in the sun reading. Once my book was finished I decided to try my hand at drawing. 'I think I'm going to draw that church.' I announced. 'I didn't know you were good at art. Can you draw?' Mike said. 'Dunno,' I shrugged ' We'll find out in a minute.' 2 hours later I had sketched out the church using my crayola colouring pencils. It wasn't bad. I was quite proud of it. 'You can tell what it's meant to be, ' said Mike 'It's pretty good for a first go. Well done, baby' I felt very pleased with myself and picked up my crayola's again. I was on a roll. This time I was going to draw a swan. That only took me ten minutes – swans aren't as detailed as churches. I showed Mike. 'That's really good,' he said ' I think I prefer it to the church.' 'I do too,' I said, 'But that's a bit annoying because it took me bloody ages to do that church!' I decided that from now on I would draw simple stuff if I was going to draw. I put it aside and went off to print photo's from which to make postcards. I was quite enjoying being able to sit in the sun sipping wine and being creative whilst my friends back home were preparing to return to work after the Summer holidays.
The weekend soon arrived and with it the 'MusicaSens' festival. Excitedly we went into town. A real party atmosphere was buzzing and the little speakers through the town were playing upbeat songs from the 70's and 80's as people walked through the narrow cobbled streets. I danced along to Elton John as we moved to the cathedral. We stopped in a little restaurant on the way and got some food. As soon as we'd eaten we headed off in the direction of the cathedral. Once there we were instantly impressed. The cathedral courtyard was the perfect setting. It's façade was lit in blues, greens and purples, a huge stage had been erected below it and little bars were arranged all around the outside. As we arrived a French woman was singing something soulful and jazzy. She sported a spangly waistcoat, skinny jeans and a 60's style hat. She had sunglasses on even though it was nightime and the majority of the crowd were singing along with her so Mike and I surmised that she must have been pretty well known in France. Either that or she had a visual impairment and was covering popular folk songs which everyone knew anyway. We got ourselves some beers and found somewhere to stand – unfortunately all the seats were already full. The French woman was a great singer and swayed about wafting her hands around as she sung, in a style reminiscent of Mum and Aunty Karen dancing when slightly intoxicated. She finished her set with a song that got everyone cheering and singing along but utterly baffled me and Mike. We instantly recognised the tune of the song – it was the theme to the Addams family. Was she really singing the French version of the Addams family theme tune as her closing number? Was the Addams family so popular here that everyone knew it? I listened closely. I was pretty sure Addams would still be Addams in French and knew that Famille was family. Not once did any of these words come up. 'Must be a French song using the same tune.' Mike decided. After her set, we went off to find a loo – unfortunately the organisers had neglected to install portaloos. We wondered whether the french had huge bladders. As we left under an archway our nostrils were assaulted with Eau de Urine. A woman squatted in a dark corner whilst a man swayed drunkenly with his member out. Nope, they just pissed in the street.
When we got back from our wee break we heard the Stones 'Brown Sugar' being sung in a rocky style and slight French accent with guitars, drums and a hell of a good beat. As this finished the band launched into 'dancing in the street'. Brilliant – some songs we recognised! Could this be Milkman and the Kittens? As we neared the stage and saw the band, we realised that the music wasn't the only British influence upon the band. The lead singer, though pouting and swaggering like a seasoned Jagger impersonator, looked remarkably like Fagin from Oliver Twist. He wore a battered top hat, red shirt, worn trousers and a long leather coat. Mike noticed it just as I did. 'Bloody hell, it's Fagin!' he exclaimed. Just at that point Mickey Maguire off of 'Shameless' lurched forward, face contorted in concentration, tongue in the corner of his mouth as he blasted out a guitar solo. He gave a cocky grin and winked at a female fan in the audience.'It's Mickey Maguire!' I laughed. Standing next to him sporting a waistcoat and earring and a coif Elvis would have envied was a rake thin David Bowie circa '75 lookalike. Just when we thought the parade of Brit lookalikes was over a spotlight hit the drummer. Timothy Spall bashed out a great little solo. 'So this is what happens when British stars have no work in the UK … they form a rock band and play all the French music festivals!' I said. Mike agreed. The resemblance of the band to various British stars was uncanny. We danced and sung along with their set until the concert was over at midnight. We never did find out if they were Milkman and the Kittens. But they rocked, as did the town of Sens.

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