France 190 - Cogolin /thunder and lightning/the TV would not work /where are things?/a walk down to the town and a nightmare trip to Le Clerc

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Day 4 of the holiday . Market day in St Tropez. Cogolin very quiet . Having arrived yesterday we were hit with monsoon like rain which soon soaked everything in the garden . If there is something good about being in the South of France the slabs soon dried off. The thunder banged overhead and the lightening brightened up what had once been a blue sky. The swimming pool looked inviting as the raindrops fell. The owner had sensibly taken off all the covers from the sun loungers and left them in the small shed on site to be brought out when the weather was better . Which it is today. We have been slowly finding our way round the house. Two bathrooms with wet areas for the shower and a bath in one. Three toilets . They all seemed a novelty against the van with its tiny shower area and minute toilet space . Two fridges and two freezers. A winding staircase which fitted in with the french attitude to health and safety. Wifi that worked like a treat . We would be able now to book our hotel on the way back probably a little further north than Chalon this time and more than likely just a Campanile . You know what you get with them and the restaurants are usually better quality . The TV packed up . It made me realise just how hard it is in a rented place to find out how things work and where everything is kept . We usually struggled for a day or two in Gabby opening wrong cupboards but here I just kept on doing it . We slept reasonable well overlooking the pretty courtyard.

Woke up early just the same as we would have done at home . It was reasonable light at 6.15am as the sun was beginning to rise . We breakfasted on the remains of the baguette and cheese that our hosts had left as a welcome pack for us . We needed to get down into town to shop sometime this morning . It was a novelty to eat breakfast at a table this morning. To have a table that sat four seemed very strange . We have enough space to swing a thousand cats . Something we are not used to . Two sofas. One in front of the non working TV and the other in the kitchen area. We were finding more and more things as we investigated the house further .

Our hosts turned up to pick up the fee for hiring the house for the week . I hoped they remembered we were staying Saturday night and Sunday as our week was booked from Monday to Monday rather than Saturday to Saturday . Neil tried to sort out the TV and wondered if lightening had struck the satelitte dish yesterday . He checked both that and the french dish on the other side of the house finding no problems at all . He tried the same as we had done taking the plug out and hoping it would reset . Perhaps the renters of the last week who were french had played games on the TV and broken it. We changed the tweeting fire alarm whilst waiting for the English TV guy to turn up. Neil and Lyn had lived here for many years . They still had family back home . Back home turned out to be Chesterfield . We exchanged memories of Clay Cross, Chesterfield and home. They had come here to work on one of the camping sites and then were offered a job working for a prince was building a mansion in nearby St Tropez. They did not live next door as I imagined . They left us as they went to hunt out a new TV.

We walked down to Cogolin. Quite a long walk as we took the wrong roads at times . We found the Le Clerc supermarket . We would call on the way back so as not to carry groceries round the town on such a hot day. There was not much to the town . A few statues placed on strategic corners. A lot of people walking and talking . This was the day after Bank Holiday so they were all making up for the lack of anything open yesterday . Apparently there are 8 Bank holidays this month in France . It makes our normal two look rather feeble .

What can I say about Cogolin ? There was a lot of building going on .New houses and apartments popping up everywhere . Cogolin is a large commune situated in the Gulf of St Tropez . I heard that St Tropez is dead during the winter and only comes to life in the season . However Cogolin which is the home of all the communes in the area remains an active and busy town all year round . It has non of the glitz of the Riviera. More work a day sort of place . Would we have stayed here in the van ? Hard to say as we could not find an aire but there did seem to be parking all round the town and a bus service to nearby Port Cogolin where boats plied their trade to St Tropez and the train station nearby would take you to Frejus, Toulon , Nice and beyond. It felt odd to still be searching out spots to park a van and unneccessary .

The streets of Cogolin in the old part were narrower and lime trees lined the pavements . The square opened out with the obligatory trees for shade, bars for a quick drink and a fountain. It was not the most impressive square and a couple of the bars looked a touch seedy . We might try them out at some point but the remains of the day needed to be source out Le Clerc and food . Having not driven down we were limited to buying what we could carry home . The supermarket was heaving . As always you could buy almost anything there from a TV to garden furniture , from food and wine to housewares and the town was out buying them . There never seems much order to the aisles . Unlike back home where we have ample space to amble and shop here it always feels overcrowded . Bodies everywhere . Pushing trolleys and leaving them everywhere . Paying was difficult . No scan and go to take the strain . No put your own shopping through the tills . Everyone converged on the tills . It was like a free for all . Something I had forgotten . We were glad to get out . But we still had the long hot walk home . Arriving home the new TV was already there just waiting for installation . The sky was blue . The temperature was rising . Perhaps tonight we might get out for that Italian .

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