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Sunday 14 August

We have been out most nights of the week till all hours, because it is the time of the fete de Geneve, so the web page is still out of date. I feel I simply must take advantage of the summer weather, since it is all so fleeting. Last night we sat and had a picnic at a free outdoor concert in the park near my place. Champagne, Rose, foie gras and baguettes, salad, picnic eggs then drinking melted chocolate icecreams for dessert. After the concert there were people fire dancing and doing some pretty incredible gymnastics. Then it was down to the lake edge for an end-of-evening caiprinha at my friend Cathy's friend Claudio's stall. A fun evening which meant I didn't get to bed till 1.30am, but hey, that is what summer is about.

Thursday night we went to a performance of the Sichuan Ladies Orchestra and Shaolin Kung Fu. It was truly amazing stuff, especially the Kung Fu. One man did a handstand, but not on his hands... on two fingers!

Friday night was a big one. Maeve and I had dinner with a friend and then we headed back to my place. I had to drive my friend to the airport in the morning, but decided that the fete was calling my name... after a bit of dancing I ended up at Claudio's stall where we sang until the not so wee-small hours.

Summer rocks here. Straight after the Fete de la Musique we had the lake parade, and now the Fete de Geneve, so there is continuous partying going on. The markets are at their best at this time of year too, overflowing with scrumptious nectarines, peaches, apricots, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, goosberries (spelling?) and figs. They sell produce ripe here too, so instead of being hard and flavourless everything is bursting with juice and taste. I buy cherry tomatoes and munch on them like grapes at my desk.

This year my friend Rachel has moved into an apartment that has views of the lake so we got a birds eye view of the end of fete fireworks. Very spectacular, they go for about an hour and a half (including intermissions).

The weird thing about being here in full summer is to sit under the stars watching people firedancing, and see them just putting their lit torches down on the grass. No concern whatsoever that the grass could catch fire. Because it won't. Because it rains. All the way through the streets you stumble across fountains which are essentially a running tap with potable water so you can just stick your glass (or head) under the tap to drink. The water just runs into the drains all day. So wrong!  

I am housesitting a friends house for the next two weeks, which will be lovely especially so for the swimming pool out the back.

Sunday 7 August

My friend Maeve is visiting; how cool is that?

The fete de Geneve is in full salsa (rather than swing, as the predominant music seems to be salsa!). We wandered around a bit yesterday and enjoyed the atmostphere.

We caught the end of the cortege (lake parade). But by 9.45pm we were both a bit tired, so headed for home. There instead of going to bed we exchanged 'slide shows' and got to bed at about 1am! I am not quite sure how long I can persuade her to stay, but there is a lot going on so hopefully at least a week..