Sunday 27th July: Birthday Gig‏

So hot yesterday, thank goodness there's a slight breeze today.

Pleased with the gig last night. Such a beautiful house when we eventually found it. Rodrigo had given me and Alexander directions on a scrap of paper which were impossible to follow. After driving in circles in the direction of Quimper we stopped in a village. The place was deserted and Rodrigo wasn't answering his phone. Luckily a man walking his dog pointed us in the right direction, We found the place with ten minutes to spare.

Rodrigo and Ines were already in the Marquee setting up. The owners Henri and Mercedes came over and introduced themselves. It was Mercedes' fiftieth birthday and her husband had booked us as a surprise.

They must have had at least fifty guests. Most of them got up to dance to our livelier pieces; La Bamba, Mas Que Nada and Bamboleo seemed to go down well. We finished the evening with a couple of slow pieces, Los Aretes de la Luna and Besame Mucho.

I noticed Rodrigo seemed to be attracting a lot of attention from a couple of girls at one of the tables. They came over in the break and asked for his autogaph! Alexander had instructed him not to smoke any weed before the gig (but we were sure he'd ignored this). The girls certainly found him amusing!

The grounds of the manoir were beautiful. During our break, Ines, Alexander and myself walked around the courtyard and came across a herb garden. Very impressed by the variety: #. Behind the garden was a lawn with a lake beyond. I would have liked to explore further but we had to get back to play.

After we packed up Ines wanted to stay and talk to Mercedes (I don't think she knows many Spanish people here in Brittany).

Spent this morning searching for sites which review e-books. Not as easy as it sounds; there's a lot to wade through. Need to discuss this with Laura. Will send her a long e-mail later.  
Off to Gourin this afternoon for the pancake festival.