Saturday 18th June  (Three Freebies and a Golden Oriole)

Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window to see the walnut tree swaying in the wind and grey clouds floating in the sky. Today Mr. Kite and His Lady were heading north towards La Manche and cooler climates and eventually home.

With The Joint packed tidily Mr. Kite pressed a few buttons and Pat Nav told him to, “Drive to highlight a route’. So very soon The Joint and it’s occupants were driving along unknown roads and lanes around the Foret d’Orient. Now Mr. Kite has great confidence in Pat Nav although she has taken him along some very narrow roads with ditches all around, through mountain villages where the villagers have fled for their lives having never seen a camper before and down mud tracks off road.

Today Pat Nav had planned a pleasant scenic route in the countryside towards the motorway with birds to look at along the way. Common Buzzards, Honey Buzzards, Skylarks and Goldfinches were prevalent. Now in her good planning Pat Nav had coordinated the flight of a Golden Oriole in front of Mr. Kite. So with fields on both sides of the road the Golden Oriole flew from left to right with slow jerky wing beats and it’s yellow golden plumage shining like a ‘tracer bullet’. For five seconds the bird flew low over the fields and then gained height to reach the top of a tree in a steep climb.

Just before the busy road an Osprey flew diagonally across the path of Mr. Kite. Soon the scenic tour was over and the dull trip up the motorway was started. With hot sunny spells, torrential rain and a few sharp gusts of wind the ride took three hours and soon Mr. Kite arrived in Le Cateau Cambresis.

Having had a good day so far Mr. Kite went into a supermarket to buy some bread and was promptly given two cans of Hoegaarden Wit-Blanche; what could be better than than two free cans of beer.

Mr. Kite and His Lady then drove to Ors, a village near Le Cateau Cambresis, to place a flower on the grave of a former resident of Mr. Kite’s house in Shropshire. This young man had died in The Great War. Now this young man had left a literary legacy and the building, ‘Maison Forestiere”, where he wrote his last letter home to his famiy is being converted into an artistic centre. So Mr. Kite and His Lady went to find it. To cut along story short they did not find it; so they stopped outside The Marie.

Now Mr. Kite will describe a coincidence. In a room next to The Marie a group of people were planning the opening of ‘Maison Forestiere’ in October and the leader of the group had visited Mr. Kite’s house many years ago to see where The Soldier Poet had lived. The Leader, who spoke good English, explained where the ‘Maison Forestiere’ was and said Mr. Kite and His Lady could have a peep inside the unfinished building.

Mr. Kite followed the instructions and five mintues later were parked outside a modern new building. First impressions are important and Mr. Kite and His Lady were highly impressed by the modern shape and architecture of the building. Sneeking into the ‘building site’ Mr. Kite and His Lady were amazed by a wonderful little amphitheatre that was under construction. Lastly Mr. Kite and His Lady visited the cellar where The Soldier had written his last letter: a very moving experience for a freebee. Now this building designed by the British artist Simon Patterson is stunning.

With two freebies complete the last one was a night with electricity on the aire at Le Cateau Cambresis where Mr. Kite and His Lady had a pleasant stay. Now Mr. Kite did not see many birds that day in the north of France but he did have a memorable day.

So Mr. Kite celebrated with a tipple of Tetley tea and cheers to all those people who made his day.