Would you like a piece of sausage ?

An innocent question asked by myself to my darling wife. She rolled away from me and said ''just give me a cuddle''. I seriously had a piece of French sausage in my hand.

Just got back from Maule after one of the best weekends ever. If your from Carnoustie rugby club you have the keys to the town. I have never experienced such nice people and such generosity.

1/ Olivier picked us up from the airport and drove us to Maule a 1 1/2 hour drive.
2/ Arrive and welcomed by Florian and family and given an apartment to stay in for the weekend.
3/ Driven to the Maule Blacks base to see the guys training and then taken to the temporary club house. Jean-Charles company's warehouse. The whole place had been set out restaurant style for our welcome. All the guys and their wife's turned up to welcome us. Wine and beer on tap all night.
4/In the morning we had a trip around the local market with my kilt on. I was told ''that the girls can't keep their hands off you''. All I experienced was young children laughing at me. Hey I'm used to that.
5/ Picked up by Thierry,Stephan, Olivier, Philippe, Gillian and Jan. We went to a posh restaurant and finished off with some strong Irish coffes.
6/Off to the game. Stade de France what a place the French do buildings right. It doesn't matter what the century is. After the game were were taken to the pub. As usual the Scottish pubs drew us to its doors, but they wouldn't let us in. We ended up in a Dutch pub and had about 60 pints of lager and a take away in the pub.Bill did a rendition of Flower of Scotland with the band. Returning back to the Auld alliance a ''traditional''Scottish pub. The owner was a Scot and he was taking the piss at 7 euros a pint and 3.5 euros for a can of irn bru. We left before crossing the owner with our hard earned money.
7/ Escorted by Jan, Gillian Thierry, Olivier and Stephan we walked along the streets of Paris and were then taken for a trip in cars to see the sights by night. If you like a historic building the night time is perfect. After a couple of hours of mind blowing sights we stopped in a pub. Bill and Martin being the tarts that they are took a drink off of a gay gentleman. After accepting the drink the guy obvious looked for their attention. I kept forcing Martin towards him, which at the time was hilarious. Steven and I necked 3 bottles of wine in half an hour with the help of our Gay wannabes.
8/ Taken home about 3.30 am then up to Stephan's for brunch and wine to watch the Italy game. Then off to Jean-Charles wife's birthday party. Disco, North African food and more drink.
9/Monday morning 8 oclock we were taken to the local cafe for some strong coffee and calvados. Thierry took us to Paris and stored our cases for the day. We tried to get Bill to walk more than 100 metres without stopping for a drink or a crappe. After seeing some more of Paris it was back to Scotland taken to the airport by Thierry.

Thanks to all the Carnoustie girls that put up with the blokes. Gwen,Fiona,Danielle and Heather.

A small run down of our weekend. The Maule Blacks want to see a Carnoustie team in Maule and I can guarantee that it will be like no tour ever experienced.

I have done a quick calculation from Edinburgh to Charles De Gaulle £90 Easy Jet for October (for example). Thierry said that he would organise a bus to Maule. All you need is your spending money. You won't see a typical tour where you wake up in the morning with a sore head and £200 lighter. You will experience a sore head with a knock on the door with a friendly French face asking if your ready for more festivities.

Thanks to all the efforts of the Maule Blacks a life changing experience for me