Not far from here there is an area that for tourist purposes calls itself The Country of the Three Lakes. It’s on my where to take visitors list but otherwise it’s not someplace that I go. However I was drawn to the lakeside beach at Jouillat the other evening. It’s a pleasant spot with a few holiday cottages, supervised bathing facilities for the kiddies, mini-golf, tennis courts, a bit of restrained pedalo activity, and a little bar/restaurant.

The bar in past years promoted itself as a nightclub and would advertise wild sounding midnight discos. I’ve never thought that could appeal too much to the families who holiday there and couldn’t imagine that many Creuse clubbers made the cross-country drive. So I wasn’t surprised to see their advertising this year targeting a different audience with the entertainment starting at the much more respectable hour of 7pm.

I went along to hear some jazz. I bumped into a friend there and we had a couple of beers and listened to an accordion and guitar duo who were in fact billed as a trio. Unfortunately I didn’t have my saxophone with me to make up the deficit. But even though the thirteen lessons of A New Tune A Day for Alto Saxophone that I have worked through so far contain When The Saints Go Marching In in various keys I fear I may not be quite ready to jam.