This past week has been a fairly quiet one for us. Being based in one place and experiencing actually living in France as opposed to exploring France is quite different. Our days are very similar to days spent at home in South Africa; the usual routine of cooking , cleaning, washing and ironing having re-established itself very easily in a different location. Our biggest problem, if one can all it that, is the weather which is not nearly as predictable as it is at home, and with a very limited wardrobe, we have to try and keep something in reserve in case the weather changes dramatically as it can, it does and it has! Last week started off cool and rainy but improved as the week went on until we had some really brilliant days. This week started with a bang! Monday was an absolute scorcher with temperatures at least in the high 20’s. From them it has all been downhill and by Sunday evening it was once again cool and drizzly but not really too cold.
On Monday, in the blazing heat, Neels decided that he couldn’t let the grass get any longer so out came the lawn-mower and he started to cut. After a few moments, though, he was back indoors looking for some sort of protection for his head. Yes, it really was that hot! Eventually he settled for a dishcloth with knots tied in two corners and finished the lawn looking for all the world like and Arab.
The increasing warmth of the days has also encouraged the plants in the garden and the poppies are a real sight at the moment – there are hundreds of them! There are also masses of sweet peas of all colours and a lot of really pretty flowers that I don’t know the names of but which make a very spectacular show. We won’t mention the weeds which we dispose of by the barrow load but which always manage to re-appear.
We also improved South African/French relations this week by offering the entire crop of artichokes to our one neighbour whom we had not yet met. We have only ever tasted them once and I seem to remember that at the time I considered them a bit of a waste of tme, but she was simply delighted with the gift and eventually left clutching a large bag to herself as if it was filled with gold. Our French will have to improve quite a bit to maintain regular contact as she appears to have a strong accent and speaks rather fast for our limited vocabularies, but at least we now know each others names and can greet each other in a more friendly fashion.
We also decided to improve our image with the village residents by beautifying our front entrance a little and to this end, planted some petunias in the flower box outside the door. The following day, some members of the commune gathered at the 'municipal store' which is situated across the road from our house, where they hauled out a number of large flower pots and hanging baskets. Someone else arrived with a tralier full of geranium plants and they all spent the afternoon filling the pots and planting out the seedlings, after which the pots were taken to various points along the street and the baskets were hung on existing wrought iron brackets while the window boxes were placed on walls and window ledges. Theye are going to look wonderul in a few weeks time
By Saturday, the weather was becoming grey again, but with quite high clouds so we set off to visit Nicky in the house near Montreal where she was ‘pet-sitting’. We asked ‘Jane’ to take via the ‘shortest route’ which we have come to realize is her version of a straight line between two points and will inevitably lead us through vineyards, farmyards and backyards on some impossible-looking lanes, but they will always be passable and the route is always the prettiest, and the roads, however narrow, are always tarred. Coming home we generally ask her for the ‘fastest route’ and then she sends us via the main roads where one can do more than the 30 kilometres an hour of the narrow lanes.
Then it was Sunday again and we were back to the weather of two weeks ago, cold, grey and drizzly. But that is fine! I am not looking forward to the middle of summer when we have been told that the mercury can rise to 40 degrees!
I know that everyone is always interested in what things cost when we are away, so I had a look at some of our till slips and this is what I found:-
Toothpaste (Colgate) is R20.70
Long-life milk (1 litre) R8.40
Tinned chopped tomates R5.80
Crisps (150 gm) R8.30 Is this not bigger than the SA chip packets?
Shortbread biscuits (400 gm) R5.50
Sugar (1 kg) R7.70
Tomatoes 1 kg R16.00
Sliced ham 6 large slices R16.00 that's pre-packed not fresh sliced
I have used a conversion of ten Rand to the Euro which is not quite right but is close enough.
To keep myself busy when not doing household chores, shopping or socializing, I am busy making a herd of small elephants and a flock of geese which I intend to sell on a stall at a car boot sale in the middle of June. They look very cute standing on the dining room table, so I am hoping they will look as appealing to the prospective buyers out there. The only reason I mention this is that it is the cause of the blog being posted a day late – I was very busy stuffing a goose or two!
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