Our place in France Chapter 12

Sunday last week was really very, very cold again, just when we thought the cold weather was over for this year. So we got out all the fire making bits and pieces to make a big, roaring fire and discovered to our horror that we had no more paper left! Remember the picture of Neels jumping on the paper in the empty carton? Well, we had meant to keep a couple of those boxes in the cellar, for just this purpose but somehow or other everything had been thrown away. Oh dear! Too efficient for words. How could we have done such a thing?? We had enough paper there to start fires until the end of time, and we threw it all away. How stupid! Oh well, it’s gone now. And one is not allowed to take anything away from the recycling centre. We know. We have already asked because there was a whole pile of the sort of wooden slats that one’s new washing machine arrives in, which would have made ideal kindling but we were told in no uncertain terms that removing anything is against the rules. I suppose they have a point. No-one wants people picking through the recycling, after all.

The friend who came to visit us on Sunday afternoon also brought us his pressure washer so that Neels could do a job he has been threatening to do for weeks, and that was to clean off the veranda. Since we first saw the house, I had been under the impression that the veranda had a black surface, but was partly covered with a mossy growth about a centimetre thick. Once it was cleaned, I realised that the black was all mould and that the lichen-like moss was growing on top of that! I’ve included a picture of the veranda half cleaned so that you can see what I mean. It was a big job, and took several hours to complete.

The log-splitter that we had been using had also come from the same friend who now wanted it back again, so we agreed to return both items on Friday together with everything else that we had borrowed from his wonderful workshop. This meant that once the veranda cleaning was done, we had some serious log-splitting to get through. We made it a team effort with  Neels operating the machine and me passing him the whole logs and then taking back the split ones and restacking them. This was also a time-consuming job but without doing it all the wood would have had to be chopped with an axe which can be back-breaking. At least now we have plenty of firewood to keep us going for quite a while. Taking everything back  to Vabre Tizac was really interesting as we haven’t driven that road for a while now and we were fascinated to notice how the countryside had changed with the advent of Spring. All the roadside trees which looked as if they would never sprout again are covered in foliage and the hard-working farmers’ fields are lush and green.

For some time now, and forgive me if I have mentioned this before, we have been hunting for one item which has not yet appeared. It is one of the drawers of a small plastic set of drawers – of the type usually sold to keep childrens’ toys in. I have two sets and used to keep all my embroidery and knitting essentials in them. Now, however, as storage space is at a premium, I thought they would make reasonable chests of drawers for we like to call the ‘Girls Room’ as the two granddaughters have laid claim to it. But we can’t have one drawer missing! We have looked everywhere, but it is not to be found. I even unpacked all seven cartons of books, thinking that it could just possibly be in one of them with smaller books packed inside it. No luck! It wasn’t left behind because we went through the whole house when they had finished packing up and it was totally empty. It must be here, although I am no longer quite sure where to look anymore, we just haven’t found it yet.

Thursday was Ascension Day and a holiday in France. Ols celebrated it by having a small flower market in the morning which was very bright and colourful, and apart from flowers, there was someone selling honey and a young lady selling paintings. Quite a few people turned up and the village square became quite noisy with all the chatter. In the afternoon there was a concert in the church  by a choir singing gospel songs. Perhaps we are mean but we thought ten Euros was too much for a ticket (especially for a South African who has to pay seventeen Rand for one Euro) so we sat on the veranda and enjoyed the music anyway.

I have to say that after the cold snap of last weekend the days have steadily improved and by Thursday I was walking around the market without a jersey on, but today we are back to winter weather and the promise of heavy rain to come. It is really hard to get out of bed on these mornings but we know from experience that the day we stay in bed too long, someone will come and knock on the door. And anyway, most of the time, the clouds all clear away by lunch time and the sun often shines brightly for the rest of the day.

We will be away next weekend and the following weekend will have a house guest, so the next chapter may be on the 22^nd May or may only be on the 29^th when there will be a bumper edition.