Rural Life

Day 15 of lockdown - working from home

Call it working from home, call it télétravail, it's what I've been doing for the past 15 years now.  As a freelancer, I am used to the loneliness of the long distance report writer, and the mad rush to meet a deadline, even on the best planned projects.  This one was well planned, and it wasn't that much of a panic, as lockdown and the Bise (the North East wind) had concentrated the mind nicely, so the draft report that I sent 10 minutes ago (and about half an hour early) was actually in much better shape than a normal first draft.  It even had a nice contents page.

We are promised the end of the Bise tonight, and it can't go soon enough for me, but more importantly for this summer's fruit crop.  The peach blossom is nearly over, and the tiny fruitlets can be seen, and they just don't need frost!  There were only about 15 flowers on the plum tree and I've not dared to look to see if any have set, while the pear is in full flower, and we need pears.

As well as the final blossoms, the peach is also starting to show its leaves, and so far they seem unaffected by the dreaded peach leaf curl, which is surprising given all the rain we have had.  I might not be saying that in a week's time.

Many things are too early this year, including the irises - my favourite flowers.  This is the first out in our garden, but they are already out in quantity in some very sheltered spots.  Later in the season we will have the spectacular red ones, but for now I revel in the purple ones.

 

Day 14 of lockdown - an evil wind

Last week lockdown was not too bad in many ways, as being in the garden was nice, the sun was out, birds singing and the air was warm.  If you had the potential to be outdoors safely and legally, it really wasn't so bad.  Saturday was positively balmy and we knew summer was on its way.

All that changed on Sunday as the wind turned to its most cruel direction - north east.  Nothing good comes of that wind, particularly when it is strong and gusty.  The outdoor thermometer got bashed around and broke.  Being outdoors was painful and unpleasant, even if it looked beautifully sunny.  The wind dries out pots and planters, which then have to be watered, but you have to choose the right time or things freeze.

The medieval builders who put up our house knew all this, so we have few windows and thick walls to keep out the cold and the wind.  However the backdoor, which the cats use to move around their realm, faces that direction and when they are out, the wind comes in.  Soon the girls will be trapped inside and we can light the log fire and warm up a bit.

Of course the north east wind is not good for cats either.  For a good scientific reason (that I can never really get my head around) cold weather encourages static cling.  If you are a cat, covered in fur, this is annoying, not a good look and when you are being stroked by your servants, you are likely to emit sparks.  Fergus is modelling the pre and post- stroking look, and got rather worse after I was told to stop taking photos and pay attention by Spooky (the small black person with bad attitude).  One of the other cats, after producing two loud cracks of static, avoided me completely.

 

Day 13 of lockdown - clocks sprung forward, weather fallen back

For once the dreaded hour change and less sleep didn't actually make any difference.  We put the clocks forward but didn't set an alarm, and left it to the cats to tell us when they wanted breakfast.  Fortunately that was at about 9am, which convinces me they can't tell the time (we have wondered in the past), as normally they want breakfast at 8am.

Yesterday the weather was lovely - sunny, balmy, a very light breeze, but what a difference a day makes!  Today we still have sunny moments, but there is a cruel, cold wind from the North East, which makes shutters bang and rips the covers off tender plants.  While we went out for our permitted exercise this afternoon, it was too cold to stop and photograph anything.

Instead I will reflect on photos I took yesterday while sitting in the sun and enjoying the slow time.  Looking at cowslips for instance, where we have some mutants.  While most are yellow, we have a number of orange ones and one or two striking red ones.  I assume they have cross bred with the coloured primulas dotted around, but it is a very pretty effect.

Also from yesterday, I am always astounded and amused by the inability of cats to resist boxes.  Mr Clause is no exception to this rule and has taken over possession of this particular and rather large box.  I hope the wind hasn't taken the waterproof cover off and away into the surrounding fields!

Finally I sat and watched a blue tit attacking fat balls in the evening sun.  The photos are a bit grainy as I've had to tinker with them to remove all the extra sky and stuff, but it was lovely to have the time to sit and wait for him to get up the courage to stuff his beak while I sat and watched, with a cat at my side.

Day 12 of lockdown - market day

On Monday, our lovely and somewhat scary Prime Minister tightened the rules on lockdown, including open air markets - and I was devastated.  What he said was that in principle, all open air markets should be banned, but that Prefets could change that decree at the local level.  I believe that his reasoning was based on Paris and some of the other major cities, where there had been something of a scrum at the markets, and bizarrely it is easier to ban at national level and allow local exceptions than the other way round.  This is the case with bonfires for example.

So on Wednesday I was able to go to my principle market and get all sorts of good things, including raw milk and butter, as the Prefet of the Sarthe allowed la Flèche market to go ahead, strictly regulated of course (see day 9).  The Prefet of Maine et Loire was much less open to exceptions, and it was getting really rather nasty on social media.  The mayor of Baugé en Anjou, Philippe Chalopin, contacted the Prefet, told him about the measures that had already been put in place for a producers market to ensure security and access to local produce, and told him about the potential revolution, and was accorded the right to run the market today!  We found out yesterday.

The Saturday market is normally very vibrant, food only and vendors come in from around the department, but today it was restricted to local producers.  Nonetheless we had dry goods (pasta for example that is made down the road) and flour, eggs, vegetables and fruit, goat's cheeses, a butcher - 9 stands in all providing an excellent local service.  The stands were well spaced and those waiting were well disciplined and kept a good 2 to 3 metres between each other.  I was also able to pick up my order of loose Earl Grey tea (without which life becomes very harsh indeed) from a shop on the high street.

Thank you Mr Chalopin for perservering with the Prefet!

Day 11 of lockdown - nature notes

I am lucky in that occasionally I am allowed to go out to work for my husband, doing bits of gardening at people's maisons secondaires.  Now is the start of the rapid growing season for grass, and if we don't stay on top of it now, we will damage our mowers and kill ourselves dealing with 3 foot high hay when lockdown is over.  So we go out, armed with our attestations, including where possible attestations from the property owner as well, and work where people are not around.  Or if we were to be faced with someone on the property, we would be on the phone to the Boys in Blue asking for help with trespassers.

Yesterday I was at a site where there is a lovely wildflower meadow, and I was checking how it was doing, and if it had gone to far for its early season cut.  In about another 2 weeks, the orchid rosettes will be too advanced, but if we leave it too long, the brambles and other undesirable scrub will take over.  That meadow has a badger's set right in the middle.  You can see their footprints in the fresh soil (and evidence of the deer and birds that pass through too), as they clear out any rubbish and head off for their "bathroom" zone.

Today I was back mowing at the house with a lake.  I'd been keeping an eye out for frogspawn but hadn't spotted it this year so far, so I was astounded to notice lots of recently hatched tadpoles in the water - there is a great mass of them to the left of the submerged rock, a sort of dark mass, but you can see others too.  

The final nature note was that as I was mowing around a birch tree, I noticed a lot of wood chip.  The woodpeckers are back and making a mess again!

Day 10 of lockdown - what day of the week is it?

Those who know me, know that I have been doing the working from home thing for 15 years now, so that shouldn't be phasing me.  They will also know that I have stints where I am working on a report, where I am at my computer every day for a long period of time and don't really go anywhere, so in theory I should be doing OK with this lockdown malarkey.

The thing about the above is that I have a deadline and when that comes, I'm free as a bird.  I can work or not work, I can go anywhere I want (often the pub I confess), John and I can go out walking and shopping and perhaps celebrate with a  meal in a restaurant, or go visit a vineyard and do a wine tasting.  I know when the work related lockdown period will be over.  This is not the same.  The report will be sent on Tuesday next week come hell or high water, but nothing much else will change.  For the first time ever this week, John and I seriously lost the plot on what day of the week it was.  Time has slowed down.

In other aspects, time has not slowed down at all.  Look at these broad beans in full flower!  Pity I couldn't spot any bees.

Similarly, you can hear lawns growing (actually at the moment I can hear our lawn being cut down again, as John tries out his new lawnmower), while the blossom is looking marvellous.  But human or economic life is now marching at a very slow pace for us, with little to differentiate each new day from the last.  Mind you, once this report is away, perhaps I will be able to enjoy that slower pace of life!  Here is a cherry tree in full blossom - not ours, but in the next garden over.  Pity the fruit from this tree are vile.

Day 9 of lockdown - guilt and markets

It's all over social media and the news programmes - the scrum that you encounter when you go to the supermarket to get the essentials for life as we know it (well first world, middle class or aspirant, comfortable life anyway). 

Here in rural France, there are the supermarkets, there are the small, specialist shops, and then there are the open air markets.  It is this last, where farmers and small producers bring their goods and bypass the middle men, that makes life for me so special.  In normal times, I have two different people I go to for raw milk, one on a Wednesday and one on a Saturday, a bloke for raw butter, a bloke for cheese, one bunch for salad and vegetables, another for onions and leeks, yet another for fruit, a preferred butcher for poultry and game, and preferred butcher for lamb, another for ham and sausage... The list goes on.

When lockdown started, the open air markets were told they could continue but only for food, so no flowers, plants, clothes and frippery.  With the increased rules this week, the powers that be decided that in general open air markets should be closed, and only allowed on the say so of the Prefet of the Department.  Wednesday's market at la Flèche was given permission to go ahead today, which was a relief.

Armed with a new attestation, I overcame all guilt and drove up.  Why is it that I feel such guilt in going out, even though it is for a good and allowed reason, I have the documents with all the permissions filled in correctly, and I social distance?

Arrangements were changed for the market, but exceptionally good, with masses of space around each stall and a policeman on each entrance to the square checking attestations and numbers.  So much safer than the scrum that is the local supermarket!  It was such a relief to see my regular suppliers, and get my hands on good milk, good butter, fabulous cheeses, farm chicken - thank you to all those food heroes!  Nothing over-processed and no profits to the big boys.

And as I left, my friendly policeman wished me a safe journey home.

No photos of the market or my purchases, but pretty pictures of plum blossom, honesty and a lovely carpet of cowslips, including some that are tending towards being red.

Day 8 of lockdown - there's weird sh1t out there!

Here it is - well just the headline really.

So we are on lockdown and a bloke goes round to a house he owns, but rents to a chum, at 11pm at night, apparently to demand the rent he is owed.  Naturally he takes his hunting gun with him.  Tenant (and hunting buddy) won't let him in but they shout at each other through the door and then the tenant shoots the door, and landlord (and friend) on the outside is hit.  Police turn up, arrest one and send other to hospital (not too serious but still in).  Tenant is being charged with attempted murder and his brief is trying to get that down to aggravated assault.  Our Boys in Blue locally really don't need this crap, but I have to admit to some giggles about it.

But not as much as over the two Parisian teenagers who decided to spend last weekend with a Facebook pal in the styx south of Angers, but following a bit of an argument they headed back to Paris.  However, in order to get to the station at Angers, they nicked a couple of pushbikes.  They were spotted cycling up the motorway so the motorway staff stopped them and were pelted with stones and the bicycles.  Motorway staff call the police who turned up and with a bit of effort, nicked the charming duo, who admitted what they had done (bit difficult to deny much of it really).  The Police took them to the station, having charged them with theft, resisting arrest (rebellion), driving on a motorway in an unsuitable vehicle, then also fined them 135 euros each for being out without a valid attestation and sent them back to Paris.

Only in rural France!!

Here is a pretty picture of pear blossom and forsythia for a bit of more normal colour!

Day 7 of Lockdown - a bit tasteless?

And No!  That is not a reference to losing my sense of taste, which is thought to be a good symptom of going down with the dreaded lurgy!

After posting the Day 6 blog, we had a second go at doing FaceTime aperos with the Chinon Two, and it worked very well again.  This afternoon I had an inspiring virtual meeting by Skype with two work colleagues - there are some brilliant tools out there for connecting without endangering yourself or others.

There is however no good substitute really for going up to the village bakery in the morning for croissants and baguette, and it provides a bit of exercise as I have to go uphill.  Today the route was empty, although I met a couple of others up at the bakers, all keeping a good 2 metres apart.  What a difference a day makes, as this morning there was sunshine, so although eerily quiet, it was very beautiful.

While I slaved over a churning computer, John did sterling work in the garden, repotting things, finding new pots for things, sorting out sacks of compost and horse muck, enjoying the sunshine and tiring out the cats.  He found lots of lovely things for chickens - perhaps these will make the little blighters more inclined to lay eggs?  They are the stuff of nightmares of course, these giant grubs.  Who else remembers the classic Dr Who adventure The Green Death, which included a sickness (which turned you green) spread by 4 foot long giant maggots?

He also got round to potting up the strawberry plants we bought, when we were panic-buying cat food at Lidl 10 days ago.  We put them in hanging baskets to keep them away from slugs, snails, mice and chickens - in this way we might get a few during the season.  What variety are they I hear you ask?  No kidding - Korona!

Day 6 of Lockdown - a very quiet Sunday (with a cat picture)

Once I had done this blog yesterday, I was overcome by a fit of domestic goddessness (and needing a good excuse to have The Cat Empire DVD on loud), so I made cake.  It is basically a Quatre-quarts using brown sugar, and with some of the flour replaced by ginger and cinnamon - it's very nice with cream and jam!

Today has been even quieter than normal, as people respect the lockdown and also the noise curfew that is always in place here on a Sunday.  Perhaps the highlight of my day so far was when I pottered down the garden to let the chickens out for their daily vandalism spree.

Zola decided to show me what a voracious hunter she is, by leaping into and climbing up the pear tree to catch a collar dove that was sitting in it and taunting her.  Zola is not aerodynamic or subtle, so before she was even half way up the tree, the dove had flown off to the next perch.  Leaving Zola in the tree...  I carried on my garden inspection, released chickens, talked to them (well berated them for poor egg production actually) and turned back to the pear tree.  Someone was stuck.  Someone was very stuck.  Someone was crying and asking for help.  So, once I had taken a few photos, I grabbed a branch she could walk down, then she walked down me, and ran away to find another tree to climb.  Later on she brought John a lizard's tail to say thank you (but I'm not sure for what).

We are lucky to have a garden and cats and chickens to entertain us.  We also have a vast reserve of DVDs we haven't watched in ages.  Yesterday was The Cat Empire, perhaps today will be The Who or Gerald de Palmas - not decided yet.