Rural Life

Day 54 of lockdown - much nicer things than yesterday!

Thank you to those who shared their anger, sorrow or amazement at yesterday's key story, and as a reward, I will be relentlessly upbeat today.

Yesterday was Victory in Europe Day, while today celebrates Europe, and I stopped at our local war memorial on the way home from the market to pay my respects to the fallen.  This area was in Occupied France, with a fairly heavy Gestapo presence at one of the local chateaux, and work camps not so far away.  There are a couple of isolated memorials, one in the local woods for a Resistance man and one in the woods for two British airmen, shot down a couple of days before D-Day.  In November, local airmen go and put poppies on that memorial.  This is our village's fine tribute.

After writing yesterday's blog, we set ourselves up outside in the garden for Friday night beer o'clock with Chinon and Tunbridge Wells.  We were charmed to be joined by a garden resident we don't see very often, but are always very pleased to see.  I do ensure that there is water available, and leave this one to find their own snacks of snails and slugs.  Everybody say "aaaaah", and no, I don't know what that pale line in the spines is, but it was on the real life hedgehog and it isn't a trick of the camera.

This morning I was checking over the seedlings and met this fine fellow stuck in one of the plastic modules, so I helped him out with a bit of vegetable material and hopefully he has gone off on his way.  He was so beautiful though!  And while they don't show on the photo, he had little copper effect bits on the edge of his carapace.

It took the blasted post snails only 2 nights to completely eat the label I put on the post box to tell the local council how many face masks we would need.  So today I had another go at putting a 2 on the box, this time using copper tape, as they don't like the electric charge up 'em.  I hope this works!

Finally, this afternoon I was potting on tomato seedlings and John was working out a way to fix the garden bench that collapsed under him (it is nearly 20 years old and the joints gave out, nothing to do with confinement ounces, which John has avoided anyway, as he works so hard).  We had to stop after a while as the rumbling got to such a level that we knew it was time to go in.  After 10mm rain was dumped on us, we've been inside for a bit, but now the rest of the tomatoes are calling to me.  Here is the lightening map for what went on in the skies around us.

 

Day 53 of lockdown - a sad and worrying day

Actually the day started well - John put in a sterling morning's work on the extra space needed for the potato bed, while I mowed the lawn, so we used the fine part of the day well.  I also had a bit of a go through one of the raised beds, removing self-seeded tomato plants - one of the dangers of home made compost, as nothing kills tomato seeds.  Something else that doesn't disappear in the compost bin is the outer layer of teabags - you can see what gets left behind here.  We are not pretentious with using loose leaf tea, we are helping our soil!

This afternoon was less interesting weather-wise, so I decided that the 7½ pounds of (mostly) stoned cherries I had been hoarding for a year or two finally ought to be turned into jam, lots of jam.  Cherry jam is a bit of a pain, and I refuse to pay the extra for jam sugar (inner tight-fisted peasant coming out there), so I add a handful of frozen blackcurrants to the mix to provide pectin.  It is still not the hardest set jam but it is lovely in tarts and on brioche!  Here it is cooking away.

None of that is sad or worrying I hear you say, and you'd be right.  While I was fighting the good fight with the cherry jam, there was a murder in the road outside our house.  Our neighbour's cat, who gave birth a couple of days ago, was outside, as were her owner and another neighbour.  She was sniffing around on the road, when a brown car came round the bend at the bottom of the road on two wheels, drove at speed (despite the 50km speed limit and approaching junction at the road, swerved and deliberately hit and killed the cat before speeding off through a stop junction, presumably to see how many more the b@st@rd could kill as he sped through the centre of the village.  Neither of us saw it, but John got a blow by blow description from our neighbours, who are naturally very upset and shocked.  John ended up cleaning the road.  Our girls are going to get the road safety lecture this evening, although they will likely ignore us.

Sometimes people are awful shits.

Day 52 of lockdown - a little bit of everything

I think I said yesterday that I had to leave a note on the post box about how many face masks we might need?  Well overnight some peckish little monopod decided that my sticker was exactly what it wanted for dinner - look at the state of this!

It's been a funny day, with a GP appointment, a visit to the supermarket (cat food and rice still in short supply, but plain packaged flour in huge bins!), little work, nice weather and zero motivation.  So I thought I had better make good on my promise of making ice cream, not least as I had bought half a litre of best, unpasteurised, direct from the cow, cream yesterday.  Here it is churning away, and if you spot any little black dots, those are vanilla seeds from pods I brought back from Guadeloupe.

The slow stages of making ice cream were also a good excuse to watch the government announcements on easing of lockdown from Monday next week (staring the Man from le Havre).  Some of it had already been mooted, but the new map was revealed without the amber bit - Centre Val de Loire has gone green for those who are interested.  It was nice in the supermarket (there is a point to this surprising statement) in that I saw a number of chums I've not seen since lockdown started.  One is pretty vociferous against the Government, and I had had a bit of a hit back at her on social media about something she'd posted, so it was good to discuss the issues face to face and not while swearing at the intermittent nature of WiFi and the problems of autocorrect on the phone.  She is normally pretty strongly for the unions and the far left, so I was surprised when she said that they were also useless and incoherent - her anger was at the amount of perceived lying that was going on - about PPE, about bonuses to health care staff (her daughter in law had not yet received hers), and about the state of the health service in general.  But when we got onto the school issue, she said that she was really pleased that her grandson would be able to go to school half a day or a day a week from next week, as she felt he was becoming afraid of the world outside his house and garden.  The little darling (he is rather cute) is only 4!

Anyway, for most of my readers, this photo of the TV screen is the one that will interest you.

Borders closed for the moment, no restrictions on travelling up to 100km as the crow flies from home (carry a justification of your home address with you however), while beaches and lakes will only open if the local mayor can convince the Préfet that they have measures in place to ensure social distancing is maintained.  Still no bars or restaurants can open unless for takeaway.  They also exhort those that are vulnerable to stay home and confined as much as possible, but it will be personal choice.

In that vein, I had to speak sharply to these two (Poirot and Zola) about setting a good example on social distancing.  This is not good, although it is rather cute.

Given their size, this is rather better, and still rather cute.

Day 51 of lockdown - a little tirade about face masks

With some lockdown restrictions lifting on Monday 11th May here in the Green Zone of France, there is a rush to ensure everyone has at least one face mask to their name.  I am very grateful that our local councillors will be doing the rounds over the next few days, popping them in our post boxes (I've had to leave a number on the letter box so they know how many to leave!).  And yet...

Well for a start, there is this conundrum for those of us who wear glasses.

I gather wiping the inside of your glasses with shaving foam helps.

But practical issues of steaming up aside, I have a whole bunch of issues with face masks.

Disposable ones - after all the hassle we have been having over the past years about reducing waste, reuse, recycle etc, suddenly people are using disposable face masks that have to be put in the main garbage, and some are using several a day.  That's not going to help the planet, is it?

Washable ones - except you "have" to wash them on a 30 minute, 65°C wash with detergent, no softener, but you can put them in with other stuff you are washing.  Hmm - so my washing machine is a bit old and doesn't have a 30 minute cycle, I don't wash anything at 65°C, and certainly nothing with elastic, which doesn't like that sort of temperature, and a full 2 hour cycle for our 3 (or 5 after our delivery) face masks?  Plus anything else we want to shrink of course.  Plus the cost of the electricity to power heating the water that much.  So that annoys me.

Then there is the politics, with a small p, of wearing a face mask.  The people I've had issues with over social distancing, or keeping a decent amount away from me, are those wearing masks who seem to think it makes them suddenly cleaner than clean and able to get up close and personal.  Think people who crane past you to see what is available from the fish monger, or little old ladies who want to get to the cashier more quickly so get up close and personal.  I remonstrated with one this morning, and she asked me if I had the virus to be so concerned.  As her mask only covered her mouth, me pointing out that I didn't know about me, but I certainly didn't know about her went over her head.

I am waiting to see how easy it is to have a hair wash, cut and blow dry while wearing a face mask, or indeed my visit to the beautician....

And of course the reason for wearing one, is if you have symptoms, you keep them to yourself, it doesn't stop you from picking up the virus from others, as it doesn't include eye cover.  Aaaargh.

Moving swiftly on, here is a pretty flower from bulbs I planted last autumn and I've lost the list of what they might be.  They were a nice surprise this afternoon.

 

Day 50 of lockdown - being a good peasant

As we move into the eighth and possibly last week of serious lockdown, I thought I would review how our attempts at being good peasants were coming on.  We sowed loads of seeds at the being of April, but with lockdown, we have been much better at looking after them as they developed.  Some are now getting a bit urgent to be put into the ground, and once we get to next Monday, it should be easier to get that sorted.  In the meantime, I have 20 sweet corn pulling away and needing their final home as soon as I can - not a brilliant success rate you may say, but none of the packets of seed were acquired less than 3 years ago, so I think it is pretty good actually!

The sweetcorn are actually a lot bigger than that, but I can't find the photo, or perhaps I didn't photograph them recently.  We will also have lots of chillies, tomatoes, butternut squash and a few courgettes.

I was also able to trade seedlings for gossip, but couldn't possibly repeat any of it here for once!  The strawberries all have tiny fruits while the raspberries and tayberries are loaded.  There are early season figs developing nicely, black currants, red currants and lots of Granny Smith apples set.  There are also pears and two plums but it is still too early to say what sort of a quince year it is going to be.  We are hoping for a good one!

Day 49 of lockdown - I met a frog

But before I get on to the frog, I should point out that the weather cheered up yesterday afternoon and aperos were taken in the garden, surrounded by chickens and guarded by Nibbles.  It was good to be out in the fresh air, although by 8:50pm, when we were trying to get Zola in for the night, somewhere within earshot there was a most tremendous row going on.  Zola was fascinated, which made scooping her up and getting her in a bit easier.

We were promised a hot and sunny day today, but I think "day" was over-egging it a bit.  We have had a lovely afternoon, warm and rather sticky and are forecast storms over night.  Anyway a dry day meant both of us were out dealing with lawns that had enjoyed last week's rain, indeed enjoyed last week's rain a bit too much in my opinion! 

One thing that loves hot and wet weather is bamboo - people plant it as they think it will make a nice and quick growing screen.  Yes, it does, but it is also a highly invasive, non-native species that turns into a right thug.  The stems in the picture below are about 3 to 4cm in diameter, they can go up about 4 to 5 metres, they spread by sending suckers underground that then pop up as far as 3 metres away from the parent visible stem and grow at a frightening speed.  The low one in the centre of this photo is only 2 weeks old and already 1 metre high.

And so to the frog that I met after I had finished mowing and was inspecting my work.  When I observed him, he was still and quiet, but as soon as I moved away, he started hurling abuse at me.  It put me in mind of my favourite joke about the Wide Mouthed Frog, but as it needs appropriate visuals, I will leave it there.

Day 48 of lockdown - another Vieil Bauge Sunday

And hopefully that has you humming a hit by the Monkees!  Except this isn't status symbol land.

Today is supposed to be the last yukky day for a while - I hope so as it really does get monotonous and as we are nearly at the end of week 7 of lockdown, it is just that bit harder.  The NCIS rolling repeats are ones I've seen for the last 4 Sundays I think, radio palls after a while and however often I look at seedlings, they haven't done anything miraculous, but I have got wet looking at them. 

There was a bit of a queue at the boulangerie this morning, so I took the opportunity to photograph the church from an angle I often see but rarely notice, if you see what I mean.  it is an historic monument, but at times when I look at it, I do wonder if it isn't about to fall down.  When we first moved here, the bells sounded the half hour, and twice on the hour, two minutes apart, with wild peels at 6:30 am and 7:30pm, and marking the hour all through the night.  Someone has complained, and now they only go on the half hour and on the hour (and once only) between 6:30am and 11pm.  I find this sad - the original was more authentic, but I guess some townies moved in and decided it wasn't good for the children or something.

This afternoon I went for a walk on my own to get a bit of exercise - the ounces are building up and we have roast pork for dinner.  There is a circuit I do, I could add perhaps another 500 metres to it, but haven't yet.  It takes about 45 minutes and takes me out into the country, before coming back along the repurposed railway line towards Baugé, and cutting back down to the village via the Pont de Godot (where you can wait...).  There is some uncertainty as to whether the Voie Verte is an authorised route, but when I was on it today, I was on my own apart from many small brown birds.

Truth be told, we are feeling rather flat - and I am pretty sure that is weather related.  If the sun is shining, we can sit in the garden and ignore the paperwork that needs to be done, the cleaning that needs to be done and all the other household chores.  But with a rain shower every 20 minutes or so, you feel like you have to attack business accounts or, worse than that, the French tax return.  Poirot is good at reflecting our mood.

 

Day 47 of lockdown - another wet one

I know, it's good for the plants, not least the fruit trees.  And better it rains a lot now and then dries up for the second half of May so that the cherries don't split, but in lockdown, wet days are just that bit harder to cope with.  The house also cools down in the rain - we actually had a fire yesterday evening!  It wasn't that cold, but we needed something to ensure the cats were suitably comfortable (OK and us too).  Nibbles approved!

The boys in the country needed feeding today, so I left John making pots of rice pudding (with cardamom flavouring - yummy) for the week, while I went to see how they were doing.  I got the biggest, fattest tick I've seen in a while off Fergus while he stuffed his face on fish flavoured cat food.  Once they had all scoffed enough, they escorted me down the garden to pick more broad beans and check on the other good things growing down there, and then tried to see if all four could fit on me in some way at the same time.  I need to be like Vishu and have 8 arms I think, to satisfy all their cuddle requirements.  That will be the instant good news come 11th May - we can go and see the boys together and then come home via the One Acre Wood - that is going to be such a good day!

Anyway, once that was all done, I went to check on the wild flower meadow.  The view down across the valley from there shows that while not raining hard, the air was think with moisture, and it wasn't the best day to be out.

The orchid torture continues.  While the early orchids are nearly over, the lizard and bee orchids are starting to send up their flower spikes to take over.  I've been looking for the bee orchid flower stems for a while, and today I found some.  I reckon by the time lockdown is lifted, we will have our first flowers.

Once home from all that, and as John had finished his creations, I decided it was time to deal with the black bananas hanging over the kitchen work surface, so made banana bread.  It should be nearly ready by now, so I had better stop typing and get this loaded up.

 

Day 46 of lockdown - a strange bank holiday

Yes, it's May 1st - celebrating workers.  Normally in France on May 1st, it is difficult to avoid people selling sprigs of lily of the valley, and if you are in a big city, the unions, the Communists and the Front Nationale (or Rassemblement Nationale as they now like to be called) are all out demonstrating at the wonder of the common man and the evilness of all governments of whatever complexion.  But this year it is all different.  I was strangely moved to receive a sprig of lily of the valley from the boulangerie to thank me for my fidelity through the current crisis - of course I would be faithful to them, they are the cornerstone of my morning!

The unions decided that standing on your balcony banging a cooking pan was a good way to demonstrate this year (and sod any health workers who live nearby who might be trying to sleep, or indeed any babies and their frazzled parents).  The Communists were more into sending electronic bunches of lilies of the valley to sympathisers - I've received a few today!  Marine le Pen gave her usual press conference rant to the massed media this morning and for once I kind of smiled.  She was wearing a mask so you couldn't read her lips, and her voice was very muffled behind the high quality mask she was wearing so it was hard to understand what she was saying (a bonus on any day).  One reporter asked her why she was against all the government strategy, and if she had been in power, surely she would have closed things down as well?  As far as I could tell her response was yes, they closed things down, which she would have done too, but a) they did it a month too late and b) they aren't her.  The wonders of hindsight...

The Day of the Workers is the day that NOTHING at all happens in France, no papers, nothing.  So apart from odd farming noises as animals still need to be fed, it is extraordinarily quiet out there, more than a normal lockdown day.  And quite cold.  Clearly birds are starving as I put 4 fat balls out in the feeder this morning and by mid afternoon half the volume had gone.  I went out just now to release the chickens and there was perhaps half a fat ball left.  Those sparrows are greedy so and sos sometimes!

Finally, a photo from earlier in the week of my favourite irises that come up at the edge of the wildflower meadow.  I keep thinking I really must lift a corm or 3 once they have flowered to bring home - I'm sure they are getting too congested where they are!