Last Sunday the weather decided to break, with thunderstorms and rain, except around us. I could see storms, but couldn't actually hear them, and we had little rain during the week despite the predictions for quantities of up to 20mm. We had 5mm. Not really enough to do anything other than make the air heavy and uncomfortable. But then the temperatures went down, and I even wore a pair of jeans one day!
The chimney is now swept, so we could have a fire, but the house is still very warm, so no need. It got ever cooler so that on Friday, when visiting Chinon, I turned down the opportunity of a soft drink in the Place Jeanne d'Arc on the basis I didn't have a jumper with me. Today I am back in shorts, and we expect temperatures of 30ºC and over for the next couple of days. Crazy! This storm was to the North of le Mans, 50km away!
The trail camera is starting to be accepted again by the local wildlife - it takes a while for them to get used to a lump of willow trunk sitting and looking threatening in their "zone". There are some videos, but i don't think the bandwidth is there today to load them onto YouTube and share them. In addition to the badger, deer and birds of last week, more deer have been spotted, and the pine martin is back. A new addition to the local gang is a hare - the field next door was ploughed, and he/she seemed to object.
Yesterday was the annual Méchoui or outdoor pig roast at our local Boule de Forte club, la Paix. Covid meant that it couldn't run in 2020, as no large gatherings were allowed, while the rules were changing so often in 2021, the organisers wisely decided not to bother. This year, with no restrictions, it was back.
While for the organisers, it starts early on a Saturday morning, getting the pig cooking, for us punters, things kick off from about midday with a long drinks and nibbles session, before we are called to table for more drinks and nibbles. Then there is a collation of cold salad starters with bread (at which point the chaps buy wine and water), and by about 3:30pm, people are starting to get restive, so six chaps will carry the pig over to the carving table and serve it up. Platters of hot pork, bowls of beans and bowls of ratatouille then do the rounds, and there are always seconds. There can be a bit of a scrum for good bits of skin and crackling, but I did well on that this year. Then when you feel you couldn't eat or drink another thing, cheese and slices of apple tart arrive, followed by coffee.
We dragged our sagging tummies home at 6:30pm, as our brains were ringing with French, including heartfelt condolences from French friends who had been thinking about us, they assured us, constantly since Thursday evening. The warmth of community feeling is a wonderful thing.
So yes, that's the final aspect to a strange week - Thursday 8th September, at 7:33pm the France 3 news was interrupted in its first story by the breaking news that Queen Elizabeth II had died. By the time we turned over to France 2 for the detailed weather forecast including the Caribbean islands, their 8 o'clock news had started early, with presenters wearing black, doing a four-hour special on Her Majesty. Their coverage was sad but also celebratory. They managed to find a couple of British, but fluent French speakers from their staff to make some sort of serious comment, while National Treasure, Stéphane Bearne (OBE) was wheeled out to talk about the several times he met the Queen, including for his investiture. It was an excellent homage to a great lady.
While flags were lowered on Friday in many places, and any news programme or channel is a bit obsessed by it all, we can turn over and watch other things. We can also change channel on the internet radio and go from mournful or reflective music on Classic FM and Radio 2, to jollier tunes and normal voices on French radio stations. Come the 19th September, I guess we will be glued to a news channel though - after all, it is history in the making.
But now I must go and make peach jam, because over-ripe peaches wait for nothing and no one!
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