Well that was a mostly cool and damp week, but there were some compensations. A novelty for the village is finally an alternative to the boulangerie that closed back in 2020 - a depot de pain, or bread drop-off, based around the village bar. They have baguettes and bread, and if you want croissants or similar, you can order the day before. First we tried the baguette on Monday and found it to be good. Then we ordered croissants for Thursday morning, and were able to have a coffee and eat our croissants on the terrace in the sun, before it started to rain again. This has added a whole new dynamic to our week we feel.
We have also had storms this week, including a humdinger on Wednesday, or rather two humdingers. The first hit while I was in the Comité des Fêtes barn with a couple of chums working on the float for the Comice in August. There were only three of us, not least as two were working hard on steaming off the last vestiges of last year's decorations from the corner posts, and you can't work with crèpe paper when there is steam in the air.
I took the opportunity to design most of the missing panels. Anyway, we were kind of stuck in the barn, as a storm started up at about 3:20pm and didn't leave us alone until about 4:45pm, at which point we scattered off to our different homes, ready for the next one. That was a long and loud one too, and caused a lot of damage to crops and the roads not so very far away.
We had more rain on Thursday, Friday and early Saturday morning, but now it seems to have stopped for a day or two, to allow us to recover and take stock. I did some of that yesterday - the shallots had basically collapsed, and I feared the worst - white rot. Fortunately that doesn't seem to have been the case, just lack of sun and a decision on their part to give up on a bad job and try again next year (except I lift them and plant new stock each year). I am hoping there are enough for two pots of pickled shallots for Christmas!
This week I was able to vote in a general election. Not here in France sadly, as I am not a citizen - something I must try to sort out over the winter. Instead I was able to take advantage of the change to the UK law that used to limit those living abroad to only having a vote for the first 15 years of absence. Apparently after that we had no links to the UK - well apart from family, pensions, language, friends, potentially investments etc. It was the one thing the last government changed that was a step in the right direction, so I have voted in the town where I was last registered to vote. And it was good.
There are elections due too here in France and the thing they have in common with the UK ones, is all the pundits asking "Why now?". Of course if an election hadn't been called, they would have spent the summer saying "Why not now?". In both instances, the rise of the Far (or Nasty) Right is a talking point at the very least. The French elections seem to be based more on who can get through a day without making a total farce of their campaign. The UK elections seem to be about whether the Conservatives get more seats than the Lib Dems, or if they can even beat the spoiled ballot papers in some areas. How utterly depressing! Much better to focus on nice things, like flowers.
In both elections, nature, the state of the planet and the environment seem to be at the bottom of the agenda. Perhaps because the TV pundits are all urban types who are more concerned with where to find the best coffee, rather than whether it will be possible to grow coffee in future.
We have left a few leeks to flower, more by accident that design, but they are very popular with the local insects, so clearly a good thing!
There is an even better photo with a bee in flight, which I am trying to load - one more try!
All of this blether means that intended subjects such as animal satisfaction and more details on the coypu will have to be tales for another day. However I have loaded up new footage of a deer for you, having a go at a tree:
And another bit of film to show that the boar are still around:
And another with ducks, because ducks are happy fowl:
And there is so much more wildlife entertainment to come in the next few weeks!
Have a good week!
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