Rural Life

Day 1 of 30 Days Wild - and any Deconfinement excitement too!

Actually there isn't really any deconfinement excitement today, and probably not until Friday, when Beer O'clock at the Pub is restored to us - yeh!

I have worked for a few Wildlife Trusts over the past 6 years or so, and have always admired their 30 Days Wild campaign in June, so this year I've signed up, and will use the blog to share my daily dose of Wild - as well as any deconfinement excitement.

Two Wild Things for today.  This morning we went to the One Acre Wood to start preparing for next winter (as summer starts today for the meteorologists), by felling one of the large dead trees dotted around.  That was not particularly wild, but I have to say, it was a pretty text book felling.  What was lovely was standing under one of the great oaks in the wood and looking up at the branches and leaves.  Light patterns have changed this year as the parcel next to ours was completely felled in early January, but looking up a trunk like this is always a lovely thing to do.

The other wild thing is a bit ickie, but I have expurgated it.  I found half a lizard at the vegetable plot.  At first I blamed the country boy cats for having had a snack and not having finished it, but actually cats don't much like eating lizards, they just play with them.  The remains were under a large birch tree which is used by a variety of birds (crow family and raptors) as a good place to sit and watch for anything and also to eat any prey they might have found and flown off with.  So I'm blaming a raptor of some sort for the demise of this very beautiful lizard.  Whole and alive I think it would be 8 to 10 inches long, perhaps even a foot, and very dramatic.

What will Day 2 bring?

 

Day 19 of Deconfinement Diary - looking up

After her appalling behaviour yesterday morning with the catnip, Nibbles decided to entertain us at aperitif hour, showing us a very convoluted route onto the outdoor table.  She then struck various poses, including her favourite knowing stare.

She also showed us her trump impersonation as she looked in totally the wrong direction when the chickens started to do something really loud and silly by the raspberry canes.

As I escorted her through the front door later in the evening, I thought the swallows/martins were awfully loud and close.  I looked up just as one swooped towards the house and disappeared in the shadows.  We used to get swifts in the eaves, but Poirot ate all the offspring when they got to interesting size (just ready to fledge and leave the nest), and then when the façade was repointed, their nesting site was blocked up.  There is a possible gap for the swallows/martins, but if they go through it, Zola at least will find the nest very quickly, so I hoped it wasn't where I thought.

Now apologies for the grainy quality of the image, but a bit of zooming with the camera focus on the phone and I found where they were.  I don't think this is tenable, so I can't see us having little swallows/martins fledging this year, in fact I expect to find eggs on the steps to the cellar pretty soon, but while they are there it is lovely to see them.

Having braved the excitements of Leclerc at Chinon on Wednesday, it was my turn to need a supermarket shop today, and our Super U really doesn't fail to disappoint.  You would think we were at the start of lockdown, there were so many gaps in the aisles - none of the cream that Poirot likes (yes, this is an emergency), no Whiskas for older cats (still), very little by way of loo paper (fortunately didn't need it), very little beer, NO tonic water, no adult size espadrilles, no hand sanitiser as you went in, no mention of when trollies are disinfected, no surgical spirit to be had, but 7 euros for a smallish bottle of hand sanitizer, and only two bits of Cheddar.  Very poor show all in all.  Mind you it is a bank holiday weekend just starting here and the weather forecast is fab, but that shouldn't affect many of the missing items.

Anyway, the good news is that with a couple of colleagues, I've won a new work contract for six weeks, so there is a bottle of sparkling in the fridge to celebrate.  I don't think it is confidential to say that I will be looking at funding activity in the Romney Marsh area - it's just a shame I won't be able to do a site visit within the timeframe of the project.

 

Day 18 of Deconfinement Diary - busy, busy, busy

Yesterday was a busy day and I wasn't home until quite late, hence no blog.  In the morning it was the market at la Flèche which is getting back into its stride, with nearly everyone back - even the paella and couscous waggon that Richard Newth was worried about.  There are still grumbles about the new pitch placements, not least as for the food stalls, the lack of shade in the square will become more and more of a problem as summer goes on - they miss the huge plane trees.

After that, I was in Chinon, doing bits and bobs and helping out on stuff.  We had to get some biggish ticket items from the hypermarket - Leclerc - and were surprised at the discounts and offers.  They aren't normally putting huge numbers of points on summer furniture at this time of year, nor big discounts on electrical goods.  It was very orderly going in - you had to queue, but that was only to keep distances, while you got a squirt of hydroalcoholic gel on your hands and then took a disinfected trolley from the ranks.  There was a separate exit for leaving the store, and the "facilities" were open.

I got home at 7:30pm and we sat out under the abri, chilling out before I did supper.  It would have been peaceful apart from this noisy chap (although thinking on it, cats might have been involved, or not - and the photo is very blurry as he was quite a way away).

This morning Nibbles disgraced herself; after her morning ablutions and reconnaissance trip outside, breakfasts one and two, she then demanded catnip - before midday!!  The sign of a real addict.

To prove that not all photos I've taken in the last 48 hours are fuzzy and out of focus, I was mowing by a lake this afternoon and the first of the water lilies was coming out.  The light was coming through the trees and bamboo and it was all rather lovely.

And then there is this rather splendid view of our village yesterday at sunset.

And I am proud of myself as I filed our French tax return - early!!

 

Day 12 of Deconfinement Diary - a delayed appointment

A reflection on one of the few the joys of this virus - normally at this time of year towards sunset, the sky around us resembles a giant Jack Straws puzzle, with con trails in all directions.  Last night - not a single one, the wisps and streaks are cirrus clouds showing a change in the weather.  Lovely!

Anyway, on to that delayed appointment.  We had an appointment on the 19th March with Cuma near Brion to have a couple of barrels of brown gloop turned into something rather wonderful.  However, due to lockdown, that appointment had to be cancelled, but they got a dispensation to carry on distilling to the end of May.  So today we dragged the two seething barrels from the cellar and John drove them to Brion.  He was told to come back at 5:15pm, and has now returned with two barrels that need a good clean out, and one bonbon with 12 litres of clear and dangerous spirit.  It is a mixed vintage this year - pear and peach, because that was what we had. 

Now the gossip from Brion is that normally they would have 300 clients through a season, but this year they have only had 70!  People still labour under the impression that preparing fruit for distilling is illicit and illegal, and can only be done if you have grandfather rights.  No, people!  You can prepare and have distilled the products of your gardens, using a recognised distiller, the difference is that the amount of tax you pay on the product to the Government has increased.  If there is fruit this year (too early to tell for the moment), get brewing and keep those distillers in business!  However you can't have apple or grape product distilled, as that would make Calvados or brandy, which are controlled products.

No idea what this is like yet - currently it will be rough as old boots, but by late Autumn it should be OK.

So today the cheque book got a workout through needing to pay the distiller and the Government.  It is going to get a workout tomorrow too, as we head out not quite as far as 100km to visit our favourite producer of Bourgueil wines at Restigné before doing a socially distanced and responsible visit to Chinon.  The public health France cry for alcohol is "toujours avec moderation".  Good thing they can't access our cheque book!

Day 11 of Deconfinement Diary - and it's up!

A couple of updates from yesterday's blog.

Firstly and very sadly, I was right, it was an undertaker's van backed up to a (nice) neighbour's house, as he died at home yesterday at just 70 years old (nothing to do with Covid).  

Secondly, and on a happier note - yay, my hair has been cut!  No longer the shaggy sheep look, but back to something more normal for me.  On arrival, you get to slather your hands with gel, so they are nice and sticky.  Then you get to put on your drape yourself.  Meanwhile everything the person before touched is being disinfected.  Then the compulsory hair wash which isn't so bad with a mask on, but no back or scalp massages.  Then the cutting, with the hairdresser wearing a mask and a face visor, so speech is muffled.  Great care is taken around the ears so that your mask is not cut off by mistake.  The biggest issue is if a bit of cut hair falls into your mask - that is a whole new form of torture and one the CIA will no doubt adopt, particularly if you then try to speak!  So there we go - and I feel a lot better for it, especially once I was out of the salon and could get my hair lined mask off my face!

And then this evening, just before sitting down to type, we got the new abri roof up.  The internal ties to the centre of the frame aren't tied yet, but as we aren't expecting a gale overnight, I'm not worried.  The stripes work even though they aren't matched, and we have shade.  This is important as it was humid and up to near 30ºC today.  Nibbles has tested the shade for us and approved it.

Now to go and christen the shade with a suitable libation!

Day 10 of Deconfinement Diary - and it is now the glums kick in

I shouldn't feel down, I shouldn't feel anxious, I shouldn't feel "confined", but yesterday evening I lost it.  It had been an OK day, with John picking up a new client, so the promise of a bottle of fizz to celebrate in the evening, and I did win a couple of battles against French bureaucracy, but sometimes you just crack.

We have some very nice neighbours and then we have F the alcoholic, and the demi-monde that are attracted to him.  At 5pm, two of these decided that what they really needed to do was strim the garden F squats and to drink large quantities of tramp strength beer and to parade around in their jeans and not much else other than (surprisingly) PPE for the strimmer.  Two whole hours of a quarter of an hour strimming or playing with the strimmer, then a quarter of an hour drinking and shouting at each other as they only had one set of ear defenders, then back to playing with the strimmer.  It was a glorious evening and I had been stuck indoors much of the day with computers, and it was the last straw to deal with those drunken bums.  There were times when I was nearly in tears.  Normally I just sit with an MP3 player plugged in and my back to them, but last night I just couldn't.

So the abri roof isn't yet in place, as I couldn't face the comments yesterday once John got home.  Likely it won't go up tonight either, as I have a hair appointment (yippee - perhaps that will cheer me up) at 6pm and they are back with the beer, no t-shirts but no strimmer.  Also I saw a gurney going into another neighbour's house, and that is never good....

Tomorrow I will report on the challenges of getting your hair washed and cut while wearing a face mask.  My mind is currently boggling but no doubt it will all become clear in about 40 minutes!

I leave you with a couple of pretty pictures to brighten up your day.

Day 9 of Deconfinement Diary - French bureaucracy will get me if Covid doesn't!

After yesterday's triumph of finishing the sewing (still not yet in place however - something for tomorrow!), I felt strong and able to cope with the thought of firstly helping some chums get through the ANTS system, and then looking at the tax declaration stuff.  Well that was a mistake!

Actually things started well, in that we got my friends' approved digitised photos done at the local service in double quick time, plus John scanned the required documents for me so I didn't have to battle the scanner.  Then it all started to go a bit pear shaped.  First off they wanted more documents than we had scanned, so I ended up taking photos of electricity bills and health system cards and using photos.  That worked and one application to change from a UK drivers licence to a French one went.  Could I get the other one to work?  Aaargh.  It took 15 goes to get the home address entered, as the system took offense at a "lieu dit" that it couldn't automatically find in its repertoire.  As the Government will happily send tax and health stuff to the address, that was a bit annoying, but by sidling up to it, catching the system unawares, a judicious prayer to the god of computers, and by not doing anything different, it finally accepted the details and let me do all the other stuff required for the second licence exchange application.  That is two hours of my life I won't get back!!

So after lunch I went to feed the boys and water the seedlings I planted at the weekend and check on stuff.  There are cherries, but not many, not large, not whole and not particularly spectacular - a shame after all the blossom.

I also took more photographs of bee orchids, but most are out of focus.  This one worked nicely though.

Once home, I thought I had better start looking at tax forms for here and Chinon.  Big mistake!  O it is easy to find the exchange rate they said last year at the tax office - I had to access a number of different reports, copy down twelve numbers to 4 decimal places, take the average and now I wait to see if it bears any resemblance to the number I asked for on the Q&A.  If it does fine, if it doesn't …. And tax French bears no relationship to real French like wot it is spoken either.  Another 2 hours of my life I won't get back.

Rummaging in the shed yesterday evening, John found our Covid-19 remedy (not that he was looking for it, but nice to have found it anyway).  We think it has more chance of working than Trump's dodgy hydrochloroquinine anyway.

Day 6 of Deconfinement Diary - getting back to the new normal

Saturday morning is market time in Baugé, and I've been faithful to local stall holders and producers as much as I can be during lockdown.  The market was given permission to expand to include all the usual stallholders although it remains in the Place de Europe in front of the Chateau, rather than up in the market place.  It was really nice to see old chums back.  The lady who sells crèpes and gallettes was there and delighted to be back - she seems to have found lockdown very hard, particularly as she is a very social soul, so not seeing anyone for days clearly affected her.  I was also delighted to find that the Moroccan lady who does wonderful savoury stuffed pancakes and delicious cakes was back, so I could stock up on all the yummy things we have missed over the last two months.

After lunch (mostly Moroccan yummy things) we went out to do stuff, with first stop at a Vide Maison.  A widowed friend managed to sell her house just before lockdown, and can now disperse her stuff, prior to final signatures and heading back to Réunion to be with her children and grandchildren.  We will be sad to see her go.

My husband is very special - he got me a present on Thursday - a trailer full of horse poo.  Today I got to spend a chunk of the afternoon transferring it to a wheelbarrow and then taking it down the hill to sit and mature near where it will be needed.  How kind!

Each time I went down the hill, I was able to admire these flowers that came from some random bulbs I bought at Aldi and planted last autumn.  As I've lost the packaging, I've no idea what they are, but I am really enjoying them.

Today's cat pin-up is Fergus, looking rather imperial.  Until a couple of seconds before I took this, his back paw was pointing at the sky, but it came down, so pretty perfect!

Day 4 of deconfinement diary - personal grooming

When lockdown was announced, a massive wail went up from ladies all over France - no hairdressers and no beauticians!  O M G!!!  What were we ladies to do?  Our hairdressers sent out dire warnings about trimming fringes, home colouring and DIY hair cuts - wait they said, it will all be OK, and we will have more to work with, to make you look beautiful.  The two tone hair look was accepted for once.  Similarly for beauticians - they sent out advice and a long list of DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME, as well as DO TRY THIS AT HOME strictures, and many started to get their products ordered on line and made available at Drive pick up points.

With deconfinement however, life can get back to normal - or sort of normal anyway.  In the interests of this blog, and more importantly for my own peace of mind, I had an appointment today at the beauticians.  The rules are strict - arrive on time, not early; wear a facemask; bring the minimum into the place with you; use the gel at the entrance on your hands on arrival.  Once installed in your treatment room, it was also clear that the nice soft coverings had been removed and paper towels cover the treatment bed.  When you have to remove your facemask, you have to remain silent until you put your mask back on.  When I booked my next appointment, Noemie said that I would need to follow the same rules again.  "It's sad," she said, "but I can't see it changing for a while."  In faultless French of course.

There is an option for a voluntary contribution to the extra costs of maintaining strict hygiene, as they try to avoid increasing prices - I added a few coins to the pot.  We are all in this together after all.

The outward face of the house is looking rather splendid at the moment, as I have tended that rather than my own façade.  The geraniums I got from Aldi last year made it through the winter, and a bit of TLC meant they are blooming fit to bust.

The canna lilies, lemon verbena and vine are also looking very lush just now, although it will be a few months before the cannas flower.

The climbing rose that John pruned a bit late now has flowers.

And I am very pleased with my semper vivum drainpipe planters.

Day 3 of Deconfinement Diary - well that's what my brother said I should call it!

Wednesday is market day in la Flèche in the Sarthe department, just over the border from us and a mere 18 kilometres on the roads (a bit less as the crow flies, but not much).  It is the best market for miles around and I have been using it every week for the last 15 years.  During confinement, that was actually a bit dodgy, and I was probably lucky I wasn't caught by the Evil Gendarme.  The ones that I met, who checked my attestation getting into the market, were always fine and charming.  But a friend knows people who were fined and sent home without getting their goodies, so yes, I reckon I was lucky.

With deconfinement, it wasn't totally clear how the market was going to work, but it was certainly going to happen.  When I got there this morning, the clothes, shoes, kitchen goods and live chicken stands were all set up facing le Loir.  If you wanted the good stuff - food, flowers, plants - you had to join the queue (again), as numbers in the inner square where that bit of the market was, were still tightly controlled.

The big difference going in this week, was that if you didn't have a face mask on or with you, you were given one (and possibly a sharp talking to).  Fortunately I had mine, so once numbers allowed, I was let in to shop until I dropped, or couldn't carry anything else.  I was able to get all that I wanted (or could remember - total fail on bananas) - butter, milk, yoghurts, rice puddings, cakes, cheese, fish, salads, vegetables, black pudding (the real French boudin type - yummy), paté, bacon, and gossip.  What bliss!

Some stall holders weren't finding it as easy as you might expect.  You would think that with an enclosed space and newly found freedom, people would take the time to look at all the stalls.  It appears not!  My friend Brigitte took the following two photos - she sells beautiful cut flowers, and this was her first week back at the market.  She found she was on the side of the square less visited, with few passing by.

As a contrast, she took a photo of the "main drag" through the centre of the square, with rather more people.  It is particularly sad for her as at each end of her row, there were big stands selling plants, but people went round the back of her to get to them.  Both fishmongers were on the main drag, as well as the coffee bean stand.

The bloke that sells yoghurts was on the other side of the main drag, and was also having a slow time of it - again his first day back.  I heard him discussing the challenges of positioning with either a journalist or local councillor, so there may be changes next week.  It is very hard for these small producers as the markets are their main route for selling to the public, and they really do need people to come back to them.  As the Yoghurt Man said, it was like trying to rebuild the business from scratch - the 10 years he had already spent on the markets seemed to be forgotten by many.