Spring gave way to summer rather early this year despite the
frosts we had in late April. Most of the crops caught up and the cereal harvest
has been well under way for a few weeks in the hot summery weather. The locals
tell us that the grape vines are about four to six weeks ahead of their normal
development, the cherry crop has been amazing and a number of friends have given us
kilos of the fruit. Jeanne’s made some delicious jam with them and our
strawberries and we’ve a potager bursting with ripening vegetables.
The potatoes are being dug almost daily – nothing like fresh new potatoes
straight from the ground to the pan, we’ve already been eating our broad beans,
tomatoes and courgettes. Our sweet corn is over four feet high already, and
lots more things coming.
The acceleration of all the crops is due to about four
weeks of heatwave we’ve had over the last couple of months. It got our unheated
pool up to 33˚C which is a bit too warm to be refreshing in hot weather,
so we had to leave the cover off overnight to allow it to cool down a bit. Having said all this, we've also had two short periods of storms - severe thunderstorms, gales and torrential rain for just a few days each time. We don't, however, get what sometimes used to feel like weeks pof grey and drizzle as we used to do in the UK, and even when we've got stormy weather we get periods of sunshine and blue sky between the rainy or thundery spells. So we're quite happy with it.
Politically we were very relieved than Macron won the presidency and it looks like he has the basis of a stable but reforming government
able to oust much of the old familiar corruption and protectionism in politics here and amongst the
French members of the European parliament to make some inroads to progress and reform. However there
have been no massive changes yet to upset the unions or the old establishment
yet, so it’s rather early days for a judgement.
May looks to be ready to squander the rights of Britons in Europe as
well as upsetting EU citizens in the UK so we’re already going through a bit of
discomfort as uncertainty about the future is the only common feeling.
In our village the boulangerie reopened as planned, and the
café-bar continues with a lot of support from the Brit community. We've more new neighbours - as well as the
house around the corner from us, we also have new Brit neighbours in the grand chateau-like
house by the water mill - a couple with
two young children has moved in, and another two Brit couples have also moved into
our commune outside the village – one a couple retiring from their B & B business in a
neighbouring village, the second are people who have returned to the area after
an absence in the UK. So the Brit population here has doubled already just in
this year!
We’ve not completely packed our calendar with visitors this year,
which may be just as well as we’ve been incredibly busy. (What’s new?) However, we’ve already enjoyed some lovely
visits from family and friends and are looking forward to more as the months go
by. We’ve also scheduled some trips away – one already done by us to Alsace for
Elizabeth’s graduation, a lovely event, and one for Rhys to the UK to prepare things
with his sister for his mother ‘s move into a care home. We have a couple of
trips away coming up over the summer, including a proper holiday with some friends, and a few
more visits of family and friends coming to us here too. In between we are making slow and slightly unsteady progress on the property.
Our busy lives have included some medical attention – Jeanne
has now had the bunions on both her feet operated on, very successfully, but
this has meant frequent trips to the Clinique du Sport in Bordeaux, periods of
daily visits from the local visiting nurses, and lots of resting with her feet
up and ice packs on them! However, she’s done exceptionally well with almost no
problems or pain. Rhys has continued various treatments, most recently for
another skin carcinoma on the top of his head.
Otherwise we are both fine, and still enjoying our lives out here. We’re continuing to enjoy an active social life too. An adjacent village, Biron, held a méchoui–
a social meal of spit-roast lamb, with a little féte – which we enjoyed
with about 30 other local Brits and a couple of hundred French local people, and were
treated to a good meal and entertainment. The picture is of the local horn band
playing for us all.
Enjoy your summers, and keep well, everyone.
