Early Summer !

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.