On Friday, the weather decided to do its bit for Global Warming and the temperatures never got above 6 degrees. Mr Boukersanna knocked at the door to say it wasn’t fit to paint the garage doors today. Of course it wasn’t - we hadn’t expected him to! I put on fleece and coat and got blown up to the shops for bread, then for some reason decided to queue in the icy blast at the fish stall for Madagascan prawns! It was a long wait…the lady in front was buying for the week, including red mullet that the fishman was painstakingly filleting and de boning. Eight prawns for €4.90 later I returned. We had heating on all day so there goes the budget! (what budget?!) and set not a foot outside again.
Awoke this morning to find snow on the far ridge, 1.9 degrees on the terrace thermometer and a roaring north wind. Went back to bed! We determined not to go to Ste Cécile…well not quite yet. Then after piling on layers and layers of clothing and eating some toast we thought we might just venture out. The car rocked its way across the plain and we looked back to see the Dentelles and vineyards dusted with white. Very pretty. In Cairanne we stocked up on 5 litres of Côtes du Rhône at €2.50 a litre, bargain! Then into Ste C where there were parking spaces to spare despite the late hour. The market was sparse and many stallholders not there. But the important ones bravely stood their ground and were rewarded by our custom. Nicole’s cheese and yoghurts, the fruit and veg and our favourite traiteur from Villedieu, who, we now know, speaks perfect English! How do we know this? Aha…well there was another customer in front of us - German or Benelux- and they were conversing in matey English. It’s not just the British who don’t speak French and Adrian no longer has any excuse not to shop there.
After contemplating (for a nano second) sitting outside at the Bar we went inside to be greeted by the owner ‘so you decided to come then!’ The warming g cs were set before us and we enjoyed the gentle hubbub…until horrors, a tall blond couple and rat like dog came in and sat virtually on top of us! We suspect Dutch - after all, they are not used to personal space.😀
Home again and are not going to so much as open the door for the duration. My poor agapanthus is being buffetted on the terrace, having thought it was safe to put on leaf. I’ve brought the little daffodils inside.
Elections approach - round 1 on 10 April. Here are the candidates.