The Auvergnats have a lot in common with the British when it comes to talking and moaning about the weather. The hot topic of conversation here for the last month has been the unusually “mauvais temps” (bad weather). That is bit of an understatement as we have had continuous rain for over a month, breaking all records for rainfall levels! We have also had to light the fire every evening – another first for June. The locals say that they have never seen anything like it in living memory – and of course our neighbours take great delight in pointing out that it is only since we arrived that the weather has gone wrong! The garden was looking like a bog garden at one stage with mini lakes outside the front door and the well which we had thought was dry suddenly was full to the brim. All the “dry loving” plants which I’d just put into the tubs and pots drowned and for a while the only thing that was thriving were the slugs and snails. Our (mostly male) friends were telling us how lucky we were to have all the snails and that we should profit by the bounty and collect and cook them! Other friends (mostly female) said that they are dreadful to clean and prepare and if we really wanted to eat snails we should buy them ready prepared from the supermarket! All of this is academic anyway as I have absolutely no intention of sampling the delights of snails! The good news is that the rain has finally stopped and we are now having a heat wave with temperatures in the 30s. It is one extreme to another here.
At the end of May, as a sort of mini treat for my birthday, we treat ourselves to a couple of nights away. I have always wanted to see Carcassonne and so off we went. The weather was awful – I have never been as wet as we walked round the medieval town when we arrived. However the next day was a bit better and we really enjoyed seeing the “cité” and walking round the walls. We explored the Cathar countryside a bit too and Geoff nearly killed the dog by taking him to the top of an old bastide castle perched up high on a hill overlooking a very picturesque village. The rain returned for our drive back home which was a shame as the countryside looked very pretty. I also went on the annual Croix Rouge bus trip last weekend. We had a fabulous day – the ladies reckoned that God obviously supported the Croix Rouge as it was the first day without rain for over a month! The trip went to the Gorges de Tarn, about 2 hours south of Issoire and I really enjoyed the wonderfully dramatic scenery and the walks round the pretty villages there. There were some very “hairy” moments on the narrow bendy roads as the bus forced several camper vans to back up to allow it to pass. I bet there were some very naughty words being uttered by their drivers! It was a very long day – I set off from home at 7am and got back at 9.30pm! I pay tribute to the stamina of the ladies some of whom are well into their 60s and 70s and were looking a lot livelier than me at the end of the day!
We have been quite quiet gite-wise this month. We did have a lovely family staying at the end of May. They were relations of Jeannot and Doly who run the tiny bar in St Etienne sur Usson. They really had a great time visiting all their family – and having all the family visit them in the gite. This was great for us too as it got several local people here and they were able to see where we live and the gite and B&B rooms too. All good publicity for us! There was one anxious moment when one of their three dogs – a tiny, almost blind, Yorkshire terrier – decided to go walkabout and got lost! The combination of the very long grass in the fields and the size of the dog made it really hard to find him. I was also a bit disturbed by the circling buzzards that were looking very hungry! However Geoff was the hero of the day and restored the beloved mutt to his desperately worried owners! The whole family were real dog lovers and Chester got thoroughly spoiled when they were here. He just about lived in the gite and really enjoyed all the attention (not to mention the tit-bits) which was lavished upon him! I swear he had tears in his eyes when they left! We have noticed that Chester gets almost as many mentions in our Livre d`Or (visitors book) as we do!
One of the spin offs from this family’s visit has been that I have been asked to help with the biblioteque (library) in the village. It is run by a lovely lady (another cousin of the family) who also writes books and is a local historian. She has a small team of people who help her run the library – (actually it’s only a couple of bookcases) – and organise little guided walks around the villages. I seem to be becoming a career volunteer round here somehow, but it all helps with getting to know people and my language skills. Another exciting event of the month was an invitation to a Tupperware party! I extended this invitation to my good friend Julie who amazingly turned me down! Well I have to say she missed a treat as it was a real experience sitting in the middle of French countryside looking at a new range of plastic boxes! The only difference between the Tupperware parties of my youth and this one was the baking of a chocolate cake (using a Tupperware dish of course). This also was not to be missed as Evyline`s kitchen is tiny and there were six ladies crammed into it watching her (poor soul) make this cake along with lots of chat and laughter – much to the demonstrator’s dismay! She obviously didn’t think we were taking it seriously enough – and she was probably right!
Fortunately, although the gite has been quiet we have had some B&B visitors. It seems that people are beginning to discover us as a good place to break their journeys to the south coast and Spain. We have also taken several bookings for the summer months, which mean that we will be very busy especially in August. The washing machine will be working overtime! Another bit of good news on the business front is that we were asked to go to the Marie and look at the new information and direction signs the other day. We are to get a sign to Les Hirondelles in the village and at the end of our access road at long last. The bad news is that they won’t be in place until September, effectively the end of the season!
I have some excellent news to report – Broadband has finally come to Chabanol! Geoff was off like a rabbit out of a hat to the France telecom shop to get his Livebox and with only a couple of minor hitches, we are now connected to fast internet at last! It’s fantastic – I can download photos, communicate, and connect to all my favourite sites now with ease! But the best is I now can access all the UK radio stations. I listened to The Archers (I am an official Addict after all) whilst typing this – and with no crackly interference either! I now have a new definition of happiness – lying in bed, with the windows wide open (it’s hot remember), birds singing and my beloved Terry Wogan twittering away! Sheer unadulterated bliss!!
Finally a little bit of amazing news! I wrote way back in December about a fig tree which Geoff had planted and which got totally decimated by the frost and cold. He left the remains of this disaster in place as a sort of memorial to his folly and we have affectionately referred to it ever since as the “fig twig” as all that was left was a brown dead stick. I have to report that the afore-mentioned fig twig has defied all expectations and now has some very healthy looking leaves sprouting from the base! Miracles do happen then!