A deep summer evening

I haven't been out this week, owing to work-horribleness. Today it was probably too hot to do much anyway; it was windy this afternoon, too.

However, I've just been watering the herbs and tomatoes and strawberries (ate both the ripe ones) in a most beautiful evening. The wind has dropped, there are a few clouds, and it's gently warm. The sky is layered deep pink and hundreds of blues. The noise level in the garden is amazing: there appears to be a crickets' concert tonight.

The mad panic for a deadline tomorrow is now a lessened panic for a deadline on Tuesday. And I have screenshots of the UI! Wow, so that's what it does...

I shall return to writing "To do this, click Button A" (that's the easy part, or at least it is when you can see the product - the hard part is explaining why you should bother^W^W^W^Wwhat it's for). But first, a Heroic scrambled egg. As m'neighbour said when she brought them over in a bag because they wouldn't fit in an eggbox, "This week the chickens think they're ostriches".

No stairs yet

The people from Casa Nova have been unable to find a source of materials for Renovation Part 1. Camille was very apologetic and explained that they've not been back in France that long and had forgotten that it closes for the summer apart from agriculture and the holiday trades.

Start of Works is thus postponed from next week to the beginning of September. Relatives, friends, and acquaintances who would like a holiday in exchange for an hour or two per day helping a carpenter and an electrician, please apply for time in September and October.

Oh well, gives me another month to earn money to pay for it.

Jonzac

We did a day in Jonzac. http://www.jonzac.fr/index.htm

The tour of the château is excellent if your French is up to it. There's not much left of the original building, which was trashed by the English who invested the town for a decade in the Hundred Years War. It was rebuilt, but then had a hard time in the Revolution, though it's still a good example of gothic architecture. I wondered how a town of this size could support the old buildings, as well as the new sport and leisure complex over the river: the tour guide explained that the old families of the commune do a kind of voluntary service. The young people want to get married in the Salle, so they have to do the repairs and decoration. Good plan.

One of the things mentioned is that through the archway over the road is the old route to the church, which was covered so the ladies of the castle could walk down without being seen. When the tour went upstairs I toddled off and explored the old path; it's amazingly atmospheric and would make a marvellous setting for ambulatory theatre.

The main street and space in front of the château were closed for music and fireworks that evening; there was an excellent band doing a sound-check but we didn't stay for the concerts.

As for the size of Jonzac - the population of French towns is tiny compared to English. Jonzac-central has 4000 inhabitants, which in England is the size of a large village.

While the Antilles (the big flashy leisure complex) was being built they discovered a Roman villa. There's quite a bit of known history for it, though excavations are ongoing. In fact, you can book in to a dig. More about that when I've been to see it.

Nosh and prospective gigs

Visitors meant quite a lot of eating out over the weekend.

We found the nearest veggie-friendly place - Le Doublon in Lorignac. It says on the menu to ask about the vegetarian options, which turned out to be anything you like for which they have the ingredients. Outside is a little unprepossessing, with the front of a slightly scruffy bar (m'sister had turned it down because of that look and because that evening it had a board up with "moules et frites" scribbled on it). Inside, though, is smart, and there is a little terrace area. Food was lovely. It turns out to be yet another restaurant owned by Brits! But as usual, the cooking style is French. It also has an exchange library of English books. Even more important for me - music nights. They pay bands.

Sunshine and flowers

The temperature is back to $Summer. mmmmm. On the other hand, there are mosquitos.

I was eyeing the grapes in the nearest vineyard: wine grapes don't taste very good, but I'm still tempted, just the one in a kind of bonding ritual. Fortunately the local vines are being sprayed, which puts me right off. I wonder where the vineyard for the organic wine is...

The verges were being cut this morning, so I rode through clouds of grass and, at one point, mint. Lovely :) On the road between here and La Grande Motte there is one little vineyard with two rose bushes planted in its border; no house anywhere near, but it looks more like a garden than an agrobusiness.

Broomstick has been attracting quite a lot of attention. I think there's a market here.

Ride-out

Clear blue sky and sunshine today, but not yet back to full summer heat: ideal for a ride out on Broomstick to take some bottles to the recycling banks at Morisset (next-but-one hamlet).

It was my first not-by-car trip in that direction. I'd noticed it was a slightly undulating route, but on Broomstick the hills are much more apparent. Turn right and up a small hill, long bendy swoop down, then over a second hill to Chez Moquet in a tiny valley, straight out over another hill and down to the little river. By the top of the second hill I had to help the motor by pushing, so decided not to go on towards the Champagne Water-tower. Fortunately, the way back is more downhill than uphill. Wheeeeeeeeee!

The landscape is green and gold: grass, trees, vines, sunflowers, maize, wheat straw and deep yellow vetch; speckled with a few poppies and cornflowers.

Eggsess

I was so tired this afternoon I fell asleep about 5pm, in spite of not having to be online for work half the night because it's weekend. A few minutes later I thought I heard something but couldn't wake enough to do anything about it, and went back to sleep.

When I did get up, there was a box of eggs on the kitchen table. My neighbour's chickens have been laying enthusiastically again. Lovely generous neighbour.

They are very eggy eggs. Big very bright yolks, and taste powerfully of egg (batterychicken eggs taste of fishmeal and chemicals). They also make batter rise, and so I've just had two deep golden yellow fluffy pancakes. With lemon squeezed on them.

:)

ISIHAC in Ipswich

Listening to Humph's introduction to ISIHAC this evening, originally broadcast in 2005, I wondered if there was something behind the intimation that one of Ipswich's main claims to fame was its historic airport. Humph talked of it being the home of the first airline flights from the UK to Paris, and various things about the parachuting, but he didn't mention that after years of protest from airport users and conservationists, Ipswich Borough Council had bulldozed the airport and handed out planning permission for a housing estate.

I used to love watching the British Skydiving team practise there, and it was where I had flying lessons. Only two lessons, but a wonderful memory - especially the one which was my best-ever birthday present, a surprise set up by friends. There was a superb thunderstorm as we were landing, and guiding the plane down through it was amazing. The instructor let me take it almost down to the grass. Then we sat in the old airport building (listed, it was) and watched the storm.

Broomstick into town

I missed the town party last night (15 euros for a sardine supper was too much), although the music was audible over here. The band sounded good.

This morning the summer brocante on the picnic area/motorcaravan park next to the little supermarket was rather quiet, as one non-local person remarked in puzzlement. I went down on Broomstick with only 7 euros so as to avoid temptation, and bought only vegetables from the smallholding's stall. Some people asked about Broomstick, especially one man using crutches; I should investigate ways of obtaining a Powertrike or similar in France.

Travelling by Broomstick means seeing much more of the hedgerows, which are full of flowers. I've noticed the middle of the road into Mirambeau town centre is a long strip of wildflower meadow, and most of the hedgerows around the village (except next to the vines) are beautiful with all the usual plants plus orchids and brightly-coloured vetches. The route into St Dizant du Gua goes past vines, wheat, and sunflowers, though only a few early ones are in flower; then barley (I love the colour of ripe barley) and maize. And I discovered a small lake in La Petite Motte.

It began to rain on the way back, so I stopped at English neighbours' and had coffee and chatted about cabbages and k^W^W^Wthings, including robberies from gardens. There haven't been many, but someone in Morisset had most of their ducks stolen, and the mayor came out to investigate. It seems there is a gang which goes round villages nicking plants and anything left out. They did this area in the spring, so we should be ok for a couple of years.

Big fluffy water-heaters

My French is fairly good though rusty, which means that I can follow most of what is said but have to search for vocabulary when I want to say something (or have to be creative with circumventions). Sometimes, though, I'm reminded of the Brit on the plane from Dinard, who had lived in France for years but whose French was still basic except for one area - "I speak excellent Building", he said.

Yesterday the plumber came to bring the bill for mending the loo, and to look at the Casa Nova plan for upstairs and in particular where the shower-room will be. He had some trouble finding the pipes up there, and came down to ask where the cumulus is. Cumulus? er...

Well, after opening a few doors he found it[0]. If I'd had the laptop on I could have found the word and shown him where it is easily, but my dictionary failed yet again. As I told him, the only cumulus I know is in the sky.

[0] water (immersion) heater

Renovations part I

The couple from Casa Nova came round and measured walls and stuff and talked much of stairs and floors and internal windows.

What they will do first:

Close off the space under the mezzanine to make a room which will include the big window, so the stairs will be inside the room: this will allow separating from the barn in winter to keep warm. The room will be an odd shape, following the present odd shape of the mezzanine and extending it 2 metres; it will be about 40sqm.

Stairs with 1/4 turn onto a platform at the base to allow for the height of the room.

All the wooden pillars will be inside the room.

The extended mezzanine will at first have a 1-metre high wall instead of railings, to allow for the addition of a full-height wall later (with a big window onto the barn). This later full-height wall will be a Very High Wall, almost under the highest part of the roof.

Existing walls to be painted with chaux to cover the horrible tacky cement which disfigures areas of the lovely stone.

Floor will probably be laminate because it's cheaper than tiles, but still 20 euros per sqm. (ouch)

Wooden bench-seat along kitchen wall to cover the strange heating apparatus. This will make a lovely warm place to curl up on in winter.

They will start at the beginning of August and this first job will take about a month. I've done some sums and may need to borrow to cover some of it because I shan't have been paid enough by September.

There is a list of things which require extra help, mostly on the walls, and some of which can be done before the main work begins. Volunteers will be very welcome.

After they'd gone I stood at the door from the kitchen and realised I would miss the view into the golden barn very much. I wonder if there can be a downstairs window as well.