My friendly French neighbour has been worried by the state of the patch of ground at the side of the house and adjacent to the road. I started tidying it up; she saw me working at it and became even more worried. Soon afterwards she turned up with a wheelbarrow and a hoe and cleared the area between the road and the side steps. I happened to mention that I'd like two of the rose bushes in big pots to be re-located there and was planning to ask the next visitors to move them. She went off and collected her husband and a trolley and they moved the pots.
This afternoon there were some odd noises outside, which I ignored because there has been work on the roof of the house next door entailing much banging. This, however, was the neighbour back again with a pickaxe, attacking the roots of the big weeds under the kitchen window. It's all "propre" now. She collected quite a few snails too - the little mother-of-pearl ones will delight the chickens, and the big brown ones will be cooked in garlic sauce for tomorrow's lunch. She showed me how to tell when the snails are ready to eat, although I'm not sure I shall need the knowledge.
They really are marvellous neighbours.
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