Monday 16 August 2010

that just restores my faith in the French remaining a great nation.

Three years ago today we woke up in Brevands in our camper on the drive of our new home. The previous owners gave us the keys the night before D day so that we could be here when the lorry arrived and we lay in our camper with great excitement and relief that we had got this far in fulfilling a dream.
Today we bumped into our friend Sarah in the market, a little tearful and upset because the financial pressures of living in France was catching up with them and they might have to sell their beautiful home. I asked her and peter over for afternoon tea at four but upgraded that to a BBQ at five after our trip to Lerclerc, where we found BBQ food cheap as chips due to the fact that it rained all day yesterday. We lit up the coals, filled our glasses with Brevands cider, cremated Mexican pork strips to an inch of their existence, gorged on tomatoes and onion with green peppers, coleslaw and toasted our anniversary . When you only eat what is available a dinner party takes on a new meaning, it's easy and there are no excuses or apologies because you only eat what is ripe today......
After yesterday's rain the lawn was ready for a cut and we both set out to get it done before our guests arrived, but Mike fell, en panne and we ended up in town with a shredded rubber drive belt trying to get an instant replacement. The chappie, no, technician, in the mower shop was not sure if he had found the right one for us and gave us, what he thought might fit and said to try it for size and come back in the morning and pay for it if it fitted.......and you know what it did fit, and you Know what even more, ....we will go back in the morning and pay for it. I have many misgivings about the french and how they run their lives but an episode like that just restores my faith in the French remaining a great nation.

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