Bonjour. Apologies for my 6-week absence from the Blog: I am now back in the saddle. So, after our hung-over but productive day when Cyril left, we got up to precious little else for a couple of days outside of work (Matt) and theory test revision (me). Both are progressing fairly well, all told. Matt has finished all of the ‘easy’ bits for his programming project, so is now reluctantly ploughing through the trickier parts, which he is liking less – but it is coming along.
For my part, I have my exam this Thursday at Nontron. At 08:30 am sadly, so it will be an early night for me on Wednesday. As of this week, I am finally feeling sort-of-prepared. All of the mock exams I have done are put together with customary French efficiency – things like getting questions thrown at you that aren’t in the syllabus is a particular favourite of mine. I also sometimes struggle with the amount of time given to answer each question, but all in all, I am feeling philosophical about it. If I pass, great, and if I fail, it won’t be due to a lack of effort or preparation on my part, so fair enough. And there’s always next month.
Things did get more interesting in Mazeroux (thankfully!) on Saturday. The day was more of the same, but that evening it was Milhac-de-Nontron’s big “Inauguration” Fête. The current mayor of our Commune is apparently very shrewd and has managed to come up with money to do a lot of good things for the place in the last 5 or so years. A major part of this was the creation of a new… well, town square, I suppose. It is pleasantly-designed, gives the place the centre it was lacking before, and hosts a post office, our beloved bakery, ample parking and a fountain. Oh, and a nice new Mairie (Mayor’s office). It’s not quite as impressive as City Hall in London, but it is amusing that they always seem to find the money to have nice Mairies in all the towns out here, despite the direness of the Dordogne economy.
Anyway, the square has been done for a few years, but associated work on the roads was still going on (by all accounts, up until the night before the party) so the fête was the town’s way of celebrating the project’s completion. Even better, according to the invitation, the food and wine was free for all residents of Milhac (“les Milhacois”, if you care). Bonus!
We’d arranged to meet Nat and Jill down there for 7:30, along with their English neighbours Peter and Maggie who we met a few weeks back. It happened to be Nat’s birthday that day, and all 4 of them had clearly already enjoyed drink number one some time before pitching up in Milhac, which was quite amusing. The thing actually started at around 4:30, but it was all speeches and kiddie activities so we decided to hold off for aperatif hour. By the time we arrived, there were probably around 250 – 300 people, from wee bairns to the octogenerian-and-beyonds, all out enjoying the sunshine, the finished square and the bar. This was drowning in thirsty customers but, ironically, not in much of a selection of things to drink. Matt and I were ok on a pastis with few beer chasers, but the ladies were less than impressed by the white wine.
Dinner was served up at around 08:30, by which point everyone was fairly merry and definitely hungry. Catering for that many people must be a logistical nightmare but they handled it all very well. So they could keep it all moving quickly, the food was served on what looked like jumbo-sized aeroplane food trays, complete with compartments for sides, meats and dessert, all topped off with a plastic cover. Fortunately, the resemblance to aeroplane food ended at the eyes – the food (chunks of foie gras, slices of pork and beef, veggie sides, and the obligatory bread) all tasted fine. The wine was more or less ok too – and came complete with a little custom made label for the occasion. It was not however, free, as advertised. Some financing balls up somewhere no doubt. Once we had drained the last of it, we parted with Pete and the ladies and took ourselves off home and to bed, followed closely by two cats who were extremely pleased to see us after our unusual evening absence.
Speaking of the boys, I need to mention here that Matt is currently, and to my great amusement, trying to teach them the concept of being taken on a walk. This actually started with Lucien and Mauricette’s lovely but somewhat strange cat, Pepette, who every day at around the same time, demands to be taken on a walk, and plays up if she doesn’t get her way. So, at around 7pm or so, you can sit in our garden and watch the two of them strolling by, cat in tow. Odd, but true. Inspired by this, and also by the fact that Devon Rex cats have many very dog-like traits, Matt has taken to encouraging Leon & Louis to follow him down the road towards the village. He has done it a few times so far, and each time, it is with a 50% success rate: they follow him just fine, but lose all interest at the moment the return leg starts and just abandon him. It may be all we are achieving is a huge widening of what they perceive as their territory, but maybe they will get into the idea with practise and soon be demanding walks of their own…
Sunday was a day of hangover. It wasn’t due to the quantity drunk so much as the variety: beer, wine, pastis and vodka. Oops. Despite this incapacitation, Matt somehow motivated himself to do a big harvest. We have quite a few onions and shallots that are ready, as well as all of the potatoes, some green beans, and we have for several days now already been enjoying our own lettuce and our delicious tomatoes. The tatties are all now stored in our cellar, and the onions are out in the garage. It was another hot one and I couldn’t cope with the thought of manual labour, so I stayed inside and made us a fry-up (rare treat these days) to try and shake the hangover. After this flurry of activity, things slowed down somewhat and we vegged in front of a couple silly films ignoring the sunshine outside. That evening, we both decided that the only option was pizza, so called up our local restaurant and placed an order. This is our second time using them and the pizzas seemed even better this time – so we wolfed down the lot with ease.
Well, this is now ridiculously long, so that is enough for me. As a teaser for the next entry, we have 2 people coming to stay with us for a couple days this week. They are Ludwig, who used to rent a room at our ex-neighbour’s place in Dalston, and his Spanish boyfriend, Enrique, whom we have yet to meet. We owe Lud a big thank you, as it is through him that we discovered the Devon Rex breed of cat. I think he is looking forward to meeting our boys as much as he is to seeing us again. They are currently making their way from Madrid to Paris, with stopovers planned in San Sebastian, Bordeaux and then here. It’s a shame my exam is the day after they get here, so I wont be able to enjoy myself like I should, but it will be great to see them all the same. Ok, enough. Au revoir.