First, a few updates since Will’s last post. We did get everything planted on Monday, which was our last sunny day. Since then, we’ve had some really fierce storms, complete with rain and 90km/h gusts. Needless to say, the wee plants have not taken kindly to this, and many did not survive. The tomatoes seem ok, but most of the squash, courgette and cuke won’t make it. We appear to have at least two or three of our other crop and still, there is almost no corn to speak of.
In other news, we heard back from Jenny about our upcoming gig. It turns out that we’re to be the only act of the night! Usually, her ex’s band plays later in the evening but their drummer is ill and they had to cancel. We were planning on doing a repeat of the gig for Françoise, but that’s now been expanded to two sets. We plan to do one during aperos, which will mostly be Beatles and other acoustic numbers. Then we’ll do a second set after dinner, which will be electric guitar and bass. We really only have 7 or 8 songs for each set, which is hardly enough, so we’re trying to bulk up both sets with new numbers. This is perhaps a bit ambitious, considering the gig is now in 10 days and we’ve only managed a couple of practice sessions.
Last update concerns the great Port 80 DVD sale. We had a rather disappointing response to our first post, and sold about €50 worth. Will did another post this morning, and the response has been overwhelming. I would guess that close to half the movies are now spoken for, and are due to be collected in the coming days. Since we don’t back them up until they are sold, we’ve got a big job ahead of us making copies for ourselves. Most are getting backed up onto an external hard drive, and I’m slightly worried that it could fail. Our plan is to get a home server, but they cost a lot of money so we’ll probably have to wait and hope the external drive doesn’t break.
We’ve been busy since our last post. On Wednesday, we went to Erica’s house, near Nat & Jill’s, where she was selling off lots of bits and bobs before she moves back to Germany next month. We were hoping for a lawn mower, but that went to the new owners, and instead, came away with only a mirror. Just as we got home, the biggest storm of the week hit us. It was not quite as bad as the one from a few years ago, but did a fair bit of damage nonetheless. We lost power around 16:30 and didn’t get it back until the following afternoon. There were loads of fallen trees in the roads which took some time to clear.
That night, we went over to Josianne and Cami’s to see Laetitia, their daughter who we visited in Belgium. We had aperos with them, by candlelight and had a good catch up with them all. We had gone through all of our chopped firewood, so made do with whatever bits we could scrape together from the log shed. We have since chopped up some more, since it’s been necessary these past few days.
Anne and Andrew arrived early on Thursday morning, and Will collected them from Limoges. We discovered that Nontron had power, one of the few places that did, so the parents and I went there to do some shopping. We got enough food to last for days, only to discover that they were leaving us on Saturday at midday. We had lunch and then did outdoor work in the afternoon. I had borrowed Lucien’s mower so did the back, while Andrew staked out the tomato plants and did some weeding. We’re still no closer to buying a new mower, and I really must sort that soon. We had chilaquiles (Mexican lasagne) for dinner that night, then played some Scrabble and cards before calling it a night.
On Friday, Will had a dentist appointment in Thiviers. We were surprised when he returned home, an hour later, on foot. About 5k from home, he slipped on the wet road and went into a ditch. He was not injured, just a bit shocked. The front tyre came off the car, and the back door is a bit dented, but no major damage was done. Although a passerby stopped to let him use their phone, our phones have been acting funny lately and we didn’t receive his call. So he had to walk home, uphill in the rain and was not best pleased when he arrived. We called the insurance company, who arranged for a tow truck that arrived very promptly. They got the car back on the road and put the tyre back on right there, so he was able to drive it home.
That afternoon, Andrew and I took apart the boiler and determined that the pilot light won’t stay lit, and it didn’t just go out randomly. We had the same problem a few winters ago, requiring the boiler man to come out and fix it. We’re tempted not to repair it this time, being that it’s so inefficient and expensive to run. Also, we’re feeling bullish about winter since the last one was so mild. If it’s like the winter before, however, we’re probably going to be rather cold from time to time. Andrew also rehung a print on our lounge wall, that was threatening to fall off. So as usual, we got our “money’s” worth from their visit.
That evening, we went out to dinner at the Moulin Vieux, near Sharon’s old place where we lived our first year here. Astute readers might remember this as the “Bad Boys” restaurant, so named because Sharon was convinced it was a last-chance saloon for young offenders. It’s actually just a training restaurant, for both chefs and waiters, where they learn on the job. We hadn’t been since we moved to Mazeroux, over three years ago. Despite this, the maitre d’ remembered us and we had a nice chat before leaving. We all had a lovely meal, most of us having four courses, along with some excellent wine. It’s a bit further to go than Brantome, but they’re always open on Friday and Saturday nights so we’ll be adding it back to the list of places to dine out.
The flight on Sunday would have got Anne and Andrew home too late, so that’s why they went back on Saturday. Will took them to Limoges in the morning, while I stayed home and worked. My big project finally went live yesterday and you can see it here. I still have to finish the related site, for members, which they will use to share information. I’m meant to have it finished next week, but I’ve not had enough time to make much progress. At the same time, my other big project is finally nearing completion. I’m hoping that my work on it is done, and that it will soon go live. Once those two are done, I have another one to start for a friend in London. I’ll definitely need a break after all this, so I’m hoping things quiet down after that, at least temporarily.
Sunday was the European elections, so Will and I went down in the afternoon to do our civic duty. Unlike the local elections, there was no mass gatherings / parties going on in town, and we had the polling station to ourselves. And that brings us up to date.