Welcome back to Frog Blog and the weekly news roundup from Mazeroux. The first thing to report, as much as it pains me, is that all of a sudden it feels very autumnal here. Just last week we were still in t-shirts, shorts, and sandals but now it’s socks and sweaters. We’ve even lit the fire a couple times, after a particularly cold day on Sunday. It’s been grey and damp with temps around 15-18 degrees, which I suppose isn’t too bad for October. Still, the change was very jarring, especially as it coincided with the departure of our guests, leaving us feeling very much in winter mode.
The cats are taking the change in the weather at least as badly as I am. Well, Louis doesn’t seem to mind too much, and the nightly hunts continue to be successful. On that subject, we’re currently trying to train him, for what it’s worth, to stop bringing his kills into the house (well, our room to be specific) and eating them. I now have a dustpan and brush by my bed and the moment we hear him clatter though the cat flap, singing his weird victory song, we jump up and eject both him and his mouse. He’s pretty stupid even by cat standards, so I don’t know if we’ll ever succeed, but at least now we don’t have to listen to bone crunching or clean up any remains in the morning.
No, Louis is generally fine with the winter. The problem is the Smoo, of course. Full of energy but too much of a wimp to go out, he resorts to tearing around the house and beating up his brother (and occasionally me). That he’s gotten this bad this early in the season is not a good sign. Here’s hoping we get another mild winter.
Since Paul and Karmen left, we’ve both been catching up on bits of work here and there. Matt had 2 small satellite sites to complete for his Allez Francais client, both of which were straightforward and I’ve had a few bits from existing projects while I wait for the green light on my upcoming ones. We also finally got around to dealing with last delivery of wood on Sunday. It’s now stacked up to dry in the garden, though we certainly won’t win any prizes for our technique: they look a lot more ramshackle than either Lucien or Dad’s efforts.
Another big bit of news concerns Lola. Last Monday, we finally took her to the garage in Nontron to get her bodywork repaired. We were told we could expect her back by the end of the week but as it turned out, she wasn’t ready until yesterday afternoon. We popped in to town to collect her today and I’m pleased to say that (on the outside at least) she’s all shiny and new-looking. The final bill was unfortunately more than quoted. When the guy told us this he said “well at least your insurance company is paying”. When we told him that unfortunately, ours won’t pay 100%, he advised us to switch companies, and recommended a local one. Conveniently, our contract is up for renewal next month so we’ll be looking into that. Not that I plan on driving the car into the ditch again any soon!
Now that things are a bit quieter for us, we’re beginning to make preparations for an upcoming gig. This is a repeat of an event that we played at this time last year: the Soirée Britannique. The first one was organised entirely by Barry & Carol, the couple who played with us, but this year the Milhac Loisirs association (that runs Matt’s conversation class) is doing it all. All Barry and Carol are doing is performing. For last year’s event, we were initially a little disappointed that despite the theme of “all things english”, Barry decided we would only do Beatles songs, though we are of course big fans. This year, the theme is being stretched even further: Barry & Carol plan on doing 10 Abba songs – and half those in French at that. We were asked if we wanted to play with them, but it really didn’t appeal so instead we’re playing separately. Given the licence being taken with the British concept, we’re currently considering anything from Elvis to Queen – as long as it is sung in English. We currently have a list of about 30 potentials that we need to whittle down to a dozen or so and start rehearsing, as we only have about 5 weeks to prepare.
In other news, we managed some socialising at the weekend. Our friend Laetitia from Belgium is over visiting her folks Josianne and Cammi so we invited them all over for dinner. Also in attendance was Jacqui from the conversation group and Carol, sans Bryan as he’s in the UK at present. We decided on a Mexican theme and so served up guacamole, salsa, and fajitas of either beef or chicken. It was a good fun night, and Carol did very well in keeping up with the French conversations.
We also finally caught up with Jenny from the equestrian centre as what with our visitors and her workload, it had been months. She called around for a coffee in the afternoon to share her news: her and Franck have parted ways for good. He is based in Bordeaux all week and she has busy weekends, so it was a less than ideal arrangement and they’d been having issues for a while now. She’s obviously sad about it, but also a little relieved as I think the situation was becoming too stressful.
Next week is Matt’s birthday and our friends Ridgit will be in town for it. In fact, we’re invited over to dinner round theirs on the day itself, and Rich has even promised to bake a cake, so that will be good fun. We’re hoping that Nat & Jill will be free too, but Jill’s still recovering from surgery so might not be ready yet. I think we mentioned a few months ago on here that she had a tumour in her neck. It has now been successfully removed and was totally benign, so that’s a fantastic result.
Finally, I am going to end up by saying that the 31st of this month will mark our 5th anniversary out here in France. Amazing to think it has been that long. This milestone has special significance for us as 5 years is the minimum amount of time one needs to have lived in this country to be eligible to apply for French citizenship. I’ve been entertaining going through the process for some time anyway, but the UK Conservative party recently clinched it for me. They’ve announced a 2015 election pledge to repeal a 1998 Act passed in Britain that recognises the authority of the European Court of Human Rights. Petty, short-sighted nationalism at its worst. If this comes to pass, the UK will join Belarus to make a select club of just 2 European states that choose to ignore the EU convention on human rights. I really feel like I don’t recognise the UK these days. So, I am currently gathering the documents needed and reading up on the process so I am ready to get the ball rolling when I become eligible.
Right, that’s all I have to say about that. Au revoir.