Another quiet week, although a bit more social than last. Not much happened until Friday night. We feared rehearsal was going to go badly, and we were right. The 80’s night Will mentioned is not related to our group, so that was a false alarm. But we only made it through a handful of songs, despite being there 3 1/2 hours. Granted, we’re mostly working on new songs, but it’s still painfully slow.
In addition to a frustrating rehearsal, we’ve kicked off a political shitstorm. There are a couple of women singers there, who have come and gone from the group a few times. They are not in favour with Alain, the leader, nor Gislaine, our new friend. We’ve recently thrown around the idea of playing with the two of them, apart from Musique en Herbe. We told Gislaine, who did not like the idea, and she told Alain. He then went on a Facebook tirade at one of the two women, accusing her of stabbing him in the back by stealing us away. We received a very contrite email from Alain, saying how much he valued us, and wanted us to help out with the musical direction and coaching.
Will has written back to explain that our frustration is mainly the lack of progress at rehearsals. We’ve decided that the June concert will likely be our last one with them, although we haven’t told Alain that yet. So we’ll carry on until then, reluctantly.
We had people over for dinner on Sat and Sun. The first night was Bryan and Carol, and we hadn’t socialised with them since xmas. I made enough soup (Moroccan Carrot) and brownies for both nights. The brownies were exactly half way through cooking when the power went. I tried the diffuser (main circuit breaker) but it wouldn’t stay in. I called Carol and they had power so I took the brownies down to her’s finish cooking. I then stopped at Myriam and Gilles and they too had power. Gilles came by and had a look, and confirmed that we should ring EDF. Will did, and eventually got through to someone who arranged for a man to come out.
Despite being 3:30 on a Sat afternoon, the guy arrived within the hour. After replacing the old diffuser, he and Will traced the problem to something in the kitchen. Both the oven and dishwasher were going when the power went, so we deduced it was one of them. We later traced it to the dishwasher, so we’re now in the market for a new one. The old one didn’t do a great job anyway, so it’s not a huge loss.
That afternoon I had a meeting at Josiane’s to discuss the upcoming Soirée Espagnole that we’re putting on. The caterer pulled out at the last moment, so she’s been scrambling to find a replacement. She has done so, but at twice the price, so with the cost of the entertainment, we’re sure to make a loss on the event. I have to put up signs around the village, and distribute flyers and posters, but not much else. It was 14C and sunny so we had the meeting outside.
This was the second sunny day in a row, but apart from that, it’s mostly grey and stormy. Even so, it’s still very mild, so it looks like an early Spring. I’ve got to get the lawnmower serviced before the season, so I’ll try to do that this week. The cats took advantage of the nice weather, and Smeagol got a mouse, but now they’re back inside and not too happy.
So back to Sat night, our guests arrived and we had a nice catch-up. Their daughter Jenni just turned 40 and she was having a big party that night. Because of Carol’s shoulder, she can’t fly at the moment, so they couldn’t attend. Bryan went back a few weeks ago for her actual bday, so that was a small consolation. Carol will see the surgeon today to find out what he recommends. Apart from her bad shoulder, they’re both fine, but a bit bored. Carol sings in another choir, and has French lessons and another convo group, but she’s still going a bit stir crazy. The meal that night was soup to start, then herb roasted pork with caramelised sweet potatoes and sauteed green beans. Dessert was brownies with vanilla ice cream. They left us around 11, and we stayed up watching a film.
Sunday was a lazy day. Since half of the meal was made, I didn’t have much to do until the evening. Our guests were Lewis and Pary, although she didn’t come in the end since they were up until 4am the previous night. She is vegetarian, so I made Tamale Pie, served with salad, plus the same soup and brownies. Lewis is doing well, and is about to start a well-paid full time job for the next six weeks. He’s also going to meet a company in Orleans that may have steady work for him. The downside is that he must stay in Paris, and will only make it back here every other weekend. They’ve found a basement apartment way out in the burbs, but may look for something else. We’re happy for him, but it means we’ll see them even less for a while.
Nothing much new to report on the work front. I’ve hit some snags with Andrew’s new site that are taking time to work out. We’ve very close, but can’t go live until they’re all fixed. Will has a number of projects including a few new quick and simples. I don’t have much else but maintenance tasks on my existing sites, which is not thrilling work. I think that’s all there is to report.