It falls to me to do this entry as Matt’s got lots of work on and I unfortunately still do not. Jan got here a week ago for her annual trip. Her journey went smoothly all the way until Paris, which greeted her with torrential rain and a train strike. The latter meant that she had to get a refund on her ticket and buy another one to Limoges. And thanks to the former, this train took an extra hour: severe flooding south of Paris was affecting the line.
Before I go any further with the narrative, I wanted to add a few words about the current state of things in France, where it feels quite gloomy. At its most obvious level, this is partly due to the weather this year which can be summed up in two words: grey and wet. We’re still waiting for spring to get underway and it’s nearly summer. None of our fruit has ripened and there’s been no point in planting any veg. We’ve had a crazy amount of rain down here, but that’s nothing compared to the departements just south of Paris where thousands have been evacuated, many thousands more are without electricity, and several people have died. The river Seine hit a staggering peak of 6.1m above its normal level last week. That’s virtually unheard of.
And then there are the strikes. We all know it doesnt take too much provocation to get the french to down tools, but these ones are especially disruptive as they’re not bound to any particular industry. Depressingly, they’ve also been particularly ugly and violent. In essence, the current government is seeking to reform France’s labour laws and bring them in line with other european countries. Specifically, to make it easier for employers to fire staff. While this sounds counter-productive, it is in fact very much needed. Once you’re hired on a permanent basis out here, it’s virtually impossible to get fired. That’s great if you have a job, but it means companies hire very reluctantly. This explains why France has 10% unemployment. What really drives me mad is that 2/3s of the country support the concept of labour reforms. Part of the issue seems to simply be that it’s Hollande that is proposing them, and he is now so hated that virtually anything he does is met with ridicule. So yes, it’s all a bit of a mess here at present.
The only place where there’s an even bigger mess going on is my home country, which is increasingly resolute on marching off a cliff in a couple weeks’ time. On 23 June, the UK public will vote on staying in or leaving the EU. And of late, the leave camp has pulled ahead. It will be very close, but I’m really starting to worry now that the leave side has the momentum. This should have been a comfortable win for remain and the fact that it isnt suggests a worrying level of apathy. It will break my heart if the UK votes out – partly for what it will do to the state of country, and partly because of what it will do to Europe. If it happens, it will be remembered as the beginning of the end of the EU.
Right, enough doom and gloom and on with the story. So, Jan got here on Wednesday, which was a rehearsal night. As her train was late, we had a rush to get dinner out of the way in time, but it was confit de canard so didnt take long to prepare. Our rehearsal went fine, but we were minus Roxanne yet again as her bronchitis came back. We’re hoping she’ll be OK for the gig as it’s only 4 days away now. If not, we’ll just have to do it as a three-piece.
On Thursday we had Barry & Carol and Gilles & Myriam over for dinner at ours. Matt’s got a big project on the go and is working full time on that, so Jan did the lion’s share of the meal preparation. She made one of our lasagne recipes – wild mushroom and cheese – which is excellent but laborious. It was a hit with the guests and all told it was a very enjoyable evening. Even weird Gilles wasn’t that strange.
The next day I had a fight with Hackney council (our electoral borough in the UK) that I will try and summarise very briefly. Over the last few months, we’ve been sent numerous contradictory letters from Hackney about our status. One told me my application to be included on the electoral register had been refused, even though I was already on it. Another confirmed I was registered to vote by post (I hadn’t applied to be). In fact, such is their brilliance that those two letters arrived on the same day. Every time I would ring them and be told something different which would then be contradicted by a colleague on a subsequent call. This game of silly buggers reached a peak last week when for a moment it looked like their misinformation had led to us not being able to vote. A long phone call and several emails later and – we believe – all is now resolved. We shall see, but if they do stuff up, I will sue the bastards.
After that fight, my day improved with the delivery of my repaired guitar pedal. It now works perfectly, and the makers even agreed to refund me the postage fees so that all ended well. That evening we had leftovers for dinner and a game or two of cards before turning in. It has literally done nothing but rain since Jan got here, but I’m relieved to report that as the week wore on, it began to improve. Jan’s even been able to get out and do some weeding in the garden. Friday was our first rain-free day, and it was also curry night. We enjoyed that together and then left Jan at Port 80 for our weekly Musique en Herbe session, which I wont bother describing. We’re in countdown mode now: we only have 3 more to go and then we’re free.
We didnt do anything blog-worthy on saturday that I can think of, so on to Sunday and our excursion. This was to the bay of Arcachon – a first for all of us. It’s about 3 hours’ drive away in the Gironde departement, on the coast south of Bordeaux. We left the house by 11 armed with Port 80 sandwiches and our first stop was la Dune du Pyla, the largest sand dune in Europe. It’s nearly 3km long, 500m wide and 110m tall, and it just suddenly springs up out of nowhere from the surrounding forest. It’s a steep climb to the top, but well worth it for the amazing views over the bay.
Next we headed into Arcachon itself and checked in. It’s a pretty town with an interesting history. It’s only 150 years old, having been purpose-built by 2 entrepreneurial brothers who owned the land (at the time, nothing but pine forests) and wanted to make money from it. The plan they settled on was to capitalise on the site’s perceived health benefits. It was believed that the marine climate and pine scented air was good for respiratory issues, specifically tuberculosis. And so they created a luxury retreat where sufferers could come and be treated in style. It was essentially a giant, open plan health sanctuary. It remained a hot-spot for the health-conscious bourgeois until the turn of the century, when the discovery of penicillin pretty much rendered it superfluous and it fell into decay, until being later restored.
The town is divided into 4 different districts, each whimsically named for the seasons – La Ville d’Été, La Ville d’Hiver etc. We had a wonder around in the sunshine that took in the seafront and an aquarium, all in la Ville d’Été. The beach is of a lovely fine sand and there are several piers. The girl working on the desk at our hotel was extremely pleasant and helpful, so we followed her recommendations for a meal that night and were not disappointed. The next day we took a tourist train ride to La Ville d’Hiver, again on her recommendation.
This is architecturally the most interesting part of Arcachon. It is a series of “villas” of various styles, each originally built for a specific family or visitor, and with its own history. They were built right in the original pine forest, which must have made it all the more beautiful, but the pines are now largely gone. Now the whole town is dotted with many exotic varieties of trees imported and planted by the two founders. It’s a hilly part of town, and what with the weird and colourful houses, it reminded me a little of San Francisco.
Afterwards, we had lunch and then hit the road for the return journey. I’m relieved to say that since getting back, it’s been lovely out. It’s 25 today and largely clear. It’s due to remain like this all week, until saturday when it turns cool and rainy. This is entirely to be expected as we have our first gig of the season that night. More on that next time!