It’s bloody cold here in Mazeroux all of a sudden. We’ve started experiencing the occasional frost and some minus temperatures overnight, and we had to have the fire on all day today.
Seems that, unlike the mostly mild month that preceded it, November means business. The houseplants have been moved inside and the last leaves are falling from the trees. Inevitable it may all be, but I still don’t have to like it.
Tuesday was the last pleasant day, and very pleasant it was too in fact. It was a public holiday (La Fête de la Toussaint, or All Souls Day). Not being of either the French or the Catholic persuasion, it’s not one we tend to celebrate. This year however, we were invited out to brunch by our friends Emmanuel & Olivier who live 45 mins away in the Charente. There were a surprising number of cars on the road as we drove over there which served as a reminder that as far as fêtes go, this one’s a fairly big deal out here. It’s a day for remembering lost ones, and for being with one’s family. And as with all French fêtes, it’s also all about eating a big meal.
Along with us, E&O had invited Emmanuel’s business parter, a lovely and rather handsome young man called Jean-Christophe. We arrived a little after noon, and as it was around 20 degrees and sunny, we ate outside on their terrasse. We had a relaxed and informal meal and chatted about the state of the world, had a lovely stroll through the Charentaise countryside afterwards, and then said our goodbyes and headed home. We had a near miss with the gendarmes on our way. All the small backroads were unusually busy as everyone had had the same idea to avoid being pulled over. Unfortunately, our route involved crossing briefly over a larger road and there they were waiting. So we made an unscheduled course adjustment that took us a little out of the way, but we avoided any unpleasantness.
Wednesday was a back to work day. On that, I’ve suddenly got a few things going on after being too quiet for too long. I’ve mostly being working on Dad’s site, giving it a final facelift before he sells it next year, but I’ve also put a couple other sites live and have some other jobs to get round to as well. Matt’s also been busy getting various bits done for existing clients so he can get going on his big new projects.
That evening was band practise, which went really well and left us feeling a lot more upbeat about our now-imminent gig. However, disaster struck afterwards, as we were packing all our equipment away. My guitar case slipped out of my hand and it slammed to the ground with a terrifying bang. After a few seconds of frozen terror, I told myself there was no way that my guitar could have been harmed inside its hard case. I opened it up to check and to my immense relief it looked fine, so I stopped worrying.
The following evening after a busy day I went to treat myself to some guitar time. That’s when I discovered that my most precious possession hadnt escaped unscathed after all. Barring a slender slice of wood holding it on, the head was severed. I have two electric guitars, one of which I always gigged with because I didnt mind if it got knocked about. The other, my pride and joy, I only played at home for fear of it getting dented. At the start of this year I decided I missed my favourite guitar too much so I switched to gigging with it instead. I’d been pleased with this decision right up until now. I should have realised that 2016 wouldn’t let such a foolish move go unpunished.
I spent the rest of the evening trying to track down a “luthier” (stringed instrument maker) online. I found one about 35 mins away who said he could probably fix it, but wouldn’t give a price until he’d had a look. The next day I went to visit him, combining the trip with a detour to Thiviers to drop off Lewis, Ridgit’s son who I’d collected at the start of the week. The luthier, when I finally found him, turned out to be a really nice and very interesting guy. He had lived in Reading, UK back in the 70s and 80s and told me about all the amazing bands he’d seen live. He said he could make my guitar look like new, but it would be a big and very expensive job, and would take several weeks. I explained I had neither the time or money for that so he’s doing it more simply. It will be obvious from behind, but it should look fine from the front. He’s doing it for a mere 85€ too which is fantastic.
That evening Manu and Mathilde came over for a meal. It would have been curry but we forgot to order this month so Matt made a mexican meal instead. We had chicken enchiladas, salsa and guacamole. An apparently rotten red onion rendered the latter inedible, but that aside, it was all delicious. Dessert was a sort of apple pie made by Mathilde that was also excellent. They left us around 1am and we retired a couple hours later after a film.
Our lie-in the following morning was cut short by a phone call so we were a bit tired the following day. We both worked for a few hours and in the evening, went to a 40th birthday. This was our friend Ghislaine from Musique en Herbe, and was held at her restaurant in La Coquille, 30 mins away. There were around 50 of us there, including quite a few from MeH that it was nice to see again. We stayed until around 1am and then came home for another late night.
And I think that’s about all I need to recount from the last week. So, I shall close off with a word about the US election. It should be Hillary, and by a landslide. The fact that it is in any way close at all is just terrifying. One is a racist, homophobic, misogynist who is currently facing not one but multiple accusations of indecent assault. His foreign policy risks global economic meltdown, or even war. Ok, so Hillary ain’t perfect, but there really shouldnt be a contest here. I blame it on 2016, the Cursed Year. If the election were happening at any other time, it’d be a walk in the park. As it is, this year has killed my god, taken my homeland out of the EU, and decapitated my best guitar that I’d maintained in mint condition for 10 years – so anything could happen tomorrow as far as I’m concerned. To all friends and family over there in the States, votez sagement! And if disaster does strike, you’re all welcome out here…