Welcome back to Mazeroux where the sky is a deep grey, there’s a powerful wind pummelling us, and it is – yet again – raining. This configuration seems to be the new normal for winters in the Dordogne. I will admit that it’s nice it stays well above freezing, but some sunshine would do wonders for my morale.
So, on with the recap: Dad ended up staying with us until Friday lunch time, and by the end of his trip had made some impressive progress, despite the initial mishaps. Now that the flooring is sorted, the plumber is able to get cracking on getting pipes in place so there will (hopefully) be some visible progress when Dad comes over next month.
On Tuesday afternoon last week, we had a client meeting. This was with a couple who run their own brewery in nearby Saint Saud. They brew traditional, British style beers, and have a current website that is unfortunately a train wreck. The meeting went very well indeed and they seem a lovely couple which is a major bonus. They want a full online shop, and in English & French too, so it will be quite a large project to keep me busy. December was mostly quiet for me, so I am relieved to have something to get my teeth into again. So far it’s shaping up nicely. Matt continues to be very busy and is waiting to hear back on a very large project for a real estate company. He’d be quite happy if they went with someone else, but the money would be great too.
I may also have a nightmare project of my own to contend with. I was approached back in early December by a couple who own a large château and vineyard near Bergerac. Based on the size of the property, they’re quite wealthy, and her responses to my questionnaire convinced me that she’d be incredibly demanding and hard to work for. To make matters worse, she sent me some examples of websites she liked, and all of them were works of art that whole teams of designers had no doubt laboured over for many hours. So I prepared a quote way above what I’d normally charge, and also told her that the sites she’d picked out were beyond an agency of our size. I got no reply, which I took to mean she’d taken the hint. Until friday afternoon that is, when she responded out of the blue to ask if I could have it done by April! She was supposed to call me today to discuss, but never did. I pray this just goes away, but fear the worst.
Ok, that’s enough work. Onto the weekend, which was a busy one. On Friday, we were invited to Jenny’s for a chicken curry, courtesy of Sam, who we can confirm is quite the budding chef. Also in attendance was another friend of Jenny’s we’d not met before, and Benoit & Virginie. It ended up being quite a drunken evening, with two rounds of particularly feisty margaritas to start. Sam made onion bhajis and a few other starters that were all delicious, but not enough to soak up the booze. After the main, and much red wine, we moved on to dessert: a selection of Fred the baker’s cakes. We left around midnight for a superfluous nightcap then bed.
We were both sore-headed the next day, but soon rallied, and even both did a few hours work. That evening, Rigit came and joined us for dinner. They’re both extremely happy to be here, and certainly to be retired. It reminded me what our first few weeks out in France were like, and the joy of waking up when you’re ready, rather than when the alarm clock says so. For dinner, we had italian-style antipasti, followed by a new creamy, cheesy tortellini recipe that was a hit. Dessert was brownies and ice cream. They left a little before midnight so we had a film before bed.
Yesterday was band practise day, our first for quite a while. Despite this, it mostly went well, although there’s lots to be done before we’re anywhere near gig-ready. And that’s about it! The only other news is that we’re finally all booked up for the honeymoon. We leave on the 15th of March for Cape Verde, via a few days in Lisbon. It promises to be hot and sunny there, with temps in the high 20s. I cannot express just how good that sounds at the moment.