My alternate title for this post is “The Winter that Wasn’t”, although Will wouldn’t agree. It was the warmest winter on record, although that’s not saying much since it’s the fourth or fifth in a row. I find it interesting that the French consider the seasons to correspond to the full months, so winter is Dec – Feb. Weather-wise, we had a handful of nights where the temperature dropped below freezing, but no snow at all. The highs during the day ranged from the high single digits to the mid-teens, with a few days near 20 in Feb.
Instead of snow, we had a lot of wet and very windy storms throughout the season, with gusts up to 100km/h. Thankfully, there hasn’t been a lot of damage except for some downed trees here and there. Things started to bloom in early Feb and by now, most everything has started. I mowed the lawn during a sunny spell we had a week or so ago. This is fortunate since the lawn has already grown back with the recent rain. I pruned the plants in the front garden, and even took the chainsaw to the big apple tree since it’s badly in need of a pruning.
There were a few milestones in February including Anne & Andrew’s one year anniversary of living in France. They celebrated it with a bomb, literally. While digging up the ground for the veggie plot, Anne came across a large metal canister that she set aside. They moved it around a bit during the week, not knowing what it was. Coincidently, Andrew saw a show about a bomb that had been discovered recently in Leeds, and noticed that it looked a lot like the thing sitting in their back garden.
He phoned Will, who phoned the mairie, who phoned the gendarmes, who phoned the prefecture. The Maire and gendarmes turned up on masse to have a look but being a Friday, no one was available from the prefecture to deal with it. So they put up a small cordon and were told not to touch it many times, in French and broken English. The bomb people from the prefecture arrived on Monday and confirmed that the bomb wasn’t armed, and took it away with them. It wasn’t the most conventional way to celebrate their first year here, but will make for a memorable one.
Our other late Feb event was Will’s birthday, which fell on a Friday this year. The folks had yet to eat at the Hostellerie St Jacques, the gourmet hotel/restaurant in their village of St Saud. Will and I had been a few times before, but not for a number of years. We decided to go for lunch since it’s cheaper and allows more time for digestion. We arrived and sat at a table by the fire in a small room at the front. It turned out that we were the only customers since they had only reopened for the season that day. So the service was even more attentive than normal, and we were waited on by a server, the maitre d’ and the chef, who came out to check on us a few times. They were most interested in our opinion of the food since we were the first to try it.
Will started with a cepes crepe that he raved about, Andrew had fois gras and I had beef tataki, seared very rare and garnished with greens and purples including beetroot sorbet. We weren’t sure there would be anything for Anne but there was merlu, a white fish like cod which is on the approved list. Will and Andrew had confit of quail breast, and I had scallop risotto, all delicious. For dessert, Will and Andrew had banoffe pie, Will’s favourite; Anne had something with buffalo mozzarella and I had apple tarte with caramel and ice cream.
And those are just the things we ordered. Before the starter arrived, we had a champagne cocktail, served with a few nibbly things, followed by three additional amuse bouche including a potato-based foam flavoured with truffe. Near the end of the meal, we told them it was Will’s birthday, so they brought us each a complimentary glass of champagne and sang happy birthday. There were also additional sweets served with the coffee. So we rolled out of there around 3, all very, very full. We went back to the folks for a coffee, then headed home to light the fire. Needless to say, we all skipped dinner that night.
We continued the celebration the following night and had the folks plus Manu & Mathilde over for dinner. I made oven-fried chicken, a favourite of mine but not of Will’s because of the silly amount of clean-up involved. This was served with roasted potatoes and crunchy salad, then cheese. I made a chocolate cherry cake with the last of the jarred cherries, and Anne made a carrot cake with lovely cream cheese frosting. We had a nice Franglais evening that didn’t last too late. I’m almost embarrassed to say we had a drunken sing-a-long watching Grease after the guests left.
On other fronts, work has slowed down for me, and somewhat for Will too. He’s actually put a few sites live that were started last year, and we’re about to launch one for my cousin Marnie that’s been in the works for nearly a year. I did a small project this week, but not much else. This has given me time to work on my time-keeping / invoicing system and I’m hoping to have a working version by the end of the month in time for my quarterly invoicing.
The mayoral elections start next week. Since Brexit became official, we’re no longer allowed to vote in these or European elections, and we received a letter from the Mairie informing us. Will assumed his was sent in error since he’s also a French citizen. Unfortunately, the letter was sent after the registration cut-off, so he’s been disenfranchised for this election. As it turns out, there is only one list (slate) of candidates this year, so it’s pretty much a given that they’ll be elected. We know a number of the candidates including Manu, and we’re somewhat comforted that they’ve taken an anti-wind farm stance.
On that note, we’ve joined a newly formed group called Milhac Transition. It’s a “collective”, which is sort of like a lobby, although on a much smaller scale. Our aim is to get more involved in these type of decisions that would have a major impact on the commune. Will created a web site with a sign-up form, and we’ve had around 20 people express interest so far.
Election season also means it’s roadworks season. The cynical say that it’s so the Maire can remind people he’s made improvements to the area. They decided to redo the road leading to Mazeroux, widening it a bit and putting in better drainage. This has meant closing off the road, and the trucks using the little road in front of our house for access. The main works are nearly done but they’ve done our number on our road, which they may redo as a result.
Musically, we’ve been rehearsing with Paul on a weekly basis. They’re having a party in mid-April to inaugurate their new deck, and we’ll play our first concert there. Will is accompanying our choir on guitar for a couple of songs, and we may have our first concert in April, or May if not. He’s come along to rehearsal a few times to prepare.
On the travel front, Will is going to England on Wed to see Nan and will spend one night at Dave & Amy’s to see them and the wee one. He’s a bit worried about being the one who brings Coronavirus to Mazeroux since he’ll be spending time in London as well. Anne is also going back the following week since it’s Nan’s birthday. My mom arrives in mid-March and the three of us are going to Barcelona to see Maddie. Her school orchestra is doing a European tour, arriving in Geneva and leaving from Barcelona, passing through southern France on the way. There is some chance the trip will be cancelled, but we’ll probably go in any case. And that’s about it from Mazeroux.