Salut a tous. To continue the story, we did indeed have dinner round at the Frenchies’ place at the weekend, in celebration of their recent good news. Sharon was unfortunately feeling under the weather so didn’t join us, but Matt and I called round at about 8 for pre-dinner drinkies with Christophe and Chrissline. We also met a friend of Jean-Mi’s by the name of Rebecca, a very lovely lady who, like Jean-Mi, owns a shop in Brantome. Jean-Mi and Patrick arrived shortly after, along with Patrick’s girlfriend, Sophie.
Matt and I were in need of an early night after having been run ragged by a slew of visitors, and the poor kitties were still a wreck after cohabiting with the rabbit-dog for two days, so we had hoped to be all done and dusted by midnight. Sadly, it didn’t quite pan out that way, thanks to the last person to arrive: another mate of theirs, a chap called, improbably, Lou-Lou. We assume this was a nick-name, but we never found out what it stood for. Anyway, he was drinking in Brantome and, after several highly abusive calls from a hungry Jean-Mi, finally pitched up around 10:30. By this time, we were all ravenous, especially poor Chrissline, who is not enjoying being pregnant very much. Lou-lou made up for his lateness by being an extremely funny man (cute too) who also spoke excellent english.
The meal was typically excellent – moules et frites, the former of which, I am told, were lovely. I can attest to the quality of the chips, which though store-brought, had been given special treatment: they were deep fried with a chopped onion, which made them especially yummy. Chrissline also served up a fantastic dish of stuffed courgettes, filled with sausage meat and veg. We asked for the receipe at the end of the meal, only to find that all the other guests had too, so Chrissline ended up copying it out a few times. They were fab, and made with courgettes from their garden. Good inspiration for us: our mutant “Day of the Triffids” style courgette plants are all of a sudden in overdrive, chucking out more, massive, fruits than we know what to do with. The meal was capped off by a phenomenal trio of desserts: home made vanilla ice-cream, a tarte-tatin made with kiwi instead of apple, and a divine chocolate fondant type dish. Mmmm!
After two days with the Demailly family, were were both well attuned to listening to French, which is just as well as after a few Kirs and some wine, the talk started to get both faster and deeper. At this point, the title of this entry becomes clear: the conversation was broadly on politics and patriotism and Patrick made some generic, disparaging comment about French people being idiots, which immediately got Jean-Mi’s back up. The debate got more and more heated as we finished the main, and then unfortunately, turned a bit nasty.
The house-mates were all, bar Patrick, cleaning away the plates, and Patrick didn’t get up to help after Jean-Mi asked him to, which is when the argument proper began. It was clear that it really had nothing to do with the earlier debate and had been building for a long, long time. The two other house-mates also joined in attacking Pat for his laziness around the house and for being so tight with money. Apparently, he never helps clean up and has never contributed a single euro to communal dinner evenings, hence their exasperation. He eventually left us under the weight of the onslaught and returned to his annex of the property. It was obviously a bit awkward for all concerned, but we got back to enjoying the evening after that. He missed out on dessert too, poor bugger. The really awkward part was that Patrick’s girlfriend was right there and sat through the entire onslaught. She didn’t join him when he left and fortunately, didnt seem too phased about all this.
As for the “departure” part, because of the imminent baby, the Frenchies’ housing arrangement is due to come to an end soon, which is a real shame as they are such a great bunch to be sharing the hamlet with (recent domestic aside). Chrissline and ‘tophe undersrtandably want their own space, so plan to be out by Spring. The other two had originally said they would stay, as long as they were able to find new lodgers by October. After saturday night though, we cant really see that happening…
The other reason for the “departure” part is that this is the eve of my long weekend trip to Blighty. Matt and Sharon both think I am insane but I am hugely excited about it: I cannot wait to see everyone again. As an added bonus, I also get to see my dear friend Miranda tie the knot while back in MK. The downside is that it I am currently writing this by the pool, in shorts, under a blue sky and it is about 28 degrees. Today in London, it is 15 degrees. I’d best pack warm….