It is, yet again, another hot one here in Mazeroux today, and we’re due for two more days of 30 degrees before it all comes collapsing down on us this Wednesday. This is rather unfortunate luck on the part of Matt’s Dad, who gets into France on – yes, you guessed it – wednesday. To be fair, it’s been a ridiculously long time since it rained properly, and it really shows. Lucien is beside himself with concern. Personally, I’m hoping the long-term forecast is wrong and we’ve still got some 30 degrees ahead of us before the year’s done. In theory though, it’s going to be cooler and more seasonally normal from now on.
In the meantime, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve had a much calmer week here so this shouldnt be too long an update. Work’s still too quiet, but I did hear from one of my on-hold clients on Monday. This is a drone photography website that’s been in the works since June. They came around in the evening and gave me virtually everything else I needed so I ended up somewhat busy for a day or two. There’s one maddeningly small thing I still need from them before I can put it live, and more importantly, bill them – but at least the work’s all done.
On Monday, Matt went to the docs. For several weeks he has had a sore hand, something he’d put down to a combination of using a computer mouse and playing bass guitar. We were assuming the doc would say it was repetitive strain injury, but he apparently suspects it might be arthritis, which would be very crap. However, we’re already slightly dubious of his diagnostic skills, and in any event he is retiring in a week or so, so we suspect he might have already mentally checked out. I think Matt plans on getting a second opinion when we switch doctors. Let’s hope for better news on that.
We had two activities on Wednesday, both in Milhac’s salle des fetes. In the afternoon there was a sort of open day hosted by Soleil du Midi, the lovely folks who want to put 5 industrial sized windfarms in a forest inside a natural park. Hardly anyone from Milhac itself came, but between the people of Mazeroux and surrounding communes, there was a crowd of about 30 or so who came to make their feelings known. The local TV news team even came to cover it. Regrettably, they chose to interview Gilles, our nutty professor neighbour, so now everyone will think Milhac’s full of weirdos. Our anti-wind farm group came armed with all their brochures, and the wind farm company provided their own propaganda to debunk their claims. I dont think either side is telling the full truth in all honesty, but nor do I think there’s any sense in this project going ahead. Our maire, on whose tombstone will be engraved a wind turbine, was unsurprisingly conspicuous by his absence.
That evening we headed back to Milhac for our first rehearsal for the Soirée Britannique. It was quite a palava getting everything packed up and into the car and then set up on the stage. Harry our drummer had a similar experience with his drum kit. Our puny microphone speaker cant go very loud and in comparison, the drums were very loud. It’s also the first time we’ve played as a fully live four-piece group – no synthesisers or other backings, just guitar, bass, drums and voice. On certain songs that works fine, but on others… not so much. We’re still trying to sort out our set-list and time is a-ticking, especially as we’re missing the next rehearsal because we’re off up to collect Chuck. We’ve also failed to entice the other singer out of retirement. Well, if we end up being terrible, at least there’s another group playing that night!
On Thursday morning, Matt had his first meeting as President of Milhac Loisirs. This was at ours and went smoothly enough. They’re sketching out the calendar of activities for the year ahead and, like us, are starting to plan for the imminent Soirée Britannique. Thursday is also the day that Smoo decided to give us a bit of a scare by pulling a disappearing act. By lunchtime we realised we’d not seem him since the night before. Several times that day I went around the village and called, but to no joy. Had it been Louis, I wouldnt have fretted but it’s very unlike the Smoo. He finally reappeared around 10pm that night and has been close by ever since. He also devoured most of a bowl of biscuits that night, so I reckon he’d gotten shut in somewhere. Anyway, he’s safely home now and as Smeagly as ever.
The other thing that we’ve been occupying ourselves with lately is our harvest. Down to just 5 plants out of 16, we’re obviously keen to get the most out of them, so we’ve been giving them a special fertiliser and following all the tips Eva gave us. Of the five, two are just glorious and laden with big flowers. Sadly, the others are far less developped, although (hopefully anyway) they’ve still got several weeks yet before we harvest. The veggie plot’s other occupants are even less impressive. There are spindly tomato plants laden with tomatoes of a vibrant shade of green that clearly arent interested in ripening, and three near-dead squash plants, each boasting a single aborted attempt at a fruit. Apparently, 6 months of rain and no sun, followed by a hot summer of no rain and all sun, is not a good combination for growing things. I’ve said it before and will no doubt say it again: it’s been a funny old year, 2016.