I know this is long overdue but I have the excuse of being very busy. The day Will left, an arbitrary deadline fell out of the sky meaning I had two days to finish what I was doing. I don’t mind having a deadline, I just wish I had more notice that it was coming. I put in some extra hours and finished on time but it still hasn’t gone live since we’re now waiting on the client. It’s for an existing site, built on an earlier version of the framework so I had to learn a number of things over again. Also, there appear to have been at least 10 previous developers, not one of which had a clue or any concern for the poor sap like me that would inherit their shoddy work. Ok, rant over.
The first Saturday Will was away was the annual fete at the centre equestre. With Carol still in the UK, Bryan too was flying solo so we agreed to go together. I had a quick drink at home before picking him up but deciding that it was too early, we stopped at his place for a quick drink. We arrived around 7 but things were running a bit behind so we thought best to head back to Bryan’s for another drink. When we arrived closer to 8, the evening was in fully swing. There were around 30 adults plus kids but apart from the hosts and one or two others, I knew no one. We started on a sangria-like punch while waiting for dinner and then drank the wine we’d brought with us with the meal. By the time the meal ended and the band started, I was more than buzzed which was good considering our dinner company, a lady named Anka. Without going into detail, suffice it to say that some of the ex-pat Brits you meet out here are not pleasant and she falls into that category. Despite this, I had a good time listening to the band and staggered home after midnight from the hamlet’s annual do.
I did a bit of gardening while Will was gone but it rained a lot so I didn’t have to water the garden at all. Apart from that, I mostly worked on Carbon Plan, the site for my friend’s small business. I put in an hour or two most weeknights but I finished the bulk of the work this past weekend. Typically, I’m still waiting for my last invoice to be paid but so far, he’s always paid up eventually so I’m not worried. Also on the work front, Will has been busy since he’s been back. He just finished a Sites for Homes that took a number of days. He’s building a site for a gite owner and is waiting on a few other clients for text and photos. We also did an announcement to our expat site and got a few nibbles so hopefully one of those develops into something.
While Will was away, I did a bit of culinary exploration. I got some fresh salmon and had that pan-fried over lentils, leeks and carrots with herb butter and it was pretty special. I also made Thai beef noodles that would have been great had I not burned the shallots. The flavours were there but mostly overpowered by a blackened taste that detracted from an otherwise lovely dish. I had store-bought pizza a few nights, just cause it’s easy to prepare and eat while working. The second week, I made steak salad with shallot vinegar dressing that came out rather well.
I collected Will from Angouleme around 9:30 on Thursday evening. Since I was working at the office, it didn’t make sense to go home so I headed to the big city a bit early to enjoy a meal out. I really wanted sushi and although we had a terrible experience at the one restaurant, I figured my standards were probably lower now and that I might enjoy it. Despite its small size, parking is still difficult in Angouleme but it was 8 so I thought it might not be too bad. Unfortunately, there was some event in the city center that led the police to close off a number of roads causing traffic chaos. As a fallback, I had already looked up how to find the Asian buffet that the boys had taken us to. I found it no probs and had mediocre sushi and bad Chinese food before collecting Will from the station. It only took an hour to get home and despite the lateness, we had a drink and sampled some of our new wares before retiring around 1.
We stayed in on Friday but Saturday was the town pot-luck picnic in Milhac that evening so Nat and Jill invited us over for an aperitif beforehand. Since we planned to take Bryan, we brought him along and were were also joined by Veronique, N&J’s friend that we met on NYE. We were meant to drive but when we got in, Will realised that he’d left Lola on with the a/c going for the past six hours so she wouldn’t start. Bryan gallantly stepped in as designated driver and Lucien came by the next day and gave us a jump so it all worked out fine for everyone, except Bryan.
We had quick drink here and then headed to N&Js for an aperitif and a smoke before heading to the picnic armed with the dishes we’d made. Nat and Jill made two: goats cheese-stuffed peppers; and greek style pasta salad. We opted to do dessert in the form of carrot cake cookies. The meal was already in full swing, with everyone bringing their own cutlery and booze and sharing everything else. It was held in the forecourt of the church with around 50 people sharing picnic tables. I saw one or two people from the conversation class but otherwise, didn’t recognise anyone. The food was all typically delicious with dishes ranging from sliced roasted lamb, to pasta or cous cous salad to meat pies. Most of the desserts were French (tartes, flan, clafouti) so there was lots of interest in the “dessert Anglaise” aka cookies. One lady jokingly asked if they weren’t perhaps best served to a rabbit but I took no offence. The six of us left after not too long and headed back to N&Js place for a night cap or two.
Jill had a bit of news for us which segues nicely into my next topic: the MDL. I won’t tell you what it stands for but the L is for lady and it refers to Sharon, our ex-friend and landlady. She found Jill on-line and told her that she and Oscar are shortly headed to Dubai where she found a job. She had mentioned to us previously that she knows someone out there so it’s plausible. I feel really bad for Oscar, her very hairy and very overweight yellow lab who enjoyed wading through icy rivers in sub-zero temperatures. I guess he’ll become an indoor dog in his new desert home.
We also heard via Richard via John that she did actually sell her house and it was a private sale. In this market, that means she would have to have taken around 50% of her asking price and would leave her with a lot of debt still owed to the bank. If I sound like I’m gloating, it’s probably because I am although I don’t wish her any ill-will. However, it was clear for a long time that things weren’t all they seemed in the friendship and it was becoming a chore to spend any time with Sharon. For me, this was because we had to steer clear of just about any interesting conversation topic in order to avoid setting off each other’s triggers. In other words, we couldn’t act like friends to one another and were mostly going through the motions.
It’s not a huge surprise that things ended this way and there were ominous clues from the very beginning of our friendship. Within a few days of us arriving, we had some conversations about her charging us extra when we had guests. In discussing this, I said that all of our guests would either be family or close friends and that we wouldn’t be sub-letting to strangers. She replied that she was estranged from her family and didn’t have anyone from her past that she kept in regular contact with. I know you don’t chose your family and there are lots of reasons why people don’t get on with theirs, so that’s unfortunate but not a black mark. Having no long term friends, however, is a big one and to me, that speaks volumes.
In summary, it’s probably for the best that things fell apart but it’s no surprise and not a sad thing. I am happy that we met Sharon and she forced me to re-think a lot of things that I took as given. I will have more to say about that in a later post so you have that to look forward to.