Here’s what I’ve been up to in Matt’s absence. Carol called in to say hi on Sunday evening, bringing her eldest grandson, Finn with her. They stayed to chat for a little bit and invited me over for a barbecue on Wednesday. I already had enough leftovers to last me two nights but welcomed the chance to avoid having to cook for yet another one. After my dinner, I took two very clingy cats upstairs for some TV time before bed.
Monday was quite a bit cooler and the cats were less interested in playing outside, preferring to try and sit on my lap at every opportunity. This was not conducive to getting any work done, but despite their efforts I put in several hours on our new website, as well as a few small bits for some clients. Dinner was leftovers part two, followed by a film and then bed.
I had a few more bits of work from clients the next morning and then resumed work on our site. In the afternoon, I took delivery of our new fridge, which I realise we haven’t blogged about till now. Our current one works, but a little too well : its on the lowest setting and it’s damn cold in there and it destroys lettuces. Its also ancient so we’d thought we’d treat ourselves. The new one’s roughly the same size, but quite a bit taller, with more freezer space. The plan is to remove the silly little brick wall to the left of the current fridge (a Dad job) so that the fridge can sit flush next to the wooden kitchen unit. This will add nearly half a metre of additional space to the kitchen, which in relative terms is huge. In the interim though, our new toy is looming conspicuously by the front door.
Tuesday was the day of Marj’s service, and the synagogue actually live-streamed it via their website, so I got to watch it too. It was nicely done with some touching comments from the family. But I will leave that to Matt to recount. The weather sorted itself out in the afternoon so I had my cocktail outside, then rustled up a pasta dish for dinner, followed by TV and bed.
I got a visit from Lucien the following morning, who had some disturbing news. Mauricette woke one morning last week feeling like she couldn’t breathe properly and that her chest was tight. She went to the doc in St Pardoux who did a couple tests and then told her to go right to A&E. She ended up spending two nights there and to date they’re utterly baffled as they cant find anything wrong. They feared a heart issue but have ruled that out. She’s back home now awaiting more test results, but apparently still doesn’t feel right.
That evening was the BBQ round B&Cs. Unfortunately Bryan had forgotten to check if there was gas beforehand, and it was a public holiday, so their gas-powered BBQ was out of commission. Instead, Carol made the meal in the oven, but we still ate outdoors. As well as the hosts and their two grand-kids (now alarmingly tall) Ute and her grandson were in attendance and we all had a very pleasant evening. I left shortly after dark to find two morose cats waiting for me on the doorstep.
I was up early the next morning due to too much cat on the bed, but it was convenient as I wanted to get to Mum & Dad’s house for 9am anyway. This was for an official inspection of all the wiring. It went mostly fine – there was just one small thing to sort out before they sign off. Back home, I spent the rest of my day in translation mode working on the french text of our website.
That evening, I was invited to dinner around Manu & Mathilde’s, so once again avoided having to cook. They got some new neighbours a few months back that they keep talking about, so they wanted to invite us over to meet them. They are Hans, a Dutchman and Catherine, who’s English. They’re a very interesting couple and have previously lived in Holland, France and the UK. They were in Somerset for the last seven years, but Brexit made them flee for France, and they’ve not looked back. They both speak good french and are making big efforts to integrate. It was a gorgeous evening so we spent it in the garden having first aperos and then the meal. Manu had planned on a paella, but remembered my fish issues. So instead, he made the original, Valencian version, which has chicken and rabbit instead of seafood. It was followed by home made banana ice cream with chocolate sauce. I left around 1am and I went straight to bed, followed by two cats.
Friday was surprisingly cool and fresh. The sky stayed covered up all day, with just a brief glimpse of sunlight right before sunset. The cats deemed it good ranging weather so vanished when I got up, not to be seen again until after dark, when they demanded (and got) a treat. I half worked, half took it easy then had the rest of my pasta dish from the night before. My only human contact was an unwelcome one. An english client of ours had brought a new laptop and had wanted to set up his email on it. He’d called a local french IT person who was unable to sort it, so I ended up spending 30 mins on the phone talking him through it all. Even more vexingly, the client rang me again a couple hours later to inform me that the French IT guy had only done half a job, and could I please come over on Saturday to fix his mess. I said I wasn’t free and told him to get the guy to come back instead.
The sun returned with gusto on Saturday. By this point I couldn’t handle much more translation, so after lunch I downed tools and lounged out in the garden. I got a call from Benoit who invited me over for a meal that evening, freeing me yet another time from having to cook. I arrived to be greeted by the newest addition to their family: a beautiful boxer dog with the rather unfortunate name of Iron (not their choice). They had a much-loved boxer, Gautane, who died a few months ago, so Iron is his replacement. He’s a very handsome beast and though they’ve only had him three days, he already seems right at home.
We had aperitifs at B&Vs and then moved next door for the meal, where a good chunk of the family are staying for their August break. Benoit utterly excelled himself on the food: first off, a home-made terrine de cheuvreuil (deer paté) that was quite simply exquisite, and I’m not normally big into paté. To follow he made a civet de sanglier (boar stew), served on a bed of tagliatelle. It was out of this world good. I lingered a few more pleasant hours after the meal, getting home just after 1am.
Benoit called over the following morning to take some measurements for our new terrace. He’s got some free time at the beginning of September, so aims to do the work then. I missed a call while he was over and when I checked the message, it was the english client who I’d talked to on Friday evening, wanting me to come over first thing on Monday. I was doubly irritated, first at being phoned on a weekend, and second at being summoned to fix something that has absolutely nothing to do with me in the first place. So, I didn’t call back. Instead, I spent the rest of sunday getting ready for the arrival of our visitors. I gave the house a much-needed clean, made up the guest bedrooms, and even did some dinner prep for the next night’s meal. I had a cheeky store-bought pizza for dinner that night, then TV and bed.
The phone rang for the first time at 8:55am. Knowing exactly who it would be I ignored it. Two minutes later it rang again. Now fully awake and annoyed, I got up, cursing the client repeatedly. He rang twice more before I finally called him back. I told him I wasn’t free all week but could spare him 30 minutes if he came to me instead, which didn’t sit well with him at all – not that I cared.
That unpleasantness dealt with, I showered then headed to Nontron for a food run. I came home to yet another missed call from the client, so begrudgingly phoned him back. He ended up coming over after lunch with the problem laptop and I got it all sorted for him. I’d been preparing for Dad’s arrival today, convinced he was due this afternoon. In fact, it was the ferry crossing today, and he’ll get in tomorrow afternoon. Buggers up my meal planning, but I’m relieved I’d just got the dates wrong as I was beginning to worry. So, looks like I’ve one last evening alone before the house fills up…