
Magical meteors and sweating tiles
Hello again
Slight chaos on the posting of updates of our life here in SW France – I will get back on track soon. Life in isolation continues, no market visit this week, no dog walks anywhere but locally early in the morning or late in the evening. The PCR results came back confirming what we already knew – Max is contaminated! Our separate lives continue but as I said in the last post, we can’t complain (even if I do – often). We are so fortunate to be doing this in a spacious house with enough facilities (as in bathrooms) for us all and a big garden. As I tested negative I also get the advantage of being able to use our gorgeous pool. Just as well as the thermometer hits 36°C!

I am a teensy bit tired, being as I am chief cook, cleaner, bottle washer (there are a few) and animal minder, not to mention therapist and admin person for the last 10 days during our isolation. Max is fortunately on the mend and finally getting some taste back. I almost missed his comment at lunch today when he said that the raspberries (from the potager I hasten to add) were delicious! The nurse came on Saturday to do the day 7 test for my son and I – and we are STILL NEGATIVE!! Hooray. I was a bit worried as I had gone a bit deaf and had a tickly nose which felt like the start of a cold (or Covid). However, it would seem we have managed to avoid getting Covid too. Now we just need to understand when we are out of isolation. Max finishes tomorrow and can rejoin the family! My son and I – not so sure. There was some talk from official sources of 17 days for my son as he hasn’t had his second vaccination yet!
What news? Well now Max is feeling better he has been painting some chairs up on the second floor terrace – far away from us. Next door’s gite guests last week were a pain. They had one volume: LOUD. They have been replaced by people who think loud music until the early hours is OK, along with swimming in the pool at 2:30am. It is good to see how this affects us and we may have to adjust our plans a bit unless the high volume is discouraged. I have no problem with noise, other than I have got used to being in the peaceful countryside. People can be quite oblivious of their impact. Let’s see how this week goes. Also they are on holiday and perhaps I should be a little kinder about their revelry! We also has an unexpected lodger:

The weather has been very hot and also stormy. On Sunday however I woke up to low cloud and mist – very autumnal but by the afternoon it was back to being warm but quite humid. On Saturday temperatures reached 37°C and I have to confess that I took some time out of my caring duties to enjoy a fabulous swim.



Now for an ahh moment… A few weeks ago I mentioned that the kittens came for a dog walk with us. On Friday morning it happened again, and Anya decided to accompany us. It is utterly gorgeous watching this little grey teenage kitten trot along ahead of Bear, turning back from time to time to check he is following, occasionally winding herself through his legs to give him a kiss. She likes to be the leader so scampers ahead when she has been distracted by something and got left behind. It is just so sweet. She has also had her first all-nighter – out that is – the last of the 4 to have her teenage rite of passage – nerve wracking for me but I am getting better at accepting that there are times when a night out is so much more exciting than a comfortable chair inside! Lovely kittens, almost a year old already. How quickly that year has gone. It is hard to believe we got them at 4 weeks, wrenched from their mother to avoid being shot. They have turned into very purry cats, definitely independent but also love a good cuddle. In spite of the cat bite incident in April, none of them are mean. Just got to deal with a slight bladder issue with one of them! There is always something…






In the last post I promised I would report back on our meteor watching on Thursday night. The threatened storm held off so we were able to get out. It was a little cloudy but luckily not too much. At 11pm we trooped out of the front door, armed with torches and deckchairs. I am glad we live in the countryside as it must have made for a very eccentric sight. We settled ourselves up by the crossroads as the view of the sky there is great. We have basically no light pollution – ok a little from the occasional car on the main road. We settled down, on a warm evening and allowed our eyes to acclimatise to the night sky. It doesn’t take that long out here and soon we could see a myriad of stars. Max got the first sighting of shooting star. I then saw a few and my son too. The rustles in the copse and cornfield made for slight nervousness. I hadn’t thought through what we might do if a family of wild boar joined us! Louka popped by to see us as he was having a night out. I think he was quite taken aback to find us there. Max came face to face with a badger out for his night-time walk. He must have been surprised to find a human sitting on a chair in the middle of his path shining a torch at him. Max had thought it was one of the cats! The lovely and enormous badger turned tail and scarpered off down the hill – his outing spoiled by us humans. Sorry Mr Badger. We stayed out for about an hour and a half, enjoying the night sky, the shooting stars and just the peace and relative quiet. Wildlife makes a lot of noise around here! A lovely experience and one I have done with my children for years, dragging them out to see shooting stars, bats at dawn and more recently a night-time picnic on the beach in the UK to watch Mars rise. Unusual I know but fun and the stuff memories are made of.

I am learning so many things during this slow renovation. Like many, we have had very odd weather this year and for the first time it has been very humid for days and days. I noticed that the tiles in the hearth in the séjour looked wet and firstly suspected the weak bladdered cat! Then I thought maybe moisture was seeping up through the tiles from the ground below now that it was hot! (There is a logic to that I promise). Max then noticed on one of the renovation forums we follow that others were mentioning this too. I have now googled it and sweating tiles are a thing and the result of the very humid weather. When it is very hot and humid and the warm moist air enters the house, on touching the cold tiles it turns to condensation. Who knew? Well probably lots of people but not me! I had also spotted it in the salon, again suspecting the cats. The hall tiles and the tiles at the bottom of the tower stairs also look damp but as they are more porous the moisture seems to seep into them.
I am off to create something with marrows and courgettes – plentiful at this time of year. These huge beauties were a gift from a neighbour – destined for chutney for all of us!

Have a great week.
A bientôt
Ali xx
Title photograph of meteor courtesy of www.astronomy.com

