Unusual Autumn
Bonjour
I hope you are all well? Those proverbial buses did not run according to schedule (see blog post Another Month Bites the Dust) nor did I turn over a new leaf. In accordance with normality here, other things came along to divert the process! I started this post in late September and here we are at the end of October with nothing posted for an age, apart from a recipe at the weekend!
I returned from a trip to the UK a few weeks ago to unseasonably warm weather which has continued. It has been up to 28°C and today was 26°C. The roses are putting on a third show for the year. The nights, however, are drawing in, shutters being closed earlier and earlier, the air cooler bringing with it a chill to the mornings, yet still we wait for rain. Now the clocks have changed the evenings will be even shorter, but at least I will wake up in daylight for a while. The pool looks so tempting although at times full of acorns, but the temperature has dipped to 19°C, which doesn’t sound too low, but believe me is quite refreshing and definitely clears the cobwebs! Yesterday I braved the water once again, one more swim before we close the pool for winter. I am tempted to keep going for a few more days, probably just to say I swam in November, although I may risk hypothermia!
Talking of cobwebs, parts of our house are beginning to resemble the abode of Miss Haversham. The downside to a sprawling house is the large number of rooms that require cleaning. In an old house there are is also a lot of dust and vast armies of spiders living their best life near the ceilings, in corners and anywhere they find undisturbed, which is a large part of this house! We have embarked on a de-cobweb and cleaning mission in advance of a lot more furniture moving and decorating.
One of the reasons for this is the impending arrival of a new member of the household – my Mother. She is embarking on a grand adventure and coming to live with us in France. I haven’t yet told her it isn’t all vineyard tours, poolside aperitifs and delicious cheese, nor Bridge, boulangeries and boulevardes! Maybe, if she reads this, the preceding paragraph will give her a clue! It is all very exciting and, no doubt, for her pretty daunting but she will be very welcome and will hopefully enjoy la vie française. My UK trip involved a lot of attic clearing, visits to the tip and charity shops, but I did also manage some long overdue time with my younger son in Manchester, including delicious meals together (and an exceptional Greek wine), soul restoring walks on the beach near my Mother’s most mornings and a delightful sculpture of a pig family.
The lovely, but currently a little incontinent, rescue cats are now 2 years old and still growing. They have all taken to snuggling up of an evening if they get the chance (ie I am sitting down). The wee issue for two of them (not these two) looks like it might be stress but who knows. We have done calming tablets, diffusers – a great money-spinner for some. The builders and my absence seemed to have exacerbated the problem, which has now calmed down a little. All a bit tedious to say the least but hopefully not anything serious. Further vet visits (and costs) beckon.
Max has been busy in the belvedere (our tiny fourth floor terrace) making the last outside space water tight, fixing holes in the wood, varnishing the floor and painting the trap door a rather vibrant blue! Why vibrant blue? We have a large number of tester pots to use up, left over from choosing a colour for the front door and railings – this particular one didn’t make the final list. There will be some startled owls when they see this! This job completed, the builders arrived whilst I was away to retile the last roof needing renovation. Hopefully this winter we will be leakproof at last.
The garden survived the Manitou and van, the roof now looks very new – too new perhaps but it will weather in no time. The essential thing is being able to dry out the room below from the water that poured through the ceiling and window lintel when it rained. Thank goodness for a dry summer in one sense. We kept the same style tiles as before as a gesture towards the house’s evolution over time – we have 3 different roof types tile-wise. We can only guess that this is how the house grew from one smallish dwelling to a longer house to the tower bedecked place it is now. Now to put the new roof to the test! It will be a luxury not to have to run with towels and buckets in hand every time it pours with rain. Max has treated the floor and beam for woodworm, next we need to repair the water damaged ceiling and then hopefully the room can be put back in action – perhaps as my sewing space? Eventually it will become our dressing room….
Back in mid–September we popped over to St Antonin Noble Val for the Sunday market and to browse around the Autumn brocante. Unlike the Spring one, there was a lot more in the affordable range. The weather was gloriously sunny so we enjoyed a wander around before coffee, and ended up with a couple of purchases – not intended but one was an absolute bargain and the other beautifully unusual, both purchases are for the lighting department. As I keep saying – time to stop and then something else pops up.
Last week we had the plumber in to cap off some very old pipes, remove a loo and fix another. Now these jobs are done, we can install one of the old armoires we bought months ago. It will go into the souillarde (utility room of sorts) and thus create some urgently needed storage. The removal of a loo may seem odd but we had 6 loos plus one outside at the bottom of the tower. A lot of loos! This new tiny room has a future – all will be revealed in due course. Every job or little bit of progress relies on another job to be done first. It can be quite frustrating, but needs a huge amount of patience and a focus on the immediate task in hand. Little by little we will make visible progress – meanwhile it is all invisible to the human eye, but the ‘To do’ list gets a few ticks!
The last couple of months have also included some visits to new places, a mystery solved, gorgeous skies, chutney making – and more sea glass. I am finally getting back on track and will update you this week on the plans for the blog going forward. I hope you will continue to share our journey and our coffee and chocolatines!
Merci beaucoup for all your support.
A bientôt
Ali xx
