Swiss fish
Did you know the Swiss had a law which makes it illegal to put red fish in the toilet? Only if they’re alive, though.
Prejudice
Beautiful Place we live in
Last night was the annual quartier meeting, at which the maire shows us what a great job he’s doing in beautifying the town. So the car wreck that’s been sitting in full view of the village for most of the summer, and would be in full view of the maire in full flight, might have been a problem.
However, earlier in the day agitated discussion led to agitated action: the sapeurs pompiers arrived with a large green tarpaulin with which they cloaked the car. Problem solved.
Sauveterre-le_Rouergue
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| From Sauveterre Rodez |
Village Party
We don’t like parties : you have to make conversation with people you don’t know very well (and will continue not to know very well because you don’t enjoy each other’s company enough), or with people you do know very well (and it would be much more fun to be doing it privately, at home), or ones you don’t know at all (chances are, that’s the way you’ll both prefer to keep it).
Add French to the mix, and the reluctance to face all of the above turns to near-dread. So we fortified ourselves with plenty of wine, crisps and nuts before strolling along the street.
It wasn’t as bad as it might have been. We found one person we might really enjoy getting to know better. Of course it turns out she’s just passing through, visiting a friend. Did duty by other expats we don’t want to get closer to, amicably. Ate lots of pieces of pizza style nibbles. Didn’t contribute to the reputation of foreign women as heavy drinkers (thanks to aforesaid tanking up). Came home, duty done for another few years.
Zen
A word much in evidence in French ads for almost anything, really. Our Angel must be infected since she told me, as I coolly reorganised two kitchens, the hall cupboard, AND all the plastic/paper bags, that I was looking very zen this morning.
(Later). It was nice while it lasted
Then we started walking…
… which was going to be the title of a post a year ago. But it’ll do now.
We went to Nant, stayed the night in the delightfully simple accommodation, and excellent all-round quality food (as in, next day’s sandwiches, as well as dinner) of the Hotel Le Durzon. We walked. The second day, revelling in the scenery – which is greener, more rolling, just as hilly, as we’re used to, plateau pastures and many wild flowers being especial delights – seemed a rediscovery of our first years in France when every journey and every walk was new.
I love about landscape not that it’s natural (I’ve been programmed to understand that most of what we see has been changed by human intervention), but that it’s not created deliberately. So the effects of pastures, hedgerows, woods, the work-rounds to produce from rocky soil and inclines, are made, but not for effect. Just to live.
In comparison gardens (even J’s), which are created for effect, and are works of art, are, in the mood brought on by the walk, stifling.
c’est quoi cette météo qui nous pourrit la vie?
Got an email with the above as the subject line, taken from a headline in Midi Libre. Bad weather stories wherever you look, but there’s a sense of outrage in it which is missing from most reports. It’s the Midi. It’s supposed to be sunny!
(Rough translation – what’s with this weather that’s ruining our lives?)
Garden – July
Wonderful Paris
This from Tripadvisor about what made Paris special for someone
