It's rained , again, overnight. By the time the PONs are awake, harnessed up and ready for their morning walk it's dry and the sun is peeping out from behind the clouds. This has been the coolest, wettest May in the decade we've been here. The farmers three weeks behind with their harvesting. Some Indian men in dark suits phone to say their government intends to buy oil from Iran. They wonder if anyone will notice. It's a quick call so the PONs routine isn't hijacked.
Bob has had a problem with the right hand side of his jaw ever since the stroke / Bells Palsy episode a couple of years ago. This means that he takes considerably longer to eat his breakfast than his sister. Sophie. who gulps rather than eats, waits impatiently.
This morning in the greengrocers no less than six varieties of strawberries.
Plans to build a large solar power plant in the countryside are not being well received.
11 comments:
May has ended cold and wet (even more so than usual...) here in Aberdeen.
Does Angus have a view on the best variety of strawberry?
I suspect that any Indian purchase of oil will not go unnoticed.
Sophie - be patient and let Bob eat his breakfast at his own pace!
Cheers, Gail.
I have never heard of nor seen La Dream nor La Fraise Française. My favorite is Ciflorette, which you showed a few weeks back. Often overlooked because the red isn't intense, but the flavor is actually even more intense. I never expected, when I moved here, to become an expert in strawberries.
We have a solar farm nearby, which replaced a first-generation wind farm. I find it very discreet. It's hard to make out from a distance, unless you know what you're looking for. Another one is planned for a large vineyard near it (can use the same lines?) that was uprooted under EU subsidies. One of the supermarket parking lots is covered with solar panels; I don't know why there isn't some incentive/pressure to do more of that.
I saw the PV farm on a hike in the garrigue led by a local, who kept saying we were going to see "les photovolcaniques!" I was expecting a lava formation.
Angus likes Gariguettes because they're not sweet and sugary. Where India goes China follows which makes sanctions as water tight as a colander.
I didn't know that there were so many choices of strawberries. I am sure that we only get one on offer here.
Our May has been the warmest and driest in ages. This week it has been 14-16 degC during the day with not much drop overnight, and it is only just now getting windy and wet.
The opposition to solar and wind power here sends my exasperometer shooting up to 11. It's seen as a great waste of money and a dispoiling of the countryside. As if half the locals aren't hellbent on dispoiling the countryside themselves with their industrial agriculture. As for the money argument, it goes along the lines of 'we are French, we have nuclear -- why would we want an alternative -- that's just doubling our infrastructure and spending money for nothing...' Our town is on the verge of getting a solar farm on the outskirts, on the site of an abandoned factory. The buildings are riddled with asbestos, so the solar company will have to clean it up. It's a total win-win in my opinion. There are also two wind farm projects in the planning stages -- the opposition is just like yours for the solar farm -- very vocal, very emotional. Our département currently has no windmills, but the two neighbouring ones do, including one which is a great success with the locals. That's very unusual in France, which has a history of being much more against windpower than anywhere else in Europe. Gah! My blood pressure is rising already just thinking about it!
Re the weather -- we've had one year similar to this before in the 10 years we've lived in the Touraine. I can remember not eating outside until early June and lighting the fire on about 2 June one year! Luckily I am slack about calling the chimney sweep. Lots of people just put up with being cold because they'd already cleaned their fireplaces and chimneys.
And here I've been thinking that Europeans were being more sensible about things like solar and wind power, but NIMBY seems to be the order of our day. There's a big solar farm near me, and it was built with a green screen of scrub trees and bushes so now, a couple of years after installation, it can hardly be seen from the road.
I would love to see parking lots use solar panels. They generate electricity and create shade for parking. But not going to hold my breath until it happens in the US.
The strawberries look delicious.
If you want to see solar panels on parking lots take a look at the new conference centre going up at Blagnac airport. They'll certainly be able to power the aircon in the exhibition halls ten times over !
e seem to live in strawberry central in this part of France.
NIMBY is the order of the day everywhere.
All the local farmers have had their barns rebuilt using government grants - with solar paneled roofs installed. Everyone benefits.
Was at Blagnac hours ago and didn't see a conference center nor any construction. But I was so rattled by the traffic jams (TLS is #8 in France, per TomTom via la Depeche), that I didn't pay much attention. What happens when one lives in the sticks. Traffic is unsettling!
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