Down at first light to the stream for a drink. Usually you can't see the rocks but in high summer with the water level low they provide Sophie with a path to the far side.
Back up the hill to the top of the ridge and The Rickety Old Farmhouse. The village green looking somewhat parched. The Old Mayor used to turn on the irrigation system. The New Mayor seems to have little interest in gardening.
'The Font' has all the windows open in the hope that the warm night air will rush out and cool fresh air rush in. Angus isn't sure the seven am air is that much cooler.
Angus also notices that a wax candle on the mantle in the study is starting to wilt in the heat. That's how hot it is. A 'red' alert issued for Thursday and Friday. It's going to get even hotter.
We try the modern cafe in the little market town . It's closed.
We opt instead for a coffee and what claims to be a croissant at the newsagents. Sophie considers the croissant to be delightful but her companion thinks it may be a byproduct of the petrochemical industry. 1/10.
We have literally hundreds of bats that live in the roof. As the sun sets they launch themselves in dribs and drabs into the night sky . In the morning one or two stay outs will still be aphid hunting. They, by enlarge, seem to be small happy things. Not like these bats : https://getpocket.com/explore/item/researchers-translate-bat-talk-turns-out-they-argue-a-lot
Improbable ? Rome to Vietnam :
https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3094604/did-fish-sauce-vietnam-come-ancient-rome-silk-road?
Has it been any worse than the UK ? Madame Bay likes to drive down to the border for duty free gin. She now thinks it's too dangerous to do so : http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/wp-16-2020-otero-molina-martinez-has-spains-management-of-covid-19-been-a-failure
6 comments:
Hari OM
...and by all reports, Friday might actually get into the low twenties here in Auld Reekie. I'll keep breathing till it happens... YAM xx
Lovely photo of Sophie at the stream. I enjoyed the linked story about bats - I've always liked bats, but never imagined they had this sort of advanced communication system.
Very warm here, too, and the humidity this morning is exhausting. A cool, almost gale-force wind when we went for our early morning walk (no croissants involved, much to Inca's disgust!) and although it almost blew us off our feet, for once it was welcome. Now that the sun has come up, it's heating up rather too well.
Cars with foreign registrations on the move today, and I wonder how many of them are rushing back home before we have another lockdown thrust upon us? I feel that this pandemic is controlling us, and sadly, not the other way round.
Lots of Belgians here amid growing rumours that Belgium is about to bring in a total lockdown. The local gites owners seeing cancellations from wary Brits but happy to have asked for , and received, payment up front.
That is worrisome about the Belgians. There is a particularly nasty relative who is on her third year of disability fraud, currently "suffering" here. I would prefer she be locked down (or up) in Belgium rather than here.
Big surge in tourists in the past week. Above all French, but then Belgian plates dominate, followed by Spanish, GB, and Germans. A few from Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Don't Brits have to quarantine on arrival here?
Brits don't have to quarantine. They are part of the 'travel corridor'. In other words the Brits account for 37% of all tourist income - even more in parts of Spain and Italy - they can't be ignored. We seem to have 90% Belgian visitors here, 8% Dutch and very few English in this seriously out of the way corner of France. Hope all is well with you.
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