The council refuse workers are just taking their seats on the cafe terrace as we arrive. This morning the cafe lady is in a more customer friendly mode. After six months of lockdown the staff that used to work the cafe side of the bakery have all gone, leaving her to do everything. She's now found a replacement who will start work at ten. Until then she's serving and making coffees and working the till. Sophie listens to this is silence.
After curly croissant ends we head home for a long walk along the ox track. The grass still covered in morning dew which ensures that Sophie maintains a brisk pace.
Overhead circular contrails. It's as if a large aircraft has been going round and round overhead. It seems to have done at least four 360 degree turns above us - possibly five. It must be something to do with a test flight out of the Airbus plant in Toulouse.
The old mayor was of the ' put out the flags and bring them in next day' variety. With four bank holidays in May this kept us much in demand for our extendable ladder . The new mayor is of the ' put out the flags and leave them up all month' sort. He has a more laissez faire, hands off, attitude to his duties.
An enormous truck and trailer comes hurtling along the lane. We rush out to see what the noise is. I'm not saying a year of pandemic restrictions has made us parochial but a large truck going over the speed bump is the stuff of high drama for a illage dweller in this corner of deepest. deepest France profonde.
5 comments:
The servers at my favorite café are all back, happily. The one who waited on me got an exorbitant tip. Kind of pent-up tipping to go with pent-up demand for getting out for a coffee.
During the winter, I noticed the buzz of a small plane late in the evening, around 10 p.m. It wasn't loud--double glazing and 50cm-thick stone walls muffle a lot. Who was flying, back and forth, back and forth, for an hour or more every single night, even during the strictest part of the lockdown? They're still at it. Mysterious.
Fortunately we haven't had to forgo our morning coffee and croissant for quite a while now, and the majority of cafés along the promenade are open again. Those that aren't prominently display for sale or rent signs. However we have been surprised by a recent increase of contrails in the sky above the house. We're more or less on the direct route (depending on the wind) to a major airport, so flights may be picking up.
From your last photo it looks as if demand for windows is picking up in your little corner of deepest France profonde. Is the German billionaire stocking up, so that he can swiftly "modernise" every house that becomes available in the village?
Hari OM
LOL, I had also wondered if the window demand might be driven by billionaires of the Germanic variety!!! YAM xx
I love the shot of Sophie coming down the oxtrail - I'm sure if Charlie were to encounter morning dew, it would cause him to maintain anything but a brisk pace, as he loves nothing better than getting soaking wet. We picked up our son at the airport this afternoon. The international terminal was almost empty, apart from some incoming Marines and a crew from the Olympic Broadcasting System. For a country that has done an abysmal job shutting down the pandemic - only 30% of medical workers are vaccinated so far, and only 1% of the general population - Japan has created an impressive set of hoops that even its citizens need to jump through to get in. My son's friend, fully vaccinated, had her PCR test done not 72, but 73 hours, before her departure from the US the other day and ended up having to spend two days in Dallas redoing the test. France, I believe, is also a bureaucratic country, but it seems to be doing better. Anyway, I have my first shot tomorrow and I think that will cheer me up considerably!
On behalf of the inhabitants of The Rickety Old Farmhouse hearty congratulations on ( nearly ) getting jab #1 ! May jab #2 roll around quickly .
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