Wednesday, November 24, 2021

First job of the day.


We wake to the sound of banging from our neighbours garage. The Old Farmer is up and about early. His time keeping has become more 'fluid' recently which may explain why he's started work on his car at five in the morning.  He greets us and says  that he's never known such a  mild, but misty, end to the year. 'The last time it was like this was 1958' .

Outside our gate the lane and the field opposite are now carpeted in leaves. The Old Farmer wonders if Loic could come over to blow away a small mountain of them that has started to build up outside his front door. I tell him that Loic will be here on Friday and it will be his first job of the day.  

Sophie, like all PONs, enjoys the noise the leaves make as she ploughs her way through them. Why walk quietly when you can walk noisily ?


The Old Farmer assures me he's well. His hip isn't painful and his leg doesn't bother him. Today, he's changing the spark plugs on the venerable Mercedes. Tomorrow, he will change the oil on the motorhome. When you're 92 there is comfort in settled  routine.


We leave him to his labours and head off round the village. My companion leads the way. From time to time she turns to make sure I'm following. An unvoiced but unmistakable ' Do Keep up !' look.


In the little market town the ambulance is parked on the square with its lights flashing. For a moment I think there might have been an accident but closer inspection shows the volunteer ambulance team are enjoying their first coffee of the day. We don't join them as they're at the cafe with the owners that don't like dogs. The driver shouts across to tell me he has Christmas calendars to sell and that he'll be along to the village this afternoon so I can buy one.

So starts another day of high adventure in a small French village where nothing, but nothing, ever happens.


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6 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

I am now intrigued about the contents of the calendars on offer. A different hunky French ambulance driver for each month of the year perhaps... or am I getting carried away?
Cheers! Gail.

Taste of France said...

To Gail: the calendars usually are extremely disappointing. No hunks. The dates are squished into a year-at-a-glance, surrounded by small advertisements.
Just listened to a podcast on dog breeding (99% Invisible--excellent stuff on design). The guest was the author of this article: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22369273/frenchie-doodle-designer-dogs-problems-breeder-shelter

Coppa's girl said...

How sad that the ambulance calendar is so mundane, but then it's all about making as much money as you can for a good cause - not much left over to provide interesting "subjects". If they watched the film "Calendar Girls", it might give them an idea or two!
Inca is green with envy, Sophie - she has never experienced the joy of crunching through leaves, most of ours are still on the trees.

Angus said...

You are getting carried away. Imagine a photo montage of rescuing someone wedged in an open drain as pictured on page 4 of this years calendar.

Angus said...

Having had a chance to look at the calendar most of it is given over to pictures of 'feux de foret'. There is also a special spread on 'exercise incendie a la gendarmerie'. Anciens sapeurs-pompiers appear smiling jauntily in every photo.

Travel said...

I love crunching through the leaves, such a fun loving doggie!