Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Open or closed ?

Progress at last ! The joiners should soon be here to install the bookcases. Six months to the day since we left the house in France. The garden designers are also expected to show up to advise on what can be planted out here. As you'll see from the photo below trees are a relative rarity on this windy stretch of coast.


It rains overnight. This morning the puddles along the farm track once again full of fresh, clear water. Sophie is delighted. There's no need to drink from one of the bowls laid out for her in the house. She does a full pre-breakfast tour of the village. The orange mountain bike that was chained to the bus stop has gone. The little red metallic Vauxhall is still blocking access to the turnip field but now has a sign on it saying 'Police aware'. 


After a walk on the beach we head off to the good coffee cafe. A long queue today. Sophie is looked after by a young lady biochemist from Nuneaton while I go in and order. The baristas provide my companion with a piece of shortbread. This is gratefully received. 

The flower display in the window of the house facing the cinema has changed from a glass jug to a yellow ceramic one. Inside a large table covered in term papers being marked and graded. I'd have thought everything was done online these days but maybe not in St Andrews. There is a candle in the window. Is this lit at night ? Wouldn't you be worried about people peering in ? Maybe people are divided into two categories -  those that draw their curtains and those that leave them resolutely open ?


 

14 comments:

Ruth said...

Half a year and Sophie and her household seem to be settling well into their new life in bonny Scotland. She's certainly adjusted to new routines. The old famer, the old mayor and his beloved wife and Madame Bey still come to mind and I hope you receive news from deepest France.

WFT Nobby said...

Good news about the joiner's progress. Will Angus celebrate with some new book purchases?
Nobby agrees with Sophie that puddle water is always best.

paphosmuseum said...

Have you visited the garden at Cambo?

We have an elderly VW Passat at our road end. It's been there since September. This follows a van which sat just off the AWPR slip road for more than 6 months. The local suspicion is that they are/were junkers, bought by East European workers, abandoned when they pack in because of the cost of retrieval. Wouldn't happen in France where everyone has a cousin, who can fix things.

Coppa's girl said...

Having followed Angus' blog since the days of Wilf and Digby in Italy, and then their sojourn in France, I too wonder how the colourful characters in France profonde are these days. At the moment it's proving more difficult to relate to the locals, but perhaps people are more reserved. I'm glad that Sophie has found a source of shortbread, but sorry there doesn't seem to be anywhere making a 9/10 croissant for you to enjoy Angus.

Angus said...

Paphos - Your comment made me laugh. The car park in one of the local towns in France was full of white Ford Transit vans of a certain age. They were owned by Polish tradesmen who had bought them in the UK and then relocated post Brexit to France. When the UK registered vans reached the end of their lives they were dumped. It took six months for the municipality and the gendarmes to work out what was happening.

Tigger's Mum said...

Out cycling last weekend we rounded a corner into a narrow country lane to find it 3/4 blocked by an abandoned 4x4 thing with a 'police aware' notice taped to the rear window. We wonder whether the police were aware or whether it was just a convenient way of commandeering a park in a place of convenience to them without anyone reporting it to the police.

Travel said...

Glad to hear the crime spree is under control. :) Are there boxes of books to be unpacked? You can tell a lot about a person by the books they keep. Open or closed? Bedroom almost always closed, living room open 99 out of 100 days and nights, it helps that we are on the second floor (3rd US floor.)

Angus said...

Travel - There are a couple of hundred boxes of books to unpack. That will be tomorrows job.... and the days after too.

sillygirl said...

We don't even have curtains but then we are a split level that sits on a bit of a hill - and being past 70 neither of us wander around without coverings! The block watch meeting pointed to our house as the safest one since any thing happening within can be clearly seen from outside.

Stephanie said...

I'm enjoying the ever changing tableaux in the window of the house and imagine the pleasure the owner must take in their arrangement.

jabblog said...

I hope the joiners will be efficient and quick. Books don't belong in packing cases.

Jake of Florida said...

How exciting to renew friendships with books packed away for the last six months. Do you have a plan for which category goes where?

Anonymous said...

If you ever meet the window still life professor please tell them how much your readers enjoy seeing the bouquets etc.
My neighbors and I had to call the City many times over a six month period about an abandoned car . The windows were rolled down, food rotting on the seats. We never saw anyone go in it. Thankfully a parking enforcement officer came by, took notes, had his superior come by. Two days later a big flatbed truck got the vehicle as myself and others silently cheered from our homes.

Maudie said...

Beautiful interplay between the bouquet and the ceramic bowl in the window. Done with care and inspiration.