We had a doozy of a thunderstorm this week. In fact we had two back to back in one afternoon. I’d just put the cover on the pool (we were warned of a possible orage) when Denis called me from neighbouring Prexian to say it was chucking it down there. Five minutes later, the thunder boomed, the lightning crashed and the heavens opened – very wide. As I said, we had two in a row, the first storm rumbled through within half an hour before the second came charging up in its wake. The driveway resembled the Med. Annoyingly, I was so busy photographing the double rainbow that followed, I missed the opportunity to add The Book into the shot – that would have been a marketing masterpiece.
Mind you, I’m not one to miss a trick. I did do a bit of hawking last night, much to big brother’s displeasure, as Mumo had her apéro dinatoire yesterday evening. To be fair, quite a few of the guests had already asked for a copy but I wasn’t going to let a possible sale pass me by. Needless to say, it was a fabulous party, not just because I successfully flogged a couple more, Alba (my sister-in-law) created an incredible spread of mouth-watering morsels to soak up the copious amounts of alcohol being drunk. Bruschetta, miniature kebabs, sticky chicken wings and Mumo’s much-celebrated pizza all washed down with my equally sought after Brownies made for a very lively night. And no singing was involved – Mumo had decreed such was not welcome at one of her ‘candlelight suppers’. It won’t surprise you in the least that what was supposed to be an early evening soirée ended up with the Rouffiac regulars weaving out just before midnight.
Unfortunately for us late night revellers, any chance of having a lie-in to soothe the aching heads was strictly forbidden – today was the annual village vide grenier or garage sale. The main street which also happens to be the one we live on, was cordoned off so that numerous stalls could be lined up on either side for whoever wanted to empty their basements. Luckily for Denis and his family, their allocated space was right outside our gate so he didn’t have to drag himself very far. Especially as the whole shebang started at 6 am this morning. As we hadn’t considered a career in roadside retail and my book is in English, Mumo and I took advantage of the cooler morning temperature and strolled up said street to peruse for hidden gems. I have to be honest, there wasn’t much to get excited about. Apart from the usual ‘professional’ set-ups that you’d find at any boot sale- those with antiques and brand-new children’s toys, most stall holders were selling exactly the same sort of stuff. Still it was nice to say hello and faire la bise (kiss on both cheeks in this part of France) to familiar faces. And knowing today was going to be another scorcher, I invited D’s visiting niece and her young family to use the pool. This was gratefully received by Melissa, trying to keep a constantly curious eight year old and a teething toddler amused behind a table in the midday heat was beginning to show on her face. I also wanted to rescue the drooping Denis from his great-nephew’s machine-gun questioning, my poor guy looked like he’d done twenty rounds already. The kids had a thoroughly jolly time shrieking and splashing around whilst parents took turns to snooze on the sun loungers. Pools like ours, are made for kids to lark about in even if Arry was somewhat miffed about not being allowed to jump in with them. As much as he adores children, he is a bit of a liability in the water – those what have summered here will understand what I mean. And children’s laughter is far kinder on the ears than his incessant barking in your ear…
“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun” (Katherine Hepburn)
Widow plus woofs 