Sunday 12 May 2024

After yesterday’s yard work, we had an easy morning then headed into Saint-Jean-d'Angély to catch the stores between opening, lunch closure and re-opening. They have to have their lunch! Anyway, we got some stuff for the house such as door mat and wine glasses of a size bigger than a thimble. And Jenny and Alyssa take note - a very grand lapin, ready for the cassoulet. I’d show you a photo but you’d find the intact head, fully skinned a bit disgusting.

A relaxing afternoon, as the weather has turned a bit and it’s now overcast with rain predicted for a week, before more 28c summer days. This place is a bit like Melbourne!

After Guinness and chips and bread in Ireland, Lady P thought Flashy wouldn’t fit his suit for the Grande Chapitre in Bordeaux next week. Tried it on. Fits. Just.

Monday 13 May 2024

Weather is back to reasonably sunny, some cloud but mid 20’sc again and no rain as was predicted. As we have no summer clothes, Flashy looks a bit like a Collingwood supporter. Black tracky dacks, crocks, no socks and a pyjama top. No piercings or tats though. Big shopping day coming up this week. It seems (and how so French), that the opp shops, called mostly ‘vintage’ here are not cheap and only have all the pigmy sizes. Bordeaux seems to have, at least on Google, a good range of shops.

Being creative last night, Flashy decided to try Emma Lou’s Thermomix to make a spicy bean casserole. Never used one before, as he prefers cooking by first principles, spending endless time chopping and such. However, after ‘blade 2/100C/10 mins; repeat, add stuff repeat, reverse blade/100C/5 mins’ we had a very nice kidney bean, chickpea and lentil Spanish bean casserole. So good, we had it as huevos rancheros for breakfast.

This of course, occurred after we lost total power to both the house and dependence. A what you say? They refer to our self contained room and ensuite, with a garage at one end and a sun room and laundry also under the same roof, as a dep oon dunce, meaning it is dependent on the main house. Actually, it’s not dependent completely, so probably could be better described as a maison individuelle? Perhaps a bit grand? Maybe a salle annexe?

I digress. At 7.00 am this morning, we lost all power to both the house and dependence. There was no smoke or blackened sockets, so we only panicked a little bit. On investigation, the main safety switch to all circuits was flipped. This would suggest a dodgy appliance perhaps? While Lady P made a phone call to Johnny back in Surry, Flashy started removing all powered appliances in the dependence, such as deep freezers, lights, heaters and boiler. 

Eventually it was discovered that the old kettle in the main house kitchen (could I call this cuisine de la grande maison?) was to blame. We have been boiling it quite a bit lately, to hand wash dishes as asked, as apparently, the electricity is quite expensive and we only run the dishwasher and washing machine during the off-peak periods. 

Well, guess what? Someone had overfilled said kettle and some water had settled in the base, resulting in the safety switch flipping when the little red button was pressed. Must be a bloody good safety switch, because Lady P didn’t see any blue flash or hear any loud bang. But it was just before that first cup of tea, so anything could have happened.

Problem solved, coffee made in a saucepan, brekky in the beautiful morning sunshine and then time to get cracking.

Lady P, resplendent in gym gear and fur lined boots gets to mowing the secret garden. This is a 30 m x 10 m strip behind the big concrete wall and a bit rough. Flashy is on hand to give encouragement and advice and to start the mower, refill with fuel and all those important things. Afterwards, a couple of beers on the terrace and some healthy wraps for lunch and suddenly its getting very close to gin time.