As punishment for enjoying the lovely sunshine yesterday, we’re subjected to a day of constant rain. It seems that if we want to get any work done around here, we’re going to need to grow webbed feet.
We took advantage of the weather to go and visit the aged aunt to collect our redirected post and have a shower. After lunch, we paid a visit to a couple of people we have been meaning to see since we got here. Firstly the neighbour, J. She’s well over sixty, lives on her farm on her own, but seems quite content with life. When we arrived she was guiding two of her four cows into a different field with the aid of a stout wooden stick. A lifetime of work has left her somewhat bent, and she wasn’t particularly tall to start with; so in order to employ the customary French greeting method (kissing the cheeks) I almost had to kneel.
She has the most luxuriant moustache I’ve ever seen on a woman.
She offered us coffee, and after chatting away happily for an hour or so, we purposefully happened to mention that we had planted a couple of elder trees. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “You like elders? You must have some more. They’re an absolute pest here.” She led the way to an overgrown track at the side of the farm and indicated several young elder trees. “You’re very welcome to take these.” She eyed the spade in my hand. “Oh, good, you have a spade.” She eyed the metal washtub which LSS was carrying. “Oh, good, you have a bucket too. But that won’t be big enough. I’ll go and get some plastic bags.” She trotted off through the rain and returned with three large plastic fertilizer sacks. Shaking the rain off my hands, and then drying them surreptitiously on my jeans, I dug the spade firmly into the soil next to the first tree, nearly shattering my wrist as the spade hit major resistance.
“Ah, yes, there’s a road running all the way along here, just underneath the surface” she explained.
So we now have a galvanized bucket and three plastic bags of elders to plant. As soon as it stops raining, that is.
We then visited Friend F, someone with whom LSS had once worked. Last month we were in the village trying to sort out the domestic assistance for the aged FIL. LSS was using her mobile phone to speak to someone who had been exceedingly difficult to contact. Of course her mobile phone battery chose this particularly important moment in which to expire, so we dashed over to visit Friend F, to beg the use of her phone. Unfortunately once the phone call was over, we had to dash off somewhere else, so it was literally a case of “Thanks for the use of the phone, must dash, we’ll catch up later,” being called over her shoulder as LSS ran out of the door. By way of apology we took Friend F a bottle of home-brewed Elderflower Champagne, and we spent a couple of hours catching up with all the local news and LSS explaining everything that had happened since we’d arrived in France.
We arrived back home at around 9.30 pm. Still, at least we got some things done today despite the rain; not only do we have a bucketful of elder plants, we’ve also now put ticks next to all the names on our “people to visit” list.