Between ferries crossings.

With the big mower still out of action and a gang of mates coming to play Boule last week  Mike mowed and mowed with all the other little mowers he owns. This week however he has been able to relax a little due to a lack of rain which brings, no growth. We knew that one day this week the parts to mend the big mower would be winging their way by donkey over the hills and dales of France with a message attached to say  “you will get this important spare part when we are ready to send it” and a chance call this morning confirmed the arrival at last.  We could hardly contain our excitement and drove down straight after breakfast to make a start on the big mend.  All this excitement swiftly evaporated with a sudden panic attack as the mower man sucked in a huge breath and said, “four hundred and twenty four euro please”….It is at times like this that your brain goes into overdrive and all you want to do is run. My concern was that we had enough Euros in the bank and Mike’s concern was that if he‘d have known the cost, would he have been able to design a Mike’s best bodge and still make it work. Why did we not confirm the cost before we ordered  I hear you say, and the simple answer is that the mower man was unable to get a price out of his supplier and  we were piggy in the middle  between a  distributor being a  bully to his  supplier and I really don’t know how to deal with that situation…..in French!

We have just experienced the longest delayed lunch date in existence. Last October we picked apples and made cider and Jacqueline was keen to entertain us all but was unwell and so delayed the date until today. She decided to surround her table with her dearest Friends and I am proud to be thought of in that way. She also invited a couple from Brevands who do not get involved with the cider but do a lot of running around and during this spell of bad health have been there for her so we all got a little tipsy and eat a multiple course meal which we English just love because it is so bizaar to eat the meat, veg and salad in separate courses all on the same plate that you clear into a poubelle de table, then you lick your knife and fork and tuck into the next dish. The couple from Brevands have lived here for thirty years and are Mum and Dad to our neighbours across the road so we had lots of fun getting to know them.

I’m not going to mention that the boys over indulged themselves but they made our French friends laugh as they both took the rice puddings and put one in front of each other and said “what are you having” . I am used to that level of humour but our host and her friends thought it was absolutely hilarious.

And more laughs with John and Linda who did their annual whistle stop day visit from the UK with us and brought a belated birthday cake which once lit was a firework which took our birthday boy by surprise. We had a good few hours together, played Boule and sat in the Sun. It is amazing how much talking and laughing you can get through between ferries crossings.