Fete Cantonale

Well this week by comparison has been relatively un-dramatic. We have had a succession of visitors with our first camper-van lot arriving this afternoon in the drizzle.

Yesterday was the Fete Cantonale which was as always a curious and fantastic day. Every village in the region decorates a float for their resident oldest tractor to drag around the square...this year there seemed to be an inordinate number of young men wearing womens clothing.

Also there were stalls selling anything from ceramic mushrooms (why?) to candyfloss and wooden bowls not to mention the roving still which looked exceptionally Heath Robinson esque and appeared to be churning out moonshine all day.

Lunch was the best bit though..it's the first time we've been. They had banda (marching LOUD band) which had apparently just won the prize for the best in france and between courses everyone lept onto their chairs, danced like maniacs and as the day progressed used the tables as well. I still cant hear properly.

Staggered home before the end as we had no torch and there was no sign of a moon.

Who wants to come next year?

He's a lumberjack and he's ok....

Its been one of those weeks (or two). Lorna came to visit last week and it all kicked off the day she arrived.

Having resigned ourselves to not being able to replant this year due to the lack of rain... the technical director of the coop came and said we could after all... so P decided to cut down some of the trees that shade the plot.

So we felled trees, went in a hurry to Bordeaux as our Mac power leads had died and P pulled some tourists out of a ditch with the tractor... and then to a french birthday party, where my french and head were pushed to the limit... and then we had a phone call.

The trees it appears to our neighbour are not ours! We went round armed with satellite pictures etc, terrified and ashamed.

1 hr later we staggered back to Lorna, pissed and bearing sausages and bacon.. and the name of the man in the village whose trees they were.

After lengthy conversations it seems like this happens pretty often and is "pas grave" thank god.

Fingers crossed it stays that way...

Then the technical director returns and lo and behold we cant replant this year after all... the pepineristes are furious and our grants will have to be re-applyied for.

And thats all just this week...

The swallows have had more babies though...

So all is as it should be.