Arnold is no longer simply ‘the wonderful Arnold’ but ‘the wonderful, eagle-eyed Arnold’. Amongst all the leafless trees around, he spotted an oak that was dead, dangerously dead. Of course, sod’s law – la loi de l’emmerdement...
Since last week I have been brooding about Ahmed, the fork-tongued, pointy shoed, fast talking, self-declared roofing expert. Or rather I have been brooding over the almost impossible task of selecting excellent, reliable artisans. One way is simply to pick up a card...
What do rain and mothers have in common? Simple: whatever either does, someone, somewhere will say it is wrong. A deluge came last week. It was mostly very welcome after the summer drought. But, of course, some of the rain got into the wrong places. Only a little...
Integration is not all about accepting local hunting and eating habits. It can also mean involvement in local cultural happenings, however scary. The incomer will be secure in the knowledge that he or she will be seen to be part of the community, not least by the...
The first thing one does when preparing to leave Paradise (aka La Chaise) for a holiday is to make lists. Lists of things to be done before leaving, of things other people should do, lists of things to be packed, lists of things to be put away. So, the Saturday...
The ‘année de poisse’ continues: herewith the ‘nth’ part. Somehow the freezer compartment door of the fridge/freezer in the Farmhouse managed to get solidly frozen. Odd. Only three weeks ago I had spent four hours at the Farmhouse kitchen...
Autumn officially arrived – in calendar terms – on September 22nd. In real life, that is country terms, it arrives when a basic rule of physics switches. We are all taught at some point in our school life that hot air rises and cold air falls, or vice versa. The...
What does it mean to dream of chickens? Just ordinary chickens, say four hens and a cockerel. None of your ritually sacrificed black specimens. In my dream the hens were destined for egg-laying until too old when they became confit de poule. The cockerel, of...
The hiccups will come early to the compost heap this autumn. Not only has it been fed those jams and chutneys rejected by my fit of store-room tidying last week, it has also just received my entire hoard of home-made apéritifs. The list is as follows: Liqueur de...
The last three days have been dominated by jam making, jam filing and jam throwing away. In short, I made 24 pots (assorted sizes) of plum jam, both red and yellow plums, and threw away 5 random pots of ‘stuff’ mostly without labels. These included a... 
