A week at Les Petites Rivieres

We were moving slowly on Friday after several long days of travelling. Woke up to a beautiful clear blue sky and not a breath of wind, temp around 5 degrees but it didn't take long to reach the high teens and this was the pattern for most of the week. I even got into my one and only pair of shorts one day. Groceries were a high priority so we headed into Intermarche at Saint Jean d'Angeley and filled a shopping trolley. Au revoir, bon journey flowed effortlessly as we left the checkout. There are some phrases you just don't forget.
On Saturday it was Marche day so we visited our favourite stall holders and bakers for fresh bread, cheeses and a collection of fresh fruit and veg. Given the time of year, alot of the produce was not local. The oranges were from Spain, the melon from Morrocco, and the green veges from Portugal. And prices were high which was to be expected. In fact, just like Australia, the cost of living has increased significantly across the board. When we filled up the lease car we paid just over €2 or $4 a litre.

Sunday was a day at home, some quiet gardening, because starting up the chainsaw is actually illegal on a Sunday - its a family day, no chores, just family time, which we're quite happy to honour.

On Monday, we finally made it to the far side of town to revisit our favourite grocery/ department store E.Leclerc. It was obviously not the 'specials day' as the place was deserted, so we wandered leisurely ip and down the aisles and departed with one small bag of groceries, and a baguette, of course. I ordered a cappucino quite seamlessly in French 'sans creme' and the resulting 'mousse de lait' was just perfect. For Roger, 'un espresso' was hardly a challenge.

The rest of the week was spent on some garden chores in the beautiful sunshine, plenty of chainsawing of long dry logs to keep the fire burning for the cold nights, and a regular pre GnT walk around the neighbourhood. I would pound the streets up and down the hills for 40 mins and meet Roger at a predetermined corner for the last 20 min stroll home.

Of notable excitement was the eventually setting of the large German boiler timers to heat the main house radiators, as they're predicting 2 degrees overnight later in the week. A couple of hours morning and night will keep us going until the fire warms the space.

And the herb garden we planted 2 years ago is absolutely flourishing, but the basil had died off so we replaced that and can look forward to some pesto as spring arrives. So our first week was somewhat productive even with plenty of nice long sleepins, while we waiting for the temperatures to rise.Read more