"Wishing and Hoping, Planning and Dreaming 14th August

The church at Montaud

It is midday. The church bell has rung twelve times, and a large gun has just gone off in neighbouring St Drezery which signifies that festivities are about to get underway for the day, but sadly for the organisers, it looks as though we might be in for a few showers of rain. Needless to say, the church bell might have rung but the phone hasn’t and we can do nothing other than sit and hope.

This morning we made up a list of jobs still needing to be done in the garden and I wrote out a shopping list. Jean washed the black and white chequered stone floor in the lounge/dining room and I have given the oleander bush in the courtyard an even more severe haircut than it had a day or two ago. We need all sorts of bits and pieces from Leroy Merlin the handy man shop, but dare not leave the house in case the phone rings. Frustration might start to set in, but for the moment, it is quite a relief to be able to give our aching backs a bit of a rest and enjoy the fact that it is markedly cooler today.

I awoke in the night to the most horrendous screaming of brakes and I waited to hear the crash as the vehicle that was passing the house slewed into a wall. I looked at the clock and it was 1.44am, but the odd thing was that there was no sound of a car engine, and this morning, we should have been able to see huge skid marks on the road but there was nothing. Jean looked as me sideways when I recounted what I had heard and muttered something about UFO’s, but I wondered if maybe it had been one of the French airforce jets which occasionally scream overhead. If they were on night manoeuvres I am sure they would have enjoyed waking up half the population of the Herault. On the whole we are fortunate not to be on any major flight routes despite the fact that Montpellier International airport isn’t all that far away, but just now and then we see a passenger plane lumbering overhead if the wind is in an unusual direction.

Well I don’t really need to tell you that it is now 7.30pm and we are still phoneless. We did our best and hung around looking hopeful all morning, but after lunch, we gave up and nipped off to Leroy Merlin. First thing on the shopping list were some planks to go under the mattress. The Princess is having no problem with the pea, but she goes find that she rolls into the centre of the bed which the Prince finds somewhat disturbing. I think the weight of two mattresses is proving to be a bit much for the springs that cannot possibly be in their youth. Let’s see if tonight will bring a more supported sleep.

We are blessed with the big picture window in the bedroom giving access to the great outdoors, and if I am feeling too idle to walk all the way round through the kitchen, the lounge and out onto the terrace, it makes for a very quick exit. However, it is seldom a graceful exit, and all I needed was something to give me a bit of a boost to get me over the windowsill. Scratching around in the garage, I found just what was required in the shape of a solid old footstool that stands about two feet off the ground. All it lacked was a lick of paint and it is ideal for stepping elegantly over the windowsill and out into the courtyard. I have painted it the same citroen blue which matches Ralph’s house that hangs in the tree, and it makes for a bright splash amid the green and yellow.

When we arrived back home from the shopping trip, Jean got straight onto the phone to make our daily complaint to Customer Services and this time, the woman on the other end actually commiserated with him and gave him a number to call which might result in us getting something by way of compensation for the ridiculous amount of time that it is taking to sort out the problem. Tomorrow is a public holiday, but she assured us that the France Telecom engineers neither sleep nor take days off. “24/7” was her assurance and so that means that tomorrow, we play the “wait and see game” yet again. It’s very hard knowing what to do on a public holiday when right now, our entire lives are, by circumstances beyond our control, one long holiday.

We changed all the lounge furniture round last night and it looks very cosy, but desperately in need of our books, paintings and bits and pieces. We don’t own much of any real value, but our stuff has been gathered up over the years from a variety of homes and countries, and it is so odd to be living in a house where I don’t even have a single photograph on the wall or a magnet on the fridge. I did manage to find some music on the computer earlier and it was rather nice relaxing and enjoying supper whilst being serenaded by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Our radishes are popping up and the beans are in full flower. The courgettes are producing a new leaf every day but we were forced to go to war with the ants who were carting away something which looked suspiciously like spinach seed on their backs. I hate to knock out an opponent quite so harshly, but having worked so hard to start up a vegetable garden, I simply couldn’t stand by and watch it being hijacked by a horde of ants.

Jean also had to go back to the pharmacie for yet another bottle of insect spray for adults. They just won’t give up on me, and this morning, I had all the sheets and blankets out on the line yet again while the mattresses were sprayed thoroughly. It’s not anywhere near as bad as it used to be, but right now, I look as though I have been attacked by a vampire with two neat bite marks just below my right ear. Maybe I should take some of the garlic out of the fridge and hang it across the window at night!

Today was my son-in-law’s birthday in far away Melbourne. I did manage to send him a rather garbled email using the French keyboard at the Arab Internet Café. I am really missing my regular phone calls and frequent emails from my children and my grandchildren, but if the technicians stay on the job, maybe we might get lucky this weekend. Have you ever come across optimism like it?