Life Goes On

Life Goes On......
I tried to sneak three greengages past my intestine yesterday and paid for it today. Which was a pity because neighbour Neville was celebrating his birthday at lunch-time with a grand spread of food and drink. However, I managed to calm the angry intestine by around 2 o'clock with a batch of pills and so was able to participate, if somewhat belatedly. Fruit really is a temptation I find almost impossible to resist, particularly with so much of it around. I've managed to give away a fair quantity of the grapes on my vine although even that hasn't been easy; so many people here have their own.

After two downpours in four days the weather has turned really hot, with temperatures in the high 30s; too hot to do anything much during the middle of the day. One benefit though has been the return of the balmy evenings; it's quite warm enough to sit on my balcony with no more than a T-shirt on until midnight. Another benefit is that it has brought out the boules players in force, though we don't start now until 5.00pm. And I seem to be on form on my resumption; I had feared being rusty after a month off. Picking the boules up is a little difficult so I may invest in a magnet on a string which some of the players use to avoid having to stoop so often.

Just about everybody from the street plus the pizza crowd seemed to be at Neville's party. Neville's partner, Liz, used to be an opera singer and she duly obliged with some arias some time between the cheese and dessert. As friend Jo remarked, who'd have thought a few years ago we would ever be sitting in a garden in the shade on a blisteringly hot day, sipping wine and listening to opera in a little French village? Neville in particular seems to appreciate what we have here, having previously lived in Spain for several years and, despite speaking the language, failed to make close contact with the locals; being condemned to a Brit ghetto was not a stimulating experience, he found.

Joke specialist René was at the party and here is his offering today. A farmer knocked at his neighbouring farmer's door and was greeted by the younger son. The farmer enquired whether the lad's mother or father were there but they weren't. Trying to be helpful, the lad said he knew where all his father's tools were and if the farmer wanted to borrow some he would fetch them. But the farmer replied that that wasn't what he had come about. Still trying to be helpful, the lad asked if there was anything else he could do. No, the farmer replied, the matter I have come about is that your older brother has made my daughter pregnant. Ah, said the boy, I can't help you there; I know my father charges 1000 euros for the bull and 600 for the pig but I don't know how much he charges for my brother.