Spring
Is Sprung
Signs
of spring are all around now, in the weather, gardens and shops. When
out, as it mostly is, the sun has real warmth in it. Unfortunately
the Mistral wind has been unusually frequent since the turn of the
year which lowers temperatures significantly unless you are in a
sheltered spot. Out of the wind the temperature reaches the low 20s
and the evenings continue to get lighter; and we' have an extra hour
in the evenings to look forward to at the end of the month. We have
had virtually no rain now for over a month, though, so I have already
started watering sporadically.
Two
weeks ago friends Steve, Jo and I want down to the coast to Carry La
Plage, as we had done 10 years previously. It was a very pleasant day
and we had a good lunch on the sea front in Carry Le Rouet. Carry La
Plage though was a disappointment. Ten years previously the sea front
was untouched apart from a a simple promenade skirting the beach and
a couple of cafés. Now the very large car park well behind the beach
has been extended forward in a concrete and metal maze which entirely
spoils the feel of the place. No doubt that has been done to
accommodate increasing numbers of summer visitors but it made me
think I wouldn't want to go back there.
In the
shops we now have the first asparagus, melons and strawberries, a
sure sign of good things to follow. These are not yet local and so
not yet to be found in the markets; they are from Morocco and Spain.
The strawberries look good but don't have nearly as much flavour as
the local ones but the asparagus are fine. I've not yet tried the
melons but may get tempted if I start thinking about melon and ham as
a starter for some meal.
In the
front of the house the bulbs I planted last autumn are mostly in
flower, giving the view (below) from my front window and of the bench
on the opposite side of the road.
When Steve and Jo call round for a
coffee, that is where we sit to drink it if the sun is out. Most of
the plants in pots, apart from the few annuals, have survived the
winter so there has is little to do there for another month; I've
already cleared the winter debris. At the back I've decided to add
another climbing rose, Guinée, which has an exquisite perfume, and a
couple of patio roses. There isn't much room for anything else other
than some ground cover, some of which I've already obtained from
friend June in Beaumont. Since my lemon tree, despite being now a
large bush and looking rudely healthy, still refuses to produce any
lemons I've bought a small one to replace it which already has some
lemons (and flowers) on it. Then it is just a question of letting
time do its work.
There
is a booklet on the history of the village that I translated some
years ago so that the text was in both French and English. It sold
quite quickly but there was little incentive to reprint it as the
print costs were more or less the same as the price at which it was
felt it could be sold. Since I had a copy in electronic form I've put
it on DVD (DVDs cost about 1 euro and nothing to reproduce) and
proposed to the Mairie that, since there is plenty of space on the
DVD, the content be supplemented with more photos of the village and
surroundings, the content of my website on the village and anything
else that the village council thinks appropriate. We'd then have a
DVD that could sell for probably around 10 euros for a cost of just 1
and a souvenir that summer visitors could take back with them. There
seems to be some interest in the idea so I will just have to wait and
see if it catches on.
