Christmas And After

 

Christmas And After

I’ve left it until now to write about the holiday period simply because there si not a lot to write about. Is With many friends absent I spent a relatively quiet but enjoyable time, at friends for Christmas day and with friends at my house the day after. As usual I ate and drank very well.

The weather both leading up to and since the holiday period has been cold but not excessively so with frequent periods of rain. The cold has kept me fron playing boues very much and also deterred me from doing much on the allotment. Just before Christmas I went to help unload a lorry full of good compost which the gardening association had bought, with three barrow loads going on my patch. Since then I’ve spread around 20 kilos of guano on the allotment but that is about all I have done so far. I propose to add some manure but won’t do any sowing or ^planting efore March. Potatoes and onions will be the first to go in.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there are no flowers at the moment but the narcissi bulbs I planted in the autumn are all showing through and should look good in about a couple of months time.

On the feeding front the village organised an old fogies Christmas lunch a week beforehand which I presumed would replace the one which had been organised in January prior to Covid. But it seems that the later will go ahead as well. The village certainly does not intend its old fogies to die of starvation, whatever else they may die of.

Yesterday evening I went to hear the mayor’s annual summary of the year, which was followed by galettes de roi and champagne. The summary of what has been done and what is in the pipline was unexceptional but the costs proved interesting. For virtually all the projects the mayor listed the cosy to the village and the amounts being subsidised by the region or other bodies. I find this process of various bodies contributing to achieve a project, whether it is maintaining roads, ensuring water supplies or subsidising performances at the open air theatre, laudable and very French. Much more budget is pushed down to local evel than in England. It seems to epitomise the French values of “fraternité” and “solidarité” in action.And so now…..I look forward to the first signs of spring.