Spring?

Spring

The spring like weather has continued. In my youth I remember that the first time a cuckoo was heard (supposedly a portent of summer) the hearer would write to The Times and The Times would publish the letter. People looked out for the letter and it became a kind of tradition. I don't know if they still do it. Anyway, I am announcing the first daffodil in bloom in the village, in one of my pots in front of the house. Somehow I don't think the local paper, La Tribune, will be interested; cuckoos and daffodils are strictly for the English, I suspect. Friends Steve and Jo have the first few primroses and a Japonica bush in bloom in their garden so the first signs of spring are definitely here. I've cleared the back garden of winter debris, manured all round and planted some more lilly bulbs, as they seem to do well and need no attention.

Rain has become less frequent although the water level is still high. The sediment usually thrown up by the rain has settled so the river is full of clear light blue/green water (the colour likely a result of light refraction through clay particles) and looks very attractive. I've only just realised that the muddy colour from sediment that rain usually causes is a factor only from Buis downstream. I was taken up to St Auban on Saturday and the river above Buis was clear. The river falls fairly steeply further up and is narrow and so runs fast until it reaches Buis, where it forms a wider bed and runs more slowly through to Mollans. So I suppose it is natural that sediment carried down will settle between Buis and here and then get stirred up by rain. It's taken me only seven years to work that out!

Elections

We have mayoral elections on the 23^rd of March as the current mayor is retiring. The electoral process is somewhat complicated. As Mollans now has over 1000 inhabitants, we voters vote for a list of potential councillors headed by a potential mayor. Each mayoral candidate has to create his/her own list of backers/potential councillors. Depending on the result (size of majority) there may then be a second round of voting and eventually a third round of voting for the final few individuals who make up the rump of the council.

Anyway, I received an email from friend Patrick, who is on what looks to me to be the strongest list, asking if I would help set up, fill in and maintain a blog for the list. I was somewhat surprised as a blog is essentially simple but, assuming they just wanted some reassurance, I agreed. That is why I went, with some members of the list, to St Auban. A “professional” there had been asked to set up the blog for them, I was told. The outfit in St Auban was indeed professional but in setting up and hosting websites, which was apparently what they were asking for. Given that none of the list members has any kind of IT background I was slightly alarmed at what they might be trying to do, especially given the very short time over which the website was likely to be used. However, it appears that they want only a very elementary site and to use it in a very elementary way, not too dissimilar to a blog; so they should be OK and I may not be needed at all. For anyone interested, the site is at www.mollans2014.fr