Mollans And Brexit

In Mollans

I went to the old people's lunch last Sunday and a very good lunch it was, prepared by the cooks at the Les Tilleuls restaurant in the village. There were cocktails to start followed by canapés filled with pieces of pork in a delicious sauce surrounded by salad and a «quenelle». Quenelles, a Lyon speciality, are a rather bland concoction of flour, milk, probably egg and i'm not sure what else; I'll have to look it up sometime. The French love them but I find them lacking in any discernible flavour. This was followed by fillet of pork in a very good cider sauce, vegetables and the usual selection of wines, served by members of the village council. It was all very good and enjoyed by about 100 of us, as the photo shows.

Cheese and dessert were to follow but I left after the main course to watch Chelsea play, much to the amazement of the mayor who was standing outside as I departed. I explained that I had to watch a football match but he still seemed perplexed. Non-believers in the true religion will never understand! The match was not on TV so I had to get it on my PC via a very dodgy Russian website. The Russian mafia have their uses, although even they seem to be finding it harder and harder to intercept broadcasts; at least, I'm finding it harder and harder to get a good feed to my PC.

So far we've had a quite mild winter, the coldest weather being in mid-December. Most days have been sunny and quite warm in the middle of the day, with also a reasonable amount of rain. We are bit yet through winter, of course, but a cursory glance around my plants suggests that most of them have survived.

Brexit Again

A recent Sky News item suggested criteria for a successful dinner party. Among the things definitely forbidden was any discussion of Brexit. Why? The subject is somewhere on most peoples' minds so why not discuss it reasonably? The answer would appear to be because most people can't; the issue goes straight to the emotions and reason quickly goes out the window. The lack of reason perhaps explains some of the government's dilemmas in trying to decide what can be negotiated.