Update

Update

The weather up to last weekend has been unexceptional, more or less what you would expect at this time of the year, rather wetter than usual but with quite a few warm sunny days. Then at the weekend we had two days of 29 degrees in the midday sun. They filled me with foreboding of what we might get later in the summer but the last few days have been cooler, helped by the Mistral deciding to take a hand.

Anyway the longer daylight hours have woken the village up and there are now groups of people on the cafe terraces most evenings, the first cycling teams streaming through and generally more life in the streets. The Cafe des Sports closed for a couple of months, nobody seemed to know why, but has reopened. Summer is about to begin.

I have been gardening almost non-stop and am sendig my cleaning lady mad. There are seedlings (and compost) on the balcony and around the house where there is sufficient light and she has to clean round them. I bring them in at night because I’ve found that rats are partial to a juicy seedling or two and, being in a rural area, rats will be around looking for food at night.

Whether or not a result of climate change two of my climbing roses in the front have already started blooming, a good 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. It has inspired me to start planting flowers naround the house that much earlier and my balcony now boasts an array of pelargoniums. On a chance visit to Lidl I found clematis on sale for 2.99 euros so couldn’t resist buying another three, which means I know have a dozen crawling over the house. The rambler roses I planted in the back garden and next to the wash-house opposite are now in full bloom but at least their timing is more or less accurate.

The allotment is already almost completely seeded and planted with just a small space in the middle which I haven’t yet decided how to use. I’m lacking sunflower seedlings this year. The plants I put in pots in the front last year have mostlykept their foliage preventing the seeds the birds drop from my balcony getting into the pots. I may have to grow some from seed myself. Despite the greater than usual rainfall the surface of the allotment is dry and so I have already had to start watering the seeds sown and seedlings planted there.

At the last meeting of the gardeners’ association we decided to put a lock on the entry gate. If boars got in there now it would be disastrous. The gardeners are aware of that and religiously shut the gate when leaving but others use the tables and benches around the outside and we have often found the gate left open. It has also been decided to restart the Friday evening aperitif ritual there now.

Some friends arrived from Brittany and brought me a bottle of Lambig. It’s distilled cider but not Calvados; the taste is certainly different but I’m not sure in exactly what way; it seems a bit more refined , rather less obviously made from apples.

My scrapbook for my granddaughter of her past visits here is proceeding nicely although there are some more photos that I need and I’m finding sizing the photos within the text challenging. I’m still planning on writing a book on Mollans but that will be mostly for the winter. I would need to have it finished in time for the next tourist season.

Finally I had been told that in order to vote in the forthcoming European elections I needed to register. So I went to the Mairie but it seems the process is now automatic; I was already on the electoral list. Friend Jacques suggested that the problem with the left is that it it is too splintered; the right coheres more easily. Nurture some cherished prejudices, add a dash of blind nationalism, dislike immigrants and revere money and there you have it. The left argues and splinters over philosophical details. Unfortunately I think he may be right. Where did the centre go?

 

News

The Problem With A Mollans Blog

I feel I should update my blog but…….what can I say that would be of interest? World-shaking events don’t happen here, certainly not politically or in terms of armed aggression or crime.

We have had, to my knowledge, two burglaries and one case of assault and battery in 21 years. Even then, the case of battery and assault was much a kind of plea for help as a crime from an alcoholic who was immediately identified and knew he would be. And one of the burglaries at least was from criminals known to the police to be operating outside the village. I do remember being stopped on the bridge one late evening by police who were looking for interesting substances, grown for years in a garden less than 200 metres from the bridge and known to everyone except, apparently, the police.

The weather is another possibility for news and the south west of France has experienced severe flooding. Here we have had an unusual amount of rain and the result is that the Ouvéze is somewhat swollen and the earth in my allotment is like pudding. Anyone want to make a news headline out of that? We don’t have news in Mollans other than of the variety that someone has died or been born. From my point of view, long may that continue but from the point of view of this blog…...what can I write about that could possibly be of interest to anyone who might read it? I’m still waiting for my first 100 real readers (bots excepted), let alone my first million, and unless I mention a topic that makes Russia, China or whoever send hundreds of their bots to interfere I shall go on waiting. So………

Spring has come here and is in full swing, at least according to the plant world, as reliable an indicator as any. Japonica bushes have been in bloom for some weeks, blossom from wild cherry and almond trees is all around as are primroses in more sheltered places. I have over 30 daffodils currently in bloom in front of the house, which pleases me and passers by. Some geraniums which I left in pots on my balcony over the winter have survived and are putting on new leaves. So I’m beginning to think about what I want in terms of flowers in front of the house this year.

On the allotment I’ve already planted onions and shallots and started to clear the space for the potatoes which have chitted in my junk room and are ready to plant. I want soon to plant a line of lettuces and rocket also and have decided that I will not, as far as possible, pot on the seedlings sprouting on my balcony but instead make shallow runnels in the still unsatisfactory ground on the allotment, fill them with decent compost and try transplanting directly into them. Plans for the rest of the allotment can wait until April.

With variable weather and gardening preoccupations I’ve become a weather forecasting watcher, on almost a daily basis. It helps me plan my gardening and boules playing time more accurately. How’s that for news?

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What Makes Mollans Special

What Makes Mollans Special

A new member of the group to whom I give English conversation lessons said he had just moved to Mollans. He said he had lived in places around Mollans but had always wanted to live in the village itself because Mollans was “special”. Others have said the same, so what makes Mollans “special”?

It is not the prettiest village around, that title has to go to Le Crestet, a hamlet plastered on a nearby hillside made up of old stone cottages and cobbled streets with superb views over the area. But those old cottages are virtually all owned by summer visitors and the hamlet is dead in the winter. And there are no shops in Le Crestet. Mollans has shops that cater for all everyday needs throughout the year and not all surrounding villages have those but some do. It means Mollans does not “die” in winter as some other villages do but Mollans is not unique in that. In fact it is difficult to identify any physical aspect of the village that would merit the adjective “special”.

What makes Mollans special is nothing tangible, more a feeling, an attitude, a sense of well being. As people from other villages around will attest “on est bien à Mollans”. Mollans has a reputation for being welcoming, even to foreigners. There is a sense of a community spirit that is all pervasive. This is particularly evident in the Amitié Mollanaise, an old people’s club that organises activities throughout the year. It has no equivalent in the surrounding area.

There is a general feeling of relaxation in Mollans, apparently long-standing. T he Mollanais have traditionally been known as Lei Coude Trouca, Provençal for people with holes in the elbows of their shirts, pullovers or jackets, supposedly from long periods leaning on the bridge and gazing at the river below. The Mollanais could be accused of lacking ambition but there is little scope or need for it in the village. Others can chase lofty ambitions, the Mollanais are happy as they are. And others some to Mollans for just that reason, to be happy.

 

Looking To The Year Ahead

 

Looking To The Year Ahead

This is the first year since COVID that the previously traditional crumblies’ lunch has aken place. I’m not sure why the hiatus was so long but crumblies are definitely more at risk from the bug than others. Anyway, it was worth the wait.

We started with some “amuse-gueles” and champagne before the starter of prawns, smoked salmon, ham, pâté and salad. It was almost a meal in itself. The main course was pork cooked in a dark wine sauce with mashed potatoes and an accompanying apricot stuffing. There followed cheeses and a café gourmand with sparkling Clairette. Wine of allvarieties was served throughout the meal by the mayor and village councillors. The meal was free of course. Maybe the idea is to kill off the crumblies through over indulgence.

That was certainly a very good strat to the year. Early this month there will be AGMs for both the gardeners association and the Amitié Mollanaise at which activities for the year will be announceed. AGMs are not generally exciting occasions, far from it, but I look forward to both.

The weather for the last half of January has been surprisingly clement, sunny days with middle of the day temperatures of 12-15 degrees. That has got my green fingers itching but I know I shouldn’t start anything before March. Maybe what I will do is fill some seed trays with compost, put them in the plastic green house and see how they warm up. If they warm up quickly…….?? I still have to do some work on the ground in the allotment. I propose at the moment to turn over just the top 6 inches or so as I don’t want the good material to go too deep. I reckon I can do that in about 4 or 5 sessions. I may buy some cheap compost to go on the top as well, just to improve the texture.

This afternoon I went to Lidl, primarily looking for English bitter which they had sold out of. I’m not sure if they will have any more or whether it was just for Christmas. Supermarkets good are much more seasonal here than in England and not just with perishable goods. I’m not keen on milk chocolate but love dark chocolate truffles to munch while I’m watching football on TV. But you can get them here only around Christmas. I also love kippers but you can’t get them here in winter as you might expect; the fish counters have predominantly shellfish and salmon.

I once met the renowned English judge Lord Denning in February coming out of a taxi that I was about to get into in front of the Grosvenor hotel in London, giggling like a schoolboy. I asked him what the joke was and he said the cabbie had told him that cabbies called the period between the new year and Easter the kipper season; there wasn’t much trade in that period and kippers were all that cabbies could afford to eat.

Anyway, frustrated at not finding any beer my green fingers took hold and I turned to the seed display. I know Lidl keep prices low but I was surprised at how much cheaper their packets of seeds were than in other supermarkets. So………...I bought my supply. That at least stopped the fingers itching for a while. Last year Lidl had a variety of fruit bushes at keen prices and if they have more this year I shall buy more. Fruit bushes don’t need a lot of attention.

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.

Birthday and UK Visit

 

Birthday And UK Visit

I spent my birthday in Scotland with Natalie and family and had a great time there. Natalie had bought some good bitter and it was good to have a glass of that hat soon after my arrival on the Friday and a curry in the evening. Curries, fish and chips and sausages and mash (and bacon sandwiches in the morning and pints of bitter to drink) are now my staple diet when I’m in the UK, food that is difficult to find and which I don’t normally want in France; it’s a function of climate. I’m a foodie of a different sort when I’m in the UK .

On the Saturday I got the full birthday treatment: cards and presents in the morning, lunch at a good restaurant and fizz and cake with candles in the evening (photos below). I didn’t want to do anything special for the rest of my stay, just be with the family, do a little shopping and a little gardening and be around the house. It was a very pleasant few days.

 

I

 

 I left Glasgow to go to see Steve and Jo in the house they are renting temporarily in Sywell while awaiting their eventual move to Scotland. It is a lovely, small old house in a quiet close and of course I got to see Tiloup, the dog, and have a love-in with him. Jo gave me a short tour around the area which has attractive countryside, a couple of good pubs and an aerodrome for antique plane enthusiasts. Their initial foray into Scotland to scout the possibilities there was rather a washout, hindered by floods and torrential rain, but they will be back again in the spring. I also met Carl while I was there, who looked much fitter than I have seen him for a while. Four days a week at the gym have put a lot of muscle on him and he seems content with his life in Birmingham.

From Steve and Jo I went to Reading, as my friend Margaret couldn’t put me up in London, and met up with former girlfriend Mairwen. We went for a pub lunch together aand reminisced a bit about old times and friends there. Reading had changed so much in the past 15 years that I found it quite a shock. The old station that I knew so well from frequent commutes to London had become something of a railway palace with two new entrances, six new platforms and a third-storey concourse with shops and cafes. It’s high all-glass frontage now dominates the road infront of it. The centre of the town had changed quite dramatically too with a lot of new building and quite different shops. Department stores it seem are now “out”, nobody wants them or the space is uneconomic and now empty. The smaller shops seemed predominantly food stores, cafes, restaurants or take-aways with a wide variety of food with different national flavours. I found that quite attractive but not so much the method of payment. After my arrival in the UK I had withdrawn a couple of hundred pounds in Sterling but in the event had difficulty spending it. Many of the shops and pubs insisted on payment by card or phone only. Mairwen said that had started in the pandemic, presumably for hygienic reasons, and subsequently continued and intensified. But it came as a shock to me, used to life in a small rural French village.

I found my visit to the UK tiring but very enjoyable; lugging suitcases around is bound to be for someone at my age but I had numerous unsolicited offers of help with them. Whatever is happening politically in the UK the people are still very much OK.

Rémuzat Etc

Rémuzat

It didn’t take me long to lose my «crown» at the Rémuzat boules tournament. I lost my first game and to win the tournament you have to win every game and by a larger margin than anybody else. In retrospect I’m slightly amazed that I managed it last year. But the few days there were enjoyable nonetheless. On a free day friends Michel and Chantal took me up to a point 2500 metres in the hills where we could see the eagles and vultures at close hand (photo below). Vultures really are huge birds and I hadn’t realised that they can’t get airborne without some assistance from warm updrafts of air. So they don’t appear in the sky until around midday in the autumn. I’ve no idea what they do in winter; presumably they just scramble around.

Gardening

The autumn weather has been very good so far, sunshine for most of the day and cool but not cold evenings. We’ve had no rain so I’ve had to continue watering although the daytime heat is not enough for the ground to lose much water. The pots front and back still have some colour, a bit more than usual as I’ve favoured plants this year that don’t require too much water and continue blooming later. So I still have oleanders, sages and the ageranthemum by my front door that the postmistress has to peer through to see my letter box in bloom (photo).

The allotment has been a bit disappointing in terms of volume as the other gardeners have found so at least I know it’s not just me. However I have had sweet corn, onions, aubergines, chillies and beetroot and the tomatoes and French beans have been prolific and still are. I’ve sown some turnip seed and planted cabbages and leeks so there will be something to come through the winter.

Scotland

At the end of the week I’m off to spend my birthday in Scotland with Natalie and family. Friends Claudine and Jacques have kindly offered to take me to and from Marseilles airport. I’ll take olives, olive oil and a donkey or boar sausage for Natalie and “langues de chat” biscuits for Eilidh, which she loves, plus some lavender essence for presents for whoever. On leaving Scotland I’ll go down to see lifelong friends Steve and Jo who have now moved back to the UK permanently. And then I shall go further down to Reading to see friend Mairwen and do some shopping to bring back. My friend Margaret can’t put me up in London this year and London hotel prices require a bank loan so I’ll skip London. It’s a trip that I am very much looking forward to. All the logistics along the way are pre-booked but “man proposes and….”.

 

Immigration

A little while ago I did a post on immigration. The result was hundreds of hits on this blog. The hits were obviously bots looking for mentions off immigration. Why? The most obvious reason would be to gather evidence to refine messages on the subject. But who was issuing the bots? Since Google stats no longer gives the geographical region from which hits come it’s impossible for me to say. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the UK government.