So relaxed we are melting

 26^th August

Relaxing nicely into the French experience. We eat our meals on the bolly beside the pool, and admire our efforts to tame the rampant greenery. Tonight we had salmon with nectarines, camembert, cornichons and black olives with salad, plus French bread with grains of mustard. A selection we would not think of in England. A swim every day for me, but not dh, who does not swim and cannot be persuaded into the water. We rescued a big green lizard who was so startled to see dh, he jumped aside and fell in the pool. We fished him out with the scoop and he scuttled off into the bushes. (I have so little internet access that I shall load pictures once I am home.)

We’ve never been here in August before and it is different. The heat is steady most of the day from 10am, with no wind, and the nights are pleasant. Saturday night we sat out until midnight and stared at the sky. There is little or no light pollution here, and the stars are amazing. Best of all there are no mosquitos! Though there are small things that bite flying about – we both have several lumps, bumps and bites to prove it. There are very few flowers in the fields and we have yet to hear the sound of a tractor – very different to earlier in the year when the farmers are rushing about growing and harvesting crops. The sunflowers on the hill opposite are still yellow, but won’t be for much longer.

There are few holiday makers around. We hear maybe one or two cars a day, which is staggering. Even white van man is not bombing around as he is in the early part of the year. I wonder if the holidaymakers have stayed home this year. The stream is so low it barely trickles over the stones and all the sunken wrecks of once proud trees are plain to see.

Perla thinks it is too darned hot. I must admit we spend a good deal of time in the shade of the bolly. Up early, we walk her while it is cool, do whatever tasks need doing and then relax for the rest of the day until wine o’clock ( at 4pm!) and dinner as the sun starts to go down.

With no access to Facebook et al, I have written the first chapter of a new historical romance set in, of all places, Newcastle!