And yet but Friday, all seemed relatively calm!
Monday was the start of the work on removing the old wood burner and getting the new one in. The taking out was a bit traumatic for us, not for the work that needed doing but from the ominous crashes and bangs that punctuated the morning. By the time the guys left for their lunch, there was a pile of debris outside in the courtyard that stank of soot and old smoke. We looked at the tubing aghast as it had cost us a few thousand to have it installed, admittedly about 15 years ago, but even so!
Monday night we could only see a few holes and some bits that were keeping the fire space clear of cats and their explorations - clearly we put the wind up the salesman when we said there were elements to prevent cat intrusion in the chimney area! But by Tuesday lunchtime, there was a beautiful, new, shiny wood burning insert, with no chance of cats getting into the area above the insert. On Thursday, the boss turned up to check his team's work, light a fire, and get us to sign lots of paperwork. It is very effective and efficient, and when the temperature outside is about 25 degrees C, that is exactly when you want a nice hot fire going!!
Another excitement for the week was the start of the Challenge Communale in boule de forte. Each club, plus the council is invited to put forward a couple of teams to play this uniquely Angevine sport. The Comité des Fetes puts in two teams, this year again we came up with an all women team and an all men team. I play on the women's team (Girl Power) and last year we got to the finals. This year we were pitted against one of two teams from the Council (elected members, not staff), and won by an embarrassing margin (10 - 0). I was busy, so no photos! The men's team played the following night against one of two teams for Heritage Preservation, taking it all very seriously ... and lost. If they had won, it would have been an all Comité des Fetes second round, so perhaps good?
Today I was able to harvest a few autumnal crops - a handful of potatoes and a small pumpkin. The potatoes were rather small - this is due to the lack of rain during the summer and not being allowed to do much watering because of the drought. Crisps and chips will be smaller this year and baking potatoes at a premium I think. Still this collection will do us nicely for the week. I am not sure if it is unusual to be harvesting cucumbers in October and it's the first year we have grown them.
The bed of autumn and winter greens is coming on very nicely. The chard will need to be thinned soon, which will give us a nice salad to eat. I've already been snacking on baby spinach leaves and they will also need thinning soon. The lamb's lettuce, or mâche, will grow slowly and some may be ready for Christmas.
Something else that may be ready to eat during the week is our first cristophine! Normally by this stage we would be fed up with them, having been picking them since mid-September. This one snuck up on us rather, as we only spotted the first female flowers about a week ago, but then it is well hidden in the canopy. It has been a bad year for this tropical perennial, as it has been far too dry and too hot as well - it likes temperatures between 20 and 33 degrees and either side of that, it is out of its comfort zone.
Another weird one are the jalapeño chillies, which would normally be searingly hot to eat. This year they are full of flavour, but very tame. We do still have some cayenne chillies in the freezer to add heat when required, but we had high hopes of these and are slightly disappointed. I guess they would have preferred cooler temperatures too.
Anyway, the nights are drawing in, and we are told there will be a sharp drop in temperatures after Wednesday, so we take advantage of the light and outdoor events while we can. Today there is the exhibition of the village Heritage Preservation Society's annual photo competition up at the church, with prize giving in about three quarters of an hour, so I had better round this off and put on some shoes and go and be seen to participate.
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