Grey day

We thought spring had arrived. But today started grey and ended greyer. It got darker and darker, until we had a five-minute thunderstorm and a very brief rainbow. Even after that, Alaric was still wearing his hat. Instead of going to Narbonne, I ended up staying in all day, dealing with various work crises.

In brighter news, let's hear it for local family business! The Garage Yeste in Fabrezan had my car fixed in under 24 hours. They didn't charge me for the callout (well, admittedly it was only 500 metres) or the loan of the banger -- which did get back to the garage, even if the last hill was a bit of a struggle. I expressed my appreciation, and Madame said, "Well, no matter what time of day or night, you can always call us and we'll come out." This is one of the reasons it's important to support local business.

Orange could learn a few lessons from them. Day 10, still no phone. I received a bill from them today, for 2.85 euros, which I suppose does accurately represent the value we've had from them over the last two months.

We finished our day at the AGM of the village's social club. The meeting took about 20 minutes. Then we drank aperitifs and ate peanuts and crisps for the two hours it took for Jérôme to get a fire of wet vine stumps going and cook the sausages in the rain. He had to be kept going with frequent deliveries of rosé and peanuts, and when he eventually staggered in from the gathering gloom, those who remained standing fell on the sausages like ravenous wolves.

It's the weekend! Thank goodness. I'm sure next week will be better than this.