Autumn

Really struggling for blips at the moment. Yes, the grape harvest is in full swing, but it's not very picturesque nowadays. Yesterday afternoon I walked up to a point with a view over several hectares of vines. Not a person in sight, just one grape harvesting machine and one tractor. Almost nothing is harvested by hand now, and in the village you hardly notice it's going on. No bustle at dawn, no crowds of workers washing in the fountain at lunchtime and the end of the day. Sometimes in the middle of the night you hear the drone of a machine harvesting while it's cool.

During the day it's very hot, 33C this afternoon. I went to the market in the morning, the first time for weeks. It was very, very quiet. Not just in terms of customers, but stallholders who bothered to turn up. As our friend P, who sells organic herbs and plants, told me, it's an "old person's market" and they are either staying away, or just getting what they need and leaving. You used to always meet someone you knew for a gossip ... no more. Six months of Covid and no end in sight.