Iris

As I am getting a little short of inspiration for blips, I thought I would get out of my macro lens and have a play. This morning I went down to the market. This took longer than usual because I met five separate friends and had the obligatory chat with each of them. Friends had given us two wooden planters which look very nice on the patio. We called around later with a small gift to give them. They had been to a meeting with the local Maire to find out more about the water restrictions and forest fire prevention measures required from May 10th when the department goes into crisis alert, the highest alert possible. Theirs is a very rural valley and they were told that even vegetable gardens cannot be watered but there was an outcry as many people rely on the plots and cannot afford supermarket prices for fruit and vegetables. There are complicated rules about clearing vegetation away from hoses and roofs to prevent the spread of fire. I was back in time for the second half of 'le Crunch', the Grand Slam decider of the women's rugby. England had more or less won the game in the first half but France dominated in the second half and almost caught them up.