Le retour

I've been a very bad blogger.... We managed to track down all of our worldly possessions, thrown carelessly into a metal container in a storage yard not far from our house. Nearly all of our furniture had been damaged and two key boxes of kitchen equipment, including our coffee machine and mixer plus all our salad spoons / can openers / corkscrews etc 'disappeared' in transit. Miraculously every single one of our precious wine glasses survived - god knows how!

So the last few weeks have been spent chipping away at grime and unpacking what feels like a thousand boxes,  all of which seem to duplicate the moment I get to the bottom of one.

I've also experienced first hand some of the more frustrating (for a reformed city dweller) Provencal behaviour.  Word of advice if your electrician - handyman - plumber says he'll come tomorrow don't believe him it means you might catch sight of him sometime in the upcoming weeks. Note to self: You should always say you need something 'Hier' not 'Aujourd hui'. The line, 'I'm just going to get a different screwdriver from the car actually means he has to go home for lunch/dinner/pastis.

Late last week the village 'electrician - handyman - plumber' honoured us a visit (2 weeks late I might add), I misguidedly offered him a glass of wine which he chased, followed by a second and then, cigarette in mouth he proceeded to wire and install our electric oven for us. Three hours later he triumphantly announced it was fait accompli, overjoyed  (and possibly overstepping the boundaries of friendliness) I gave him a huge hug....he went on his merry way and needless to say as I prepared to cook Louis his dinner 20 minutes later all the fuses in the apartment tripped and I was left standing holding a semi-boiled egg in saucepan, in the dark, with a screaming child looking for his dinner.  Grrrrrrrrrr.

So my challenge to myself this week is to chill out and  'get with the Provencal vibe'!