A time of HIGHS and lows .....

This week brought all sorts of challenges, that if you were in a country where you could speak the language it would be a doodle but being here, turns it into a feat of jumping hurdles.

The promised wood was just not coming and I couldn’t go and collect it as the car was still not road worthy.  It got to the point where I was desperate, we possibly had one night of wood left.  This is our only heating in the house, current temperature in the minuses most days.  New tyre or not; I decided I had to go and find this wood place. I telephoned for directions and vaguely knew where they were.  Confidentially I set off, I discovered a place that ‘looked’ right with lots of wood piles which I was told to look out for.  Put my best foot forward and all that, smile, French phrases practised, our conversation goes something like this: I’ve come to buy some wood.  What wood, I have no wood? Did M not tell you I was coming? Who is M? (Clearly this is not going well.) Do you sell wood? No, this is MY wood.  Ok, feeling very foolish now, do you know where the wood place is, NON, and he disappears inside.

Not panicking yet must have taken a wrong turn, I can call and/or check the map again. Damn it, left the phone at home which has all the details. This is so stupid, why can I not get my act together?  Never the less I solider on this is a small village it cannot be too far but after a wild goose chase - end result – no wood, lots of tears.

Later that day, finally get the tyre sorted after numerous attempts and thought, in spite of my lack of language I going to get some wood.  I go to the local wood place near the school.  The only person there is a wizened woman whose job is to operate the machine that chops the wood, and no she cannot sell me any wood.  Defeated I turn around to go home, thinking which friend can I call on to help me out.  As I leave a van arrives and the gentleman flags me down.  He can help me but he needs to see my fireplace first.  So he jumps in the car and tells me to ‘take him to the fire’, literal translation.

On our return he packs my car full of the ‘right’ wood and extra kindling and promises to make a full delivery tomorrow.  On the way home from the school run, I see his van and explain to the children that he is the man who helped me with the wood and he will deliver more tomorrow, no wait, he is delivering NOW.  We all help pack the wood in a neat wood pile, and then he insists in giving me a lesson on the proper way to operate the fire. He is very sweet and helpful and chats to the children a lot, he then asks me how old I am, reluctantly I tell him but he refuses to believe me even though I haven’t fabricated at all.  We all have a good laugh and after he leaves ‘ma fille’ says 'Mum I think you have a new boyfriend', well maybe he will keep for Gogo!

We then get a call from the original wood supplier saying they tried to deliver today and can they deliver tomorrow morning at 8.30am, ok, but I’m on the school run then but they can deliver anyway as the gates will be open.  I return to find a HUGE pile of wood in my driveway which was great but no driver to pay! What I do like, is we have enough wood for now.

That morning we got the delightful news that my latest and probably last nephew had been born in Durban.  We were all in celebratory mood so I decided to turn our weekly French lesson/lunch into a celebration. I was going to make my beef bourguignon anyway, so let’s just jazz it up.  So I quickly prepare the ‘boeuf de feu’ and then finish cooking it on the feu, which was a first for me.  J (newer French granny) who also joined us for lunch pronounced it 'délicieux' which I took as a huge compliment.  Never really imagined the celebration of such a precious birth to be with relative strangers but it was a wonderful lunch and yes, we did our French lesson too.

After the various car repairs it’s still not right. There is a battery fault and the power steering goes, which is not funny.  As I had been doing so many little ‘hop’ trips I thought I would take it for a longer run.  I was not in the mood for shopping in Perpignan so I headed for the mountains.  It is a beautiful bright day but still cold it was -1 at 9am.  As I am driving along I see this man who needs a lift, literally in the middle of nowhere next village at least 5kms away or more.  So I shoot up an arrow prayer and stop for him.  I can hear you all yelling now, but it felt right I was trusting my instincts.  Anyway it turns out this guy Jose speaks Catalan, a little French and Spanish but actually is Portuguese which was a great surprise.  (Aside: my sister in law who just had the baby happens to Mozambique Portuguese = connection). He was moving stuff from Lansac about 10 kms away back to St Paul in a shopping bag on wheels.  So off we went  to Lansac and as I was waiting for him to get his stuff I thought maybe I should let someone know what I’m up to.  So I call hubby who is still in London, if I am not home tonight when you get back, this is what happened.  However all was well, he was a sweet guy who plays guitar (blues and jazz but loves classical) and his English girlfriend had kicked him out on religious differences!

On returning him to the bridge a beautiful creature, (thought it was a deer but turns out it to be a Pyrenean chamois) jumped out in front of us, it was a lovely sighting.  Jose got really excited I thought it was because he maybe wanted to shoot it but it turns out he has never seen one before and was really happy to see it.  I was over the moon too, to see it and thought, thank you God, that was a good reward, but of course the biggest joy of this week is our beautiful new nephew, he is such a blessing to all of us and cannot wait for him to get to know his crazy ‘French’ family. A bientôt.