Monday 6 July 2015
Stinking, rotten, exhausting hot
36 degrees
Awoke early with my sheets in a tangle. Pillows were in tortured forms. The air in the room was leaden so I threw open the windows to let in the morning. Wagtails were running along the cusp of the barn roof, tick ticking and tails bounding up and down in their characteristic action. House martins zipped in and out of the upper level window space. They make me think of X wing fighter planes of Star Wars.
OH has lie in and I list all of my resin jewellery on Etsy. Manage 22 different lots. Make a FB page and invite people. Sit back and wait for the magic to happen. Consider making a treasury. Drink lots of tea.
OH gets up and staggers about and we turn on the telly to see where the Greeks are at. Referendum on the question of the European Central Bank bail out. They are against it. The Greek prime minister, a man who is not afraid of excessive use of hyperbole, claims that Greece has shown Europe what it means to be democratic. That Greece is taking its own destiny into its own hands. That everything will change now. So tomorrow, they will start behaving like every other democratic country? Getting up and going to work? Paying their taxes? Stop frittering their money and then getting other EU countries to stop them going bankrupt? Mr Tsipras, I really, really, really dont think so, and you would do well to get yourself a finance minister who could do better than a third in economics from Sussex University. 'I shall wear the creditors loathing with pride' - WTF? Are these people serious? How about his next employers not paying him and seeing how much he enjoys not receiving what is due. These people are a joke. Yanis has now Varoufakis'd off, smiling as he went.
On with the motley for 11 and hung around outside a previsit house, waiting for colleagues. They were running half an hour late so I went in and sat with the owners and they gave me a big glass of water and were alarmed at how pink my cheeks were. Didnt like to tell them that pink is just the warm up colour - I pass from shrimp to lobster to Flanders poppy during the course of the day. The owners then tell me that they signed a compromis THREE weeks ago and the man says he doesnt see how the buyer is going to get a bridging loan for the full amount plus notaires fees plus 20k for the pool. My colleagues then turn up and I relate this news to them and SS says she cant possibly risk bringing around her client in case they want to buy and then get pissed off and go elsewhere.
They leave and I decide to check on a house that used to be for sale in the same village. The owner, an English lady, has two massive black dogs which jump all over the clients and then give their crotches a good sniff. Some people take this badly. The owner used to teach French but I dont think she ever ventured into the realms of French conversation. She will launch into a sentence and realise half way through that she is heading for a word for which she doesnt know the French version. She will then revert into English, ask me, and then back into French where she again will head into uncharted territory. There is a sold sign on the door so I continue up the road a way and find two other houses with For Sale signs on the doors. Put a card in one letter box and then the owner comes out of the other house and invites me in and shows me around. Not like the UK. I dont think people there would let strangers, not even bearing business cards, in and show them around. I agree to come back in the afternoon and go home and feel very very hot.
Alas all too soon it is time to go out again. First house is delightful with a shady courtyard and surprisingly large interior. An 18 month old girl plays me a tune on her guitar and says 'urggghhh'. She will have a future in modern music. All done in 20 minutes so go for a Pepsi in the railway bar. Old men, wearing a surprising amount of clothing for the time of year, are watching horseracing on the PMU tv and talking about temperatures. One of them claims that La Teste saw 44 degrees last week
Lovely La Teste
Time out and I head back to the house I found this morning. It is very large and chock full of stuff and not the prettiest of interiors, but the location is good, the garden is well managed and there is a great view of the mountains (I believe). The mountains are shy creatures and rarely seen in Summer. They are best at the start of the year, when the snow is like pink Royal icing and there is a clear, fresh, iodine tang in the air. I do the rounds and measure up and then I have turned from shrimp to half boiled lobster, so they get out an extra fan and then suggest a drink and, before I can stop them (OK I didnt try that hard) they have tipped some mint cordial into a glass and topped it up with ice cold beer. It is utterly delicious.
They start off showing me pictures of the mountains in winter and then somehow divert into their holiday photos and a village of ochre stone in the Luberon, which was rather amazing, with stone pillars which look like they have been fashioned by African termites. It was all very pleasant until I realised I was going to be late for my last appointment and had, regretfully, to run off.
http://www.carnetsderando.net/colorado-provencal/
Last but not least was a strangely shaped and surprisingly yellow 1960's house with swimming pool. I was met by a small man with pale eyes, floppy blonde hair and a nervous air about him. A large adolescent girl lounged on the sofa and a small boy with black hair and eyes like a toy bear smiled at me from a sun lounger. Another man appeared. He was very muscled and tattooed and had a neatly trimmed beard and moustache. Both were wearing vests. They looked like before and after pictures that would feature in a joint Holiday/Gym subscription ad. They gave me lots of water and a fan just for me. I finally finished at just before 7.30 and dashed to the supermarket and found they were sold out of fans. Decided I would just have to expire.
Back home and OH presented me with a dinner of stir fried potatoes, steamed cauliflower and very hot and spicy chicken. Washed it down with glasses of iced water and felt rather sick. Watered and had shower and watched Wimbledon. Amused to see that the dreadful Gatsby Club venue has been abandoned after just one week
Goodbye dreadful Gatsby Club
Rather thrilled and surprised to find I have sold four sets of buttons!!
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