The Baguette: Getting down to business

This week has been a good mixture of work and play, accompanied by a real mixed bag of weather too.
Last weekend was really wet all day on Sunday, so we decided to go to Le Thoronet Abbey for the midday mass service. Not because we have been religiously converted in any way, but because the abbey is very well known for its acoustics, and the service is almost completely sung. Building began on the abbey in 1160 and was completed in 1230, by Cistercian monks. We had been forewarned about the temperature INSIDE the abbey, and sure enough, if we thought it was freezing outside, it was much colder inside, and everyone's breath was clearly visible coming out in steamy clouds! Four men formed the "choir" and their singing was truly amazing. The echoes and vibrations around the abbey were incredible, and we quite happily sat there for an hour, not knowing what was going on, just listening.
Yip those monks must have had some seriously good thermals because it was subliminally cold despite having 3-4 woollen layers on plus winter cycling gloves and woolly hat. Fortunately we left the abbey before the end of proceedings otherwise we'd have been frozen to the seats.
One of the most amusing or perhaps surprising event during the service was a display of discipline by a French parent. Several children were there with their parents. As usual 2 toddlers (< 5yrs old) were running around the cloisters and eventually went right up to the alter and starting messing about. Their father at this stage was clearly not amused and headed up to retrieve them from under the Priest's feet. To ensure the children got the message and right in front of the alter the wee boy got a good whack around the backside with a stick and the girl was dragged back to their seat by the hood of her coat. I don't think anyone noticed! Obviously there are no anti-smacking rules here in France or maybe they don't apply in church.
When the sun came out the next day, we decided to attack the area in and around the pool. I scooped all the leaves out of the base of the pool, then brushed down the pool walls and floor with a very long broom. Finally I scrubbed the water line in my Marigolds to get rid of the start of some algae that has built up over winter. This is after breaking the ice that covered the pool in the morning...I had two pairs of gloves on under the Marigolds!

Lew got stuck into the bank and gave the toi toi (or pampas grass, depending on which side of the world you are reading this) a good haircut, then started clearing out some of the dead leaves and weeds in amongst the rocks. While we got the toi toi cut back in a day, the rest of the bank is taking a bit longer to complete.

While shifting some logs for firewood from one end of the section to another, we came across this gecko happily enjoying the winter sunshine. We also found some ENORMOUS huhu grubs in amongst the dead wood - the chickens were soon fighting over them for lunch!

The sun stayed out for a day or 2 so we made the most of the idyllic conditions and found our way from the Office du Tourisme in Le Thoronet village to the top of a hill overlooking the region and beyond to the mountains in the North. Took about 50 mins to reach the observation tower that was like a forestry fire lookout - mounted up a pole with steps and totally enclosed, double glazed 360 degree views with a topographical map mounted on a round table with all the visible features and towns. Fantastic. Apart from being out of the wind we could at last get a better perspective of where everything was in relation to Le Thoronet. I have had trouble getting myself adjusted to where North and South are. With the sun crossing the southern sky it takes ages to get orientated. The lookout also gave great views of the bauxite mining activity in the area. No rehab of mine sites here in the past. Apparently the French moved out to Pacific Islands and other French colonies when labour costs and bureaucracy became a problem.

The Renault 4 ute was in a garden on the way to the lookout. Not the usual thing to notice and only of relevance to me perhaps. I had a Renault 4 in Ireland in the 80's and would have loved a ute for carrying fencing gear and posts in but I didn't know they made them. This one actually looks in pretty good order for a 30 year old vehicle!

This week has been a bit of a challenge for me on the language front. In cleaning the pool, we found that the pump isn't working correctly, so I had to phone the "pool man" to arrange a time for him to come next week. He asked me what I thought was wrong with it - sadly my French wasn't up to the challenge, but hopefully I have managed to correctly understand what day and time he's coming next week!

The next task was to get a gas heater working, to supplement our log-burner, which isn't exactly pumping out the heat when its minus 5 outside. There are two portable gas heaters in the basement, with a variety of hoses, fittings and gas bottles to choose from. Lew worked out the best combination and found we needed a different type of gas cylinder, with a different thread. We decided the easiest way to find out what went with what, was to take the whole lot down to the shop in Le Cannet where they not only sell gas but also straw, dog food and an eclectic array of other useful items. Two very amenable men were quite excited by the challenge of getting one gas heater going, and things were going fairly well with a bit of talking and lots of sign language and arm waving. Plus a lot of puffing out of cheeks that the French men love to do when things aren't going according to plan. Lew is also getting quite good at the cheek puffing manoeuvre when required, it seems to be quite a male bonding sort of thing in equipment and building supply shops! Sadly I disappointed him when I couldn't translate "the left hand thread on the hose won't work on the right hand thread cylinder that we've got at home"! Anyway, we've now got a functioning gas heater, a pool man coming on Tuesday at 2pm, and a builder coming at some point to replace the the chimney draft stopper, to stop all the heat going straight up the chimney. Monsieur Simionetta the builder doesn't speak any English, so maybe some more arm waving and cheek puffing will be required to get the job done.

After all that language, a serious day trip was required, so we planned to go to St Tropez, but going via the coast road which is a bit longer, but more interesting. And it was...so interesting, we didn't make it as far as St Tropez at all!

First stop was Cavaliere beach where we had a short walk along the sand.

We stopped off for a picnic lunch at Cavelaire beach about 5k down the road: no, that's not a mistake - two places with almost identical names, almost next to each other on the coast; check the spelling carefully! A lovely promenade with seats, railings and mosaic designs - we thought we mind send a few pictures to Nelson council to give them a few ideas for the Nelson waterfront....if they ever get round to upgrading.

Leaving the coast, we drove up into the hills and came across Gassin, "a medieval hill-top village". I put that in italics, because that description is surprisingly common around this area - there are an awful lot of villages built on the top of hills, between the 5th and 15th Centuries! Not that we're complaining, as they are very pretty......

Back into the car, still intending to get to St Tropez, round the next corner......a windmill!

Not sure if it's medieval, as there was nothing to explain what it was doing there, whether it was still in working order, or even if it ever had been. Back into the car once more, round the next corner.....another hill-top medieval village, this time Ramatuelle, which is more hill-side than hill-top.

Abandoning all pretence of getting to St Tropez, we had a look around. I don't know what the inhabitants of these villages think of people like me taking photos of their front doors and windows, but at this time of year its so quiet, there's virtually no-one around anyway. The only sign of life seemed to be builders/contractors/plumber/electricians working on the houses, which apparently is a major activity at this time of year - it gets too hot to do much manual work in summer.

Glad to see they were into recycling even in medieval times!

After another couple of days around the house, fixing the fence holes where the pigs are getting in, and cleaning terraces, today saw us driving back over to the coast again, this time with Jeremy for a walk from Gigaro to Cap Lardier. According to Jeremy, this area of the Var region has very well signposted walking tracks; its down to individual conservation departments to decide on signposting walks. Walking tracks are identified by yellow markers of some sort; this might be in the most basic form with a strip of paint on a tree trunk (not too sure what happens when the tree dies/falls down in a storm/is cut down!) or a simple signpost with an arrow pointing in the vague direction of the track. However, today, we were treated to the creme de la creme of signposting:

So, no mistaking where you're going here, or even, where you've just been. However, as many of you will know, the French love to tell you what to do. So let me take you on a tour of the signpost, just so you're clear about what you can and can't do on your day out, because I'd hate you to do something wrong.
Obviously, watch out for....