Just when we thought we were over the worst of winter, it's come back to bite us! We've had 5 inches of snow today, and its still going. Unfortunately, it put paid to our plans for the day, together with a mechanical hitch on the car.......
Today dawned as an exciting day for us - the arrival of our first visitor! Kathryn, who Lew used to work with at Fonterra, was arriving at Nice airport tonight, to stay for a few days. We decided to take off for the whole day, driving up to Cabris which is a small village in the hills above Nice, to visit someone who we nearly ended up house sitting for, but the dates didn't work out. It was raining when we left, and as snow was a possibility we rang before leaving, just to check that they weren't already snowed in. No, all was clear up in the hills, so off we went.
Heading down the D7 we were aware of a humming noise....we'd noticed it the night before coming back from having a pizza with some friends (more on that later), but this morning it was much louder. After 30 minutes driving we decided it was too loud and ominous to ignore, so we pulled into a garage and asked the mechanic if he could check the rear driver's side wheel, as that was where we had isolated the noise. He obligingly jacked up the car and tried to spin the wheel - which proved near on impossible! Further inspection revealed the rear brake master cylinder had failed, (try translating that with the help of your pocket English French dictionary) meaning the rear wheel brake was partially on all the time! No wonder fuel consumption was at record levels for those 30 minutes! Enquiries as to whether they could do anything today were met with much puffing out of cheeks and surprise that we would even begin to think they could fit us in much before a week on Thursday. So, we carefully drove home, into the increasingly heavy snowfall.
So now, what to do about Kathryn, arriving at 7.30pm? Neighbours Jo and Jeremy to the rescue, offering their car, over a cup of tea and Jeremy's apple struesal cake. Car gratefully received, we brought it back to our house, planning to leave later on in the afternoon.
And then it snowed a bit more...
and a bit more...
and then some more...
By 4pm we'd had 5 inches and it was pretty obvious we shouldn't be going anywhere, so we organised an airport hotel for Kathryn and researched train times for tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to drive the 15 minutes into Les Arcs tomorrow to pick her up.
As usual, snow is all very pretty, but it does cause a few problems. We had to go out twice this afternoon to knock the snow off the cyprus and olive trees so the branches didn't break - they lost a lot of their trees this way last year, with the weight of the snow breaking branches and trunks.
It's always hard to stop taking photos in this weather...
Some family members weren't quite so impressed...
And that was earlier on this afternoon; by the time we'd had five inches they were wading around up to their tummies in the white stuff. Still managed an egg each though.
Other news this week? We've had TWO social engagements! Last night we went out for a pizza with a couple we were introduced to at Jo and Jeremy's house, Mark and Emma. They took us to a place right on the edge of a main road, in the middle of nowhere, that any self-respecting person would drive past without a second look! Looks can be very deceiving. By 7.30pm it was packed wall to wall with locals, and the pizzas were coming out at a phenomenal rate. We put our order in, and our pizzas were on the table in about 6 minutes. The thinnest pizzas I've ever had, very authentic Italian, great toppings and flavours, together with a bottle of peppery olive oil and balsamic to drizzle over the top. They even had a parking attendant to ensure everyone parked properly to maximise the limited parking space. We'll certainly be back there soon.
Our second night out was going to watch England beat France at rugby tonight. The French don't go in for watching sport at a bar or pub, but we were asked up to another couple's house along the road, Robin and Natasha. Robin is English, Natasha French, and their 6 year old son Tristan is bilingual, but speaks English with a French accent - very cute! So, Lew got to drink beer, eat chips (or crisps as we have to call them here) and shout at the TV with other like-minded souls! Allez le bleu. Vive la France. Happiness comes in simple forms.
Well, its now two days since I started this post, and we are well and truly snowed in! The snow froze overnight and its snowing again now, so far too dangerous to take our car to the garage, or go anywhere in Jeremy's car. With Kathryn safely here, we decided the only form of entertainment possible was to walk into the village to get croissants for a brunch. Off we went, with the snow coming down lightly...which got progressively heavier as we walked. It took us an hour to get there, only to find the boulangerie closed as the baker couldn't get through the snow!! Luckily the newspaper shop had a delivery of bread and croissants, so we managed to get the last ones, before the trek home again - no sign of our footprints anywhere from the walk in.
So now we're home and dry, warm and happy. At least there are plenty of books here to read. Not quite what we had planned for our first visitor, but that's life.
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| Lew and Kathryn setting off for the village |
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