Poisson d'avril, the hunt meal and an update on the plumber..

Another sleepless night due to worrying - at least we're warm and cosy.  There are lots of things wandering around in the field outside the caravan, they sound big and dangerous but I'm too scared to get up and look out of the window.  Eventually drift off back to sleep.

I've decided to blog less and leave out all the dross and depressing bits, so there's not much to write!

Sunday, 1 April is the date for one of the local hunt dinners,  repas de chasse, with a midday start.  We toddled off  with our own plates, cutlery and glasses and staked our claim on one of the tables, surrounded by lots of  'good ole boys'.  Luckily the weather had remained good as the first 2 courses were outside.  Things didn't bode well, first course was Tropical Mix added to savoury biscuits accompanied by warm rosé.  Then small plates of délices de sanglier appeared.  This. transpired to be small bits of very tough liver of wild boar, mixed in roughly equal measures with garlic.  These plates were the delight of all the locals, which homed in on them immediately.  Elbows were sharpened and friendships were forgotten, it was every man and woman for themselves, it reminded me of how the pigeons used to zone in on an unsuspecting tourist holding bird food in Trafalgar Square. We moved inside for the soup and salad.  Of course, being France the salade was mainly meat pie and covered with gezier [windpipe or some such!].  I'd had more or less enough by this point but then the fricasse de chevreil arrived, lovely casserole of deer with loads of raw garlic and toast.

Chris assessing the roasting sanglier

I spotted quite a few guys wandering around the village hall with a big white paper fish on their back and someone eventually explained that this is the April Fools tradition.  Oh well, everyone to their own...

Chris knocking back the eau de vie.....

We were expecting the next course Trou Adrésien to be a sort of sorbet and it was, but it was plopped in a glass of mouthwateringly strong eau de vie.  So by 4.30ish we were ready for the main course which was sanglier [wild boar], accompanied by miniscule portions of vegetables.

......and tucking into the food

We ploughed on through the salad and cheese courses and then the Black Forest gateau by which time neither of us could face any more and left.   Such lightweights!  We did, however, stay long enough for my neighbour to throw his glass of red wine over my white trousers, so at least I made in impression.

The week settled into a routine of waiting for workmen who never turn up [English and French], sleepless nights gradually getting colder.
Monday we sold all our radiators, boiler etc. Yay! and we made 2 raised beds from some of the pine logs. 

The micro station and water recuperation tank were promised by 10am and when I finally got hold the guy around 9pm, he said ours had had a dent in it so he sent it back and there are no more of that model in stock so it'll be another 10 days before it arrives.  So disappointing for Chris because the planned his trip around this installation.  [He is quite excited by replacing the septic tank, which is pretty scary.]

Tuesday we froze and it rained but the long-lost plumber made a welcome re-appearance.  It was so exciting, like sighting a leopard in the wild, but rarer. I wanted to take a photograph to remind myself of how exciting it is when someone turns up within a fortnight of their appointment.

We considered moving into the house to sleep but it's just big and unfriendly and we decided to light a fire in the lounge to try and cheer it up a bit.

 Very satisfying day; a fire and a working toilet!