Good Neighbours

Our little hamlet appears to be quite a close knit community, at least during the summer when all of the properties are occupied. We get the impression that there will be a lot of taking of 'aperos' (aperatifs) together! Whilst in the past in England we have been a bit sniffy about being 'popping in and out' neighbours, we are approaching french neighbourliness with a different attitude, plus our neighbours are so nice!

So yesterday I spent a little time using the digger to run a trench from JJ's house to their barn so he can have electricity in it.

It was fortunate that we didn't have to go too far down as we hit some fairly major rocks on the way. You are never sure if you're finding natural stone or the remains of an old building, but the excercise was completed without any problems.

Meanwhile, Sue had started pointing up her wall with the local mix of white sand, red sand and lime. The front of our house has been quite heavily 'buttered' (ie the motrar applied so that, whilst you see the stones, the motrar is flush with them), but we have come to prefer the mortar being not so heavily applied. With everything we do or will do, it's all a learning experience.

As a 'thank you' we had a meal with JJ and Nadine in the evening. This in itself was an experience as it was a simple meal you cooked for youself on a 'Raclette'. This is really a form of grill which allows you to melt cheese at the table. The idea is to prepare on your plate some potato, cold meats, gherkins or whatever, them pour over your small portion of melted cheese. And you continue doing this until replete. Nadine says that you use this only in the winter because it will be too hot in the summer sitting round the 'grill' giving out a lot of heat. Presumably you will be sitting round the BBQ instead.