Sunday 1 March 2015

The Westerly Wind.....

Weather remains firmly Spring-like here. Thankfully. Mostly dry, sunny but with decidedly cold blasts of wind from the West coastal Vendee/La Rochelle region. La Rochelle itself is a delightful town, very Froggo, with lovely harbours, typical Froggo buildings and a generally pleasant ambience. It can be pretty crowded at times in hot, steamy summer days and is popular as a holiday place with both the French and the Brits, who flock there to the endless caravan/camp sites that proliferate around the Vendeean coast. It also has an EasyJet/Ryanair Summer-only airport nearby which pulls in the punters in Spring and Summer.








Our village is itself a very quiet affair with no passing or through traffic and only about 50 residents. There is a positive feeling of timelessness about it, I find, particularly in early evenings as I wander from home to farm and back for milk as the sun sets. This is centrum:



The typical spaghetti of French village power lines etc., have now been removed and channeled underground. Currently, we have had over six-months of continual roadworks through the place with cables underground, new drainage and water pipes followed by the present tarting up of the place with new fancy kerbstones and surfacing everywhere. No doubt it will be a huge improvement when completed. Theoretically this is due on March 20th but I have my doubts.

J is off to UK this afternoon flying out of Poitiers airport to Stansted, a few days in London then on to Pembrokeshire to see the daughter, LVP etc. She has about ten days over in Blighty before her return and we have a guest list press pass (for both - a friend will go in my stead) to catch a Nashvillian musician who has a gig in London. J will go along, collect a Promo/ CD from her, take some piccies and I'll get some stuff out and about about her in due course. Hannah Aldridge - no relation to Brian, Jennifer or Kate - is one of the upcoming Nashville, modern-country/Americana turks. She sure has a great voice:


Now I must be off, to get J to the airport in plenty of time. A bien tot!