Bonjour mes amis,
I haven’t been on here for a while, they’ve probably deleted me by now. The truth is, not a great deal to report. Apart from the weather, which is a very British thing to report! A few weeks ago we had a very bad cold snap which lasted a couple of weeks, when the temepratures never rose much above freezing. The lowest was minus seven. There is a pharmacy just opposite where Fandancer is moored in Beaucaire, with a flashing green temperature display. Unfortunately we think the sensor is in full sun, as it always seems to be about five degrees warmer than it actually is, but when it was 27 the other day that felt good! So based on that assumption, maybe the minus 7 was actually minus 12! But based on my maths knowledge, doesn’t two minuses make a plus? So who knows ….
Anyway there was solid ice on the canal here is Beaucaire for well over a week, I wouldn’t have liked to have walked across it, but the ducks did, and also some silly youths who didn’t know better, tried to walk on the ice and sadly succeeded. Local people told us that this was the first time it had been so cold and the first time there had been so much ice!
My dear friend Claire came out from the UK to stay with us during this cold snap, poor thing I think she was frozen, as the Mistral winds were blowing too, making it feel much colder. It was too cold to sightsee really, but we braved it to St Remy for my fortnightly visit to the psychiatric hospital (for some reason we have actually been there 3 times in the last couple of months – as visitors, not patients, I might add!). We also took Claire to the ancient Roman aquaduct at Pont du Gard which was a sight to behold, but we were cross at having to pay 18 euro for a car, especially as we were there only one hour and two minutes according to the ticket, as it was SO COLD!!!
Another day we went to the old town on the hill at Les Baux, a medieval settlement which would be a fabulous place if it was twenty degrees warmer but not so nice at sub-zero temperature. So we took shelter in the castle gift shop while we warmed up. Tim’s brother told us when they visited this area some years ago, they also didn’t see much of Les Baux as it was TOO HOT to walk around! Perhaps no visitors ever get to see it as it only gets extreme temperatures up on the hill!
The only other thing that has happened recently is that in order to recuperate from a bad cough and cold, we took a walk in the fresh air alongside the old disused lock here in Beaucaire. There is also a disused railway line nearby, or at least we think it is disused, as it is all rusted up and no trains ever seem to go along it, but it may be a just a branch line run by British Rail ……. Anyway we found an ancient set of points which looked like they should be in a railway museum, the sort you see on old black and white films – I think they had some in one of the old St Trinian’s film where some naughty schoolgirls had fun making an old railway trolley move from one line to the other by manually moving the points lever, oops I’m digressing …..
…….so I tried to operate this lever without success, but at the same time a little white van drove behind us, between the railway track and the river, on a shingly sort of area which wasn’t a proper road. I thought I was going to be reprimanded by a stern French official for walking on the railway line or playing with the points lever, so we quickly increased our pace and carried on walking. The little white van overtook us then came to a grinding halt. It turned out that it wasn’t a French railway official, but just a little old man on his way to go fishing, who suddenly got his van stuck in the shingle, he must have hit a loose bit and drove the front end into a sort of hole. He was well and truly stuck, wheels spinning, so thought we had better go and help.
To start with, he gesticulated wildy, as he didn’t speak any English, which I interpreted as him wanting Tim to help him push the van, while I revved the engine and reversed the vehicle out of the hole. So I gingerly sat in the driver’s seat while the two men braced themselves with their arms ready to push. After about twenty seconds of them pushing, I realised the van had to be put in gear, and the handbrake released, which I did. Didn’t make any difference though, and I don’t think they even realised the handbrake had still been on while they pushed! So we then resorted to digging! Luckily he had a shovel in the back of the van, so while Tim dug I went to find some sort of board or plank to put under the wheels. The old man had the idea of using the wheel jack so more stones could be dug from under the van, and this did seem to work. Finally, after about 20 mins of digging and clearing shingle, the old man got in the driver’s seat, obviously spotting my previous ineptitude in this area, while Tim and I pushed the van. Hooray! With lurch and a cascade of flying shingle, the little van shot off in reverse and onto some firmer ground. Handshakes all round, and we carried on with our afternoon walk!