Just a quickie tonight!

A couple of nights ago was a two French letter night.  No, I’m not even going there, however much I hear you saying “Oh, go on .....!!”

No, these were of the written variety and two very different letters they were too!  The first was to the company that recently fitted our new “mini-station” fosse septique, or septic tank to those of you not in the know!  The ins and outs of the fosse, in relation to the salesman (“how you call it ‘sheet’”) and the workings of this new type of system, may follow in another piece, but for tonight I will explain why we came to be writing to the company.

Generally we are delighted with the new compact system that lies hidden under the terrace at the front of our house; the merest hint of a gurgle, during quiet periods, the only clue to what lies below, and we’ll just tell our family and friends, that it’s quite simply a hidden underground stream, springing up where you would least expect it – in reality it’s the aeration that is helping the bacteria to attack and treat the ..... well, how you call it “sheet!”  Somehow, sitting out there in the warm spring sunshine enjoying a glass of wine, the more romantic notion of the underground stream is more appealing!

Well, apart from the slight delay due to inclement weather, first rain and then snow, the ordering and installation went very well.  We had a reasonable, albeit “bread and water for the next year” quote and knew from the outset that it was likely that once they started digging they would hit rock and need to call in the rental services of “Le Pic,” which at the time I thought would come in the shape of a large and noisy JCB with pick attachment, enough to rock the very foundations of the house, as the five cubic metre hole was to be dug within a couple of metres of the house!   However, initial progress with their own mini-digger and scoops was quite encouraging, and the chasm opened up before our very eyes, and indeed before our very front wall of the house!!  But, just as we thought we might get away without “Le Pic” which I forgot to tell you comes in at the staggering price of €520 plus tax for a day, at eighty centimetres they reached the solid granite bedrock on which our house is built, obviously by a very wise little piggy!! So, it was on the phone for “Le Pic” which duly arrived at about 3.00 p.m. and could be heard growling its way down the road from some distance!  It was almost a disappointment when it became obvious that the low-loader, enormous lorry was the growling bit, and there dwarfed in the middle of the low-loader trailer was another mini-digger, the same size as the that we already had gracing the terrace, but lying ominously on the trailer, in front of the mini-digger was the “business part” the revered, spoken about in whispers, “pic” attachment, which was soon put to work.

By just after lunch the following day, “Le Pic” had done its work and was ready to collect.  Imagine then our dismay to be told that as “le Pic” had been with us on two days, the rental charge would be TWO DAYS - €1040 PLUS TAX!!  Well, something of an argument ensued and finally we reluctantly agreed to pay for a day and a half on the promise that the salesman would go back to the firm and plead our case.  Having heard nothing for just over a week, a letter was needed if only to express our disappointment at having to pay so much for nothing, due to inefficiency on behalf of the company.  To date the letter appears to have fallen on deaf ears, much as we expected it would, but at least it made us feel better and it is left that although we would recommend the system to others, we would warn prospective buyers to be careful of “hidden” and unfair costs!!  I guess they might not be sending any prospectives to see us!!  

The second letter was altogether a more pleasant one to write and in fairness I suppose it was really a card.  Those of you who visited us at La Loge, may well have met Mickaël, the local farmer’s youngest son, who turned 40 on the second summer we were there and seemed to have possibly been left on the shelf – his brother and sister both married with families, incidentally three girls apiece, settled down in modern houses on the edge of the farm and Mickaël seemed to have a flat attached to the farm house, and from afar it seemed that he simply worked too hard, at all hours leaving little time for courting!

Well, just before we moved to our new house, Mickaël appeared first with a little girl (about 10) who we didn’t recognise and was introduced as Marie, daughter of a friend.  Then, riding shotgun on the tractor was a little boy (about 7) wearing a mini version of Mickaël’s work boiler suit and who we discovered was called Mathis and was Marie’s brother, and Mmmm... if you notice a pattern emerging, when Mum, Mickaël’s friend arrived riding shotgun, we weren’t surprised to find out her name was Myriam and she spoke a little English which left us in no doubt, but pleasantly surprised, to find out that she was a good friend of Mickaël’s and he had indeed moved in and she was making sure he came home at a reasonable time!

Just after we moved, we were driving down passed La Loge to check the post box, with some local friends in the car, when we turned the corner and came face to face with Mickaël in one of the large farm tractors and instead of the normal friendly wave, he stopped and shot out of the cab and round to the car, excitedly asking us how the move had gone and were we now all settled!  But, there was obviously something else and quickly with the broadest grin imaginable on his face, he told us he was going to be a Papa!, the baby expected in March.  The next time we saw him to speak to, was in early February, he was en famille at a concert of hunting horns in one of the local churches and Myriam was looking very pregnant and on saying not long to go, thinking March was only a couple of weeks away, with feeling she said that the baby wasn’t due until the very end of march, still some weeks away!

Then, a couple of weeks ago we received a birth announcement card in the post, designed by Marie et Mathis and welcoming Maélie into the world!, and informing us that Papa and Maman were fous de joie, overjoyed, and Marie and Mathis veillent sur moi, watching over her.  We were honoured and delighted to be included in the happy occasion, the card being sent the day after she was born and quickly sent one of my homemade teddy bear cards welcoming Maélie into the world!

“Oh alright then .....!! To finish just a quickie, to square the circle and let you know that whereas we know them as French letters the French know them as capote anglaise or English hood, although I guess not in evidence in this case!!!