Hot, hot, hot

It has been over 40° in the afternoon these last few days.  A British friend who has lived in the tropics sent some useful  tips - "In the middle of the night...open up all windows and even doors if it is safe security wise to do so to get the coolest air of the day circulating throughout your property. That should reduce internal heat to whatever the lowest overnight temperature was.  Then when things start to rise... close all windows and doors and draw all curtains. And keep them that way if you can throughout the day. Inside should then stay much cooler than outside.  The mistake folks make here in UK is that the hotter it gets the more they open windows during the day 'to get a breeze'. Well that breeze is as hot as outside temperature so it quickly brings inside up to outside."  Languedoc temps are less trying before mid-morning, and here we don't have curtains, but the principles stand.  I would add, from my O level physics, that keeping cool can be aided bynot drying oneself too thoroughly after a shower - 'evaporation causes cooling'.  The fans we bought last week also help.

There is now a red heat warning across part of France.  We shall not be going to our French groups this Tuesday - some people still want to meet, but driving to places would be a problem, and driving back more so for us and others who are approaching their 80s.  Having airconn in a house is one thing, but going back to a roasting car quite another.

our language groups have shrunk a lot in the summer heat,
but Danielle stilll helps those who remain!

One sad background to our afternoons is the sound of Canadair planes flying over on the way to fires to dump bellyfuls of water.  It hppens every dry summer, but I'm guessing this year will be the worst yet.  Mary read of one fire started someone towingn a lighted barbecue which shed lethal sparks along the roadside.

The mayor of Lunel, Pierre Soujol,  has died.  Very sad news - he seems to have done a lot of good things for the town.  

Mary has just set off down the garden to feed the 2 larger tortoises.  Their appetite for lettuce is undiminished.

I am collecting examples of autocorrect misfires and silly mistypes:

• A topical word: I tried autocratic, the iPad threw up autocorrect.  Very symbolic!
• a mistype - is a canincule a hot dog? (canicule with only one n is the French for heatwave)

our son and daughter-in-law have been in Brittany
but are unlikely to have encountered  such onion-sellers.

I've just read bad news about champagne production: "The conditions endured by grape pickers in the Champagne region of France have been put under the spotlight by a human-trafficking trial that began in Reims last week. Svetlana Goumina, the Kyrgyz owner of a recruitment agency, is accused of luring 57 West African migrants, most reportedly undocumented, to the region from Paris, on the promise of well-paid work." The latest in a catalogue of mistreatement of seasonal agricultural workers; as often, I refer back to fictional parallels such as the excellent book A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewycka (strawberry pickers are the victims in this case).

A joke which I hope does not offend anyone: "A Texas farmer went on vacation to Australia. He met up with an Australian farmer who proudly showed off his wheat field.   "That's nothing" said the Texan. "Back home, we have wheat fields that are twice as large as this."   Next the Australian pointed out his cattle.  "They're nothing," said the Texan. "Back home, we have longhorns that are twice as big as your cows."  Just then, half a dozen kangaroos bounded across the road.  "What are those?" asked the Texan.
The Australian replied, "Don't you have grasshoppers in Texas?"

Our newly surfaced road - not sadly our own cul-de sac de la Bréchette, which is long-neglected

...and finally the annual delight of our artichoke coming into flower