French Deal

Four days without electricity, luckily I have a woodburning stove in one room and a shed full of cut logs. Paradise. No power meant no hot water so I had to shower in cold water whilst imagining a beach in Bali. The hurricane Klaus which struck south west France at 4 am Saturday morning has kept us on our toes. First clue of the disaster for me was a chicken flying horizontally past my window followed by a sheet of corrugated iron. Roger the adjacent chicken man was relocating his stock in my direction with the aid of 145 kilometers per hour winds: And then went an apple tree, everything was moving east:

Over the following days the village of Oraas rallied and shared candles; generator energy; mobile phones. I had to travel 15 kms to find a signal so that I could tell the family I was OK, but the message was sent and received - a miracle.

Strangely enough after five days of hurricane destruction, Larressat's men turned up to relocate the troublesome boiler. I thought everyone would be mending roofs and barns, a mystery as to why my boiler took precedence over a national disaster: Mysterious ways indeed:

The builders arrived at the same time as Monique who had driven from Biarritz to find me as no word of my whereaabouts had escaped the village: I wasn't in retreat I assured her, just devoid of all means of communication. And on the doorstep at the same time as all this sudden activity were two people who identified themselves as English and they looked worried. They introduced themselves as people looking for English speakers to join a bible club; they were Johovah witnesses they said.

Would you Adam and Eve it. I know I need to see light, but EDF will do.

posted by French Deal @ 8:17 pm