Baby Week

It's been quite a celebratory evening.

Firstly, the Australian cricket team has just been knocked out of the T20 World Cup after losing their second match. They would be going home if they weren't hanging around in Britain to play the forthcoming Ashes series. All those Aussies that were laughing at England losing to the Netherlands have suddenly gone quiet - and a quiet Aussie is a good Aussie.

Secondly, my third time returning guests have completed their house purchase and are now the proud owners of a village house that is going to take all their time and money over the next year but will eventually, I'm sure, prove to be the holiday home they dreamt of when they first saw it.

Their lives have changed in all sorts of ways. When they first came here in January, she was in mid-pregnancy, in March heavily pregnant and now they are accompanied by little Millie, who apparently did her best to drown out the notaire's heavily accented French during the entire completion meeting.

It has in fact been 'baby week' at 42rvh. My guests at the end of last week arrived with their 11 month old son Felix. Naturally, I sent them to Café Felix for lunch.

It was an overcast and drizzly/rainy weekend, so Saturday lunch at Café Saillan was disrupted. At least they now have a permit to close the road again which makes for a more comfortable outdoor lunch when the sun does shine. The cynics amongst us can't help but link the granting of the permit with the need for a vote - there has been an enquiry going on here for 6 months about the last mayoral election, which was won by less than 100 votes, and a re-election has been now been ordered. The permit, withdrawn several months ago, was re-issued soon after that decision !!

It seems that politics in France might just be as sordid as it appears to be in the UK.