A 46-er!

St Barthélémy
Yesterday’s weather: Brightening

The Méhari became a ’46-er’ yesterday. That is, it got its new local number plate, so people don’t look at it (as we do any vehicle without a 46 at the end of the plate) and think ‘Huh! Tourist!’. Although we had made an appointment and given the garage the details of the new carte grise they hadn’t made up the number plates and were embarrassed that they weren’t ready for us. Not to worry, we went for a walk round the village in the meantime and caught up with how it has changed in the last 15 years since we first started visiting.

An English Estate Agent has set up there and, locals complain, this has pushed up house prices in the immediate vicinity. But at the same time, and possibly because of the influx of immigrants from Northern Europe, other things have smartened up. There are now two restaurants, two hairdressers, the ironmongery shop has moved in with the florist and sells all sorts of kitsch and the supermarket has had a huge make over. Unfortunately the dogs haven’t yet learned to clear up after themselves and there are gutters with an overwhelming smell of something unpleasant, but this is France. You cannot go for a stroll in any town or village without watching where you put your feet, unfortunately.

When we got back home with our new number plates, we found that our verges had been trimmed back again. Because of the rain this means that the lane is now covered in wet grass and weed cuttings – and we don’t know where Figgy had been hiding but he was wearing a very fetching green camouflage outfit so that he could play at ‘Commandos’. He decided to stay out last night, along with Jazz, probably because it was the first warm-ish dry night for some time. Misty did come in but got lonely in the kitchen all on her own and at about 3am Jon got up to let her into the rest of the house. Consequently she (who is a very heavy cat), came onto the bed, purred very loudly in my ear for half an hour before going to sleep on my feet.

The weather promises a good weekend but it is still very grey outside. We need it to dry up so that we can mow the lawn, strim, and all those other nice jobs that need a dry day.

Happy Friday everyone.