‘Tis almost the season — Music at Brel

Unbelievably it is December and we have been here in France since lockdown began on 17 March. Where has the time gone?

Before COVID we’d been getting used to a three weeks in France, one week in London sort of schedule with France being quiet in the winter but super busy with visiting musicians in the summer while London was always full of family and friends, operas, concerts, theatre and restaurants. Late nights in London - recovery in the wonderful country air in France. It seemed to be a balance that worked.

Now we are in quiet mode all the time!

Ori explores the herb garden while Eli enjoys the autumn sunshine

The good thing is that time is not heavy on our hands - the days rush by.

Ten months is a long time and huge things should have been achieved. Indeed the garden has been well cared for and dug over and replanted. The house has been cleaned and tidied and cleaned again, and we even managed to host some musicians in August and fill the house with music if only for a short time.

Even the greenhouse got a spring clean and window clean

New pathways have been added to the cutting garden which has been completely replanted.

We’ve enjoyed fresh local produce from the market and our own vegetables and fruit from the garden. We’ve done loads of cooking and tried out lots of new recipes.

December lunch on the terrace with burrata, citrus fruits and fennel.

But I am appalled at how many projects I have not not completed. There are books not read (including some corkers only just started: John Bolton’s diaries, the Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes and Nursing Churchill written by the sister of a schoolfriend on discovering letters written by her mother to her father while nursing Winston Churchill through pneumonia.

I’ve been meaning to make two raggedy anne dolls for adorable twin grand-daughters of an old Canadian flatmate in Vancouver - they won’t get there for Christmas but happily the little girls are too young to be aware of a Christmas deadline. I have some wonderful old linen to make into some pretty cushion covers - not yet even cut out. I haven’t done a single jigsaw. We downloaded last year’s movie of Little Women early in the year - but we haven’t watched it yet.

Someone give me some hair and clothes please!

Little did we think when we drove down across France that we would be here for Christmas.

Now the festive season approaches and, feeling despondent about the pandemic and even more about Brexit s it approaches, we planned something completely low key. We have often in past years spent very quiet but happy Christmases on our own.

But in to misery doesn’t seem right any more than going the party party party route. Slowly my resolve to close the shutters and say humbug to it all has broken down!

My favourite nursery provided a lovely tree. Rummaging upstairs I found more baubles than I remembered. A wreath for the door has been fashioned from existing decorations. We have no fir trees on the property so our abundant ivy has been used for garlands. Our Christmas newsletter has been written and more importantly the mailing list has been sorted - we hope!

Lockdown has certainly brought us closer together with the local friends we’ve made over recent years. We have shared experiences over Zoom when we can’t meet up and enjoyed cautious get-togethers over the summer. Now, regulations have changed and we can move around without giving a reason and without a signed attestation. So meeting up for a drink with neighbours sounds good. And the diary is quietly filling with invitations as well as the Zooms with friends and family around the world.

The internet has also made it possible to send token gifts - mostly flowers and food - to cheer up friends and family. A couple of flying trips to London by Peter have allowed me to send some duck confit and other local delights to London although pick up from Brook Green has been the order of the day as he is quarantined and cannot move out of the house so cannot see anyone or go out to shop there.

Now Peter has ordered a goose from his favourite chicken man in the market and we are planning what seafood to get. The French do love their seafood and at the festive season it is fresh and excellent even in this mostly meat-eating area. We have been treated to a wonderful side of smoked Irish salmon and Peter is making some foie gras terrine. The garden has leeks and sprouts and beetroot and celeriac. Neighbours will help us eat this Christmas fare.

Local foie gras - the shutting of restaurants has meant that there’s a lot of foie gras - and the price is keen.

So we are celebrating Christmas - quietly and cautiously.

The news from London is that our next door neighbours are being vaccinated this week . Things are starting to happen.

Now we are nearing the end of a strange and terrifying year, our thoughts move on to the New Year. Our own resolutions don’t seem that important (although I will be continuing to try and complete my unfinished lockdown tasks asap and a vaccination would be good whether here in France or in the UK).

Signs of spring as the viburnum starts to blossom

What I still hope is that the Government says ‘ COVID is taking too much time and money - we can’t deal with Brexit at the same time. We must put it on hold’. Pigs might fly.

So we have to cope with what is thrown at us on the Brexit front. We have to hope that vaccines will eventually lead to COVID being under control. Our politicians have not served us well on any front and we find ourselves in a world of sharp divisions. I have finally put music in the kitchen so we do not have to listen to the constant whingeing whipped up by the media. Only bad news counts. The media has a lot to answer for.

More signs of spring - daffodils, iris reticulata, dutch iris and day lilies above ground - tulips still to come.

I suppose above all, I hope for freedom in 2021. I cannot think how terrible it must be to live under a dictator - North Korea style. We have had space, comfort, food, communication with the outside world and yet we have had months of limited activity and worst of all very little interaction with others apart from Zoom. We have lived with the prospect of being stopped by the police - something which happened quite a lot in the first months of lockdown. Although we understand that there’s a pandemic and it’s for safety’s sake, the erosion of personal choice is hard to accept.

We and our families and friends have been safe, thank goodness - may that continue until we can mix and hug once again.

So ‘tis the season to be …… yes, JOLLY. Bring on the Christmas carols and open the bubbly! Happy Christmas.

PS: Here in the countryside there is so much joy to be had from nature …. everything free to be enjoyed. There was a wonderful sunrise this morning and neighbours who are a little higher than us could see the Pyrenees.

We were bathed in a beautiful pink light ….

And we still can’t get blasé about the wonderful sunsets