Snow Day

Today was my first snow day in France. I spent the last two winters in Cleveland and the first year it snowed every single day.  I'm not exaggerating. They claimed it was the most snowfall ever but perhaps they just said that for my benefit.  Because it's such an everyday thing there you hardly notice it after a while as everyone keeps soldiering on with their trademark grim resignation. Here in southwest France heavy snow doesn't happen that much so you get that eventful feeling which gives you absolute license to slack off.  I saw a “Sablage” truck go by several times and headed to the dictionary to find out exactly what they were spreading on the roads - sand. Feeling like I'd accomplished enough for the day, we headed outside.

First we had to get the barn door open which required finding a shovel. (I still find it hard to believe that the words "barn door" apply to my life in any way.) Got the car out and tried to go to the butcher in the next village but there were several signs on the door, two reading “Ouvert tous les jours 9 - 13:00" and one that said “Ferme 9 - 13:00". Having determined that this was some definitive way of telling us they would not be open at all today, we stopped by Nick and Francoise’s to look at a new guitar Nick just bought and have a cup of tea. We took turns trying out the guitar and I remembered that I like playing. Sometimes I forget!  It's been over a month since the last show.  We've done some rehearsing and had even started recording a few songs before the computer messed up on Monday.  I'm looking forward to going on tour in Germany next week where there'll no doubt be twice this amount of snow.

The weather was getting worse as we drove back to our village.  The boulangerie was open but we tend to avoid that place as their bread isn't good (the one bad bakery in France is the only one within walking distance, naturally) and they're generally miserable.  Surprise, today the lady was actually laughing. It must be the sight of people slipping and falling in the street that lifted her spirits.  The pizza van that is parked in the center of the village every Tuesday without fail was missing, which is hard to believe since last week Eric told him how “excite” he was to see him. Pizza man smiled and winked. Eric’s French is very good but as we walked away Hazel had pointed out that in high school French class they’d learned that excité means sexually aroused.

In the meanwhile, we made it back home with some groceries, made pancakes, read for a while, looked out the window occasionally and took a nap. It's a snow day, after all.