Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009

...and mellow fruitfulness


Autumn is back. It is one of the nicest time of year in Provence. Markets are full of fruits, and while few mornings are misty, all lights are subdued, quieter, yet still vibrant with infused lights. Great weather for painting, for country walks.
We had, so far, remarkably few rain this autumn, which is just as well, because during rainstorms the adjoining building's gutters (yes, the lovely Saint Antony's church owned by the American universities Institute) do leak in our bedroom. Roman rooftiles are not designed to be waterproof when water hits them sideways. The leak happens to be right over my bedside table. ( Why is that on my side and not my wife's, I wonder.) I've been talking to IAU in Avignon since more than a month, and apparently it's terribly difficult to fix that simple gutter problem, due to the number of restrictions that apply to maintenance of french historical monuments.
So when the french national TV worries about drought and unusually high temperatures, at least we sleep dry ! Hopefully the problem will be solved soon.