Recycling a la francaise

Our village is in the process of introducing kerbside recycling. It seems the French (or maybe this region particularly) does not perform well in recycling. So they're introducing an incentive scheme. New bins will be equipped with barcodes identifying their household and the landfill waste will be weighed as it is collected. The individual's council tax will be reduced according to the diminution of household waste. Great idea to incentivise recycling but they won't let us use it. I thought it would be great for us as we pay all year round for about three months services and it looked like we'd get something back. However, they've taken away our old bin and will only provide us with yellow bags. I protested vehemently at the Mairie but was told that we should examine our next council tax bill and if we felt we were being overcharged, there was a period during which we could challenge it. So that will be the next French Bureaucracy challenge!

Cherry picking

We tend to come out to France in May/June and September/October. These periods are marked by asparagus and cherries in the spring,  and mushrooms and nuts in the autumn. We've done the asparagus to death so now it was the turn of the cherries, and our friends kindly took us along to a PYO orchard. It was the first day it was open and the cherries were thick on the branches,

 so it was easy to (over)pick them.  We had nearly a bucketful
in about 20 minutes but couldn't stop.
It was a bargain for us at €1/kg (instead of €5 or more) but the owner was telling us that it was more profitable for him than paying pickers and selling the cherries on the market.

Afterwards we sat in the courtyard with a cold drink, stoning them for jam and pies.

Carpets and cupboards

The carpet saga is finally OVER.  We have a full stair carpet and it looks great.  So, if you can stand the wait, and have 18 months to spare, give it a go.
On the other hand, we put the microwave in for repair the day after we arrived, and it has only just been done.  At least that's what the website says.  It has apparently been sent from the workshop back to Darty's shop so with any luck we may have it back in time to go home! This year for the first time the house will be occupied in July and August so at least our tenants will reap the benefit. And the flower tubs will benefit from their presence, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in good condition when we return in September - they're usually practically dead by then.

The cite at night

There was a fascinating (bizarre?) art installation in the cité this week.  Images were projected onto the walls of the château at night. They were repeated patterns in strong colours which started off static and then moved. The pattern changed every 3 or 4 minutes and some sequences appeared to distort the walls of the building, giving the impression of perspective or of a distortion of the flat surface, which moved around. I can't say I found it very artistic but the experience was worth seeking out, sitting on the wooden decking in the courtyard in the darkness (and a warm evening - the first for over a week) watching this display moving in front of us.