Out with the old, in with the old

And so it came to pass.  The Mougins School Car Boot Sale was a massive success.  The garage was emptied in the morning, and with the stuff that nice lady decorator bought replacing the stuff that she sold, the garage is once again full.  But at least she has enough stock to do another car boot sale soon, brilliant!

Last night, a couple of pints if Guinness in the Queens Legs seemed to be appropriate to celebrate her takings.  She must have done well because she bought the drinks and then dinner later at The Valbonnaise, although we were restricted to the house wine by carafe, and only one of those, but I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies.  I think that last time I remember her buying a round, it cost around 10 shillings in 1971, and I think she borrowed the money from me even then.  Of course by marrying me, the flow of money from myself to her has changed from “borrowing” to “giving”.

There is however something that bothers me here.  The stuff she has sold has almost entirely been purchased by me or with my money, but somehow, once these items that I have bought have been sold, the money belongs to the resident plasterer.  Now tell me, how does that work, what am I missing?

The Valbonnaise was fun, despite the lighting, which does no favours for an older person.  In my case people start seeing my face and that is not good news.  Recently, I have twice been told I look like Jack Nicholson, which I thought was a complement, until I saw a recent picture of him. In this family run pizza and Italian food eaterie, all the dishes are all cooked in a wood oven which make it cosy in winter but too hot in summer. As it is autumn, the jury is still out.

Once again I have to contemplate going back to England, this time to Norfolk to a 50th birthday party next weekend.  It reminds me that I need a winter coat but at least the prospect of some real English ale is tempting. The occasion is the birthday of an old friend, Lizzy Baylay, who I believe has always had a soft spot for me, so I may dig out the kilt (as it is a black tie event – although why a kilt is allowed as black tie attire I will never know).  That nice lady decorator refers to these moments when I dream back to the days of my youth as “Glibido” which apparently means all talk and no action. Harsh but fair.

This time of year becomes mushroom time.  A little early dew and a bit of rain with warm temperatures provides the perfect growing conditions for all types of fungi.  At Valbonne market on Friday, there was an astonishing array of these items on sale as my picture below shows;

Not mushroom for any other fungi on here...the old ones are the best ones

Girelles and cepes,  are the most common, but as you can see from the picture there are a number of different types, some costing up to 40 Euros a kilo.  They have a brilliant scheme in France.  All pharmacies are required by law to advise you on whether the mushroom you have just picked and are about to insert in your omelette is going to kill you or is edible.  So just pick everything and pop into the pharmacy with any fungi that you find.

Chris France

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