Monday, August 6, 2012

Rain , rain and more rain .






The day of the annual village fete. We are woken at five thirty by the sound of car doors slamming. Madame Bay is up and about early, opening up the kitchen and marshalling the ladies of the beautiful byeways committee into the salle des fetes. On the village green the long suffering Monsieur Bay and the good for nothing son-in-law Hugo can be glimpsed putting up tressle tables. To add to the jollity, the old farmer turns up in his ancient motor home, beeping its asthmatic horn three times to announce his arrival. He winds down the window, pushes his tartan cap back at a jaunty angle and asks the secretary of the old folks home if she'd like to join him for a spin round the block. She refuses the string vested adonis's offer in no uncertain terms. At six the giant paella dish appears . It's half carried , half slung, on the back of the local Peugeot dealerships tow truck. Madame Bay oversees its unloading. The garagiste sighs as he's told to get a move on. '' Some of us are busy you know ! " he's told. This morning Madame Bay is dressed in a practical outfit - black leotard covered by what appears to be an oversize orange tutu. 

For a while it looks as though the rain will hold off. Then, just as the last of the potters stalls are set up and the last of the wares displayed, the skies open.  A real pyrenean mountain storm. Thunder rolls, lightning arcs across the sky and the rain cascades down. The sort of rain that falls with such force it somersaults off the ground. Potters, villagers, and the few intrepid visitors rush into the village hall for shelter. The old farmer and the very old farmer open a bottle of armagnac. The mayor joins them. Monsieur Bay brings out his accordian. The giant paella dish fills with water. The rest, as  they say, is history. This morning  a few sore heads are being nursed.

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like quite a wash out! Good thing there was booze around.

    XXXOOO Daisy,Bella &roxy

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  2. i love pottery!
    the colors of these are beautiful.
    madame bay looked like a giant sunflower.
    breaking out the accordian and passing around
    the armagnac instead of gritching about the rain...
    a french thing? lovely.
    and no doubt why they have less heart trouble than we do!
    hugs to my soggy lad,
    tammy j

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  3. I am wondering how waterproof the tutu proved....

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  4. Love reading about your weather while my Alex is farming so near you.... feels nearer. Think he flies out of Toulouse this week to Berlin - Poland etc...
    Loved all the pots - hard t beat such vibrant colourful things - they really cheer me up :)

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  5. The pottery and the sunflowers are beautiful. Making the best of your time during the rain is the only way to go... :)

    B&L,
    Janelle, Maggie Mae and Max

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  6. You could write a book about the life in rural France and it would be a bestseller! I'm quite impressed with Madame Bay's latest ensemble. Was there a matching turban?

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  7. Gorgeous pottery! Too bad about the rain, but if deepest France profound is anything like our Canadian prairies this summer, we will take all we can get, and then some! Enjoy your day...

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  8. We have had rain and more rain here in Alaska most of the summer. Doing our best to enjoy what's left of it. Welcome back. Your posts are enjoyable as always. Been reading them all.

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  9. So sorry that the annual village fete was rained out...what a waste of paella....however, after the rain comes the sun..... enjoy what's left of summer.
    V

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  10. Too bad when any village activity is washed out. Saved from a courtesy buy, though, in case you didn't see anything that suited you. And that armagnac , home distilled for bigger and better headaches? Love to you both.

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  11. Oh what a shame. I would have definitely been tempted by some of those ceramics, as always. And a spot of Aligot. Despite the rain it all sounds like a rather colourful event nonetheless and the sunflowers look very happy! So pleased to have you back!
    x

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  12. I will take your rain here in central New York, hot and dry all summer. If memory serves, I recall last summer's fete, and the pottery Angus purchased ending up down cellar. Perhaps best everything was rained out!! I would love to have seen Madame Bay in her summery couture!

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  13. I wish we could get some rain in the daytime. We've hot a VERY hot summer this year. Rain would be most welcomed to cool everything down. We've had very little of it and what we have had has been in the middle of the night, so it hasn't helped much.

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  14. Time for someone to invent that Star Trek global weather control system, so we could have some of your rain in the drought-stricken majority of the U.S. and you could have some of our unrelenting sun and heat.

    Lovely glazes on some of that pottery. Hope it all got moved without any being broken in the hurry to get out of the rain and into the Armagnac.

    Jed & Abby

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  15. Oh my goodness, you could not make a character like Madame Bay up! She sounds so artsy and eccentric, but at the same time a take charge and get it done type of personality. Unusual, no?

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  16. LOL - dare I say it - your writing is improving!

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