Saturday, August 11, 2012

Irises and tomatoes.





The local Renault garage has a new courtesy vehicle. A two door electric thing - half scooter, half car. It can go all day on one three hour charge. Gullwing doors and two seats; one behind the other. According to the badge on the front it's called a Twizy. The ageing farmer and his wife who are using it  are unimpressed. Madame has some difficulty extricating herself from the tiny rear seat. Monsieur uses two hands to help her out. She giggles and straightens her skirt. Monsieur then has even more difficulty closing the gullwing doors. His wife profers a constant stream of advice which he ignores.  In the end he leaves one door open.Husband and wife wander off unconcernedly , hand in hand, to the greengrocers. 

Ten minutes later the process is repeated. Madame is pushed, rather than helped, into the rear seat. She settles down with a giggle. Monsieur clambers into the front seat.  The greengrocer hands the shopping bag to Madame then swings the gullwing doors shut. As they go he bangs his hand on the roof and shouts out ' make sure you don't speed '.  They lurch off at twenty miles an hour. This is probably the top speed of a Twizy.

New seats in the cafe under the arcade. The hideous purple plastic things replaced by pink raffia. Surprisingly, an improvement on what went before. Two new, unmatching, umbrellas positioned on the pavement where they provide shade to the passing pigeons. The beer and absinthe set , faced with this monumental change, stay inside.

Back in the village the tiles are being put back on the roof over the replica sixteenth century pottery kiln. The mayor,in a boiler suit and pork pie hat, is at the top of a ladder putting the last of them in place. Three villagers are clustered around the base of the ladder, helping . The kiln had been lit for the village fete but in the rainstorm water cascaded down the chimney and all it produced was smoke. Rather a lot of smoke .'' There's always next year " says the mayor brightly. Angus notices that the mayor has planted tomato plants on the bank behind the kiln next door to a swathe of yellow irises. Country practicality.


8 comments:

  1. Never a dull moment in the village. I think I would rather walk than drive that Twizy; it looks like a carnival ride.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the pictures and description of your village life are wonderful.
    it's bigger than i thought... or maybe i was only focused on wilfee before.
    the old farm couple have a good marriage. the giggle gives it away...
    laughter is the magic glue. and to drive that thing they no doubt have the glue!
    cheers
    tammy j

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Twizy sounds crazy! What a funny scene...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've never heard of a Twizy--I suppose you could take it on a bus or train, or tuck it under your arm--And in some way, I suppose it's pretty practical, just like the Mayor's tomato plants that look like they are doing pretty well!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks like there are no secrets in your village. Great images of a beautiful place
    Helen

    ReplyDelete
  6. Think we'll take the Twizy off our list of possible things to buy. We don't think three dogs would fit!

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love how your Mayor rolls his sleeves up.

    ReplyDelete