For the first time in about six weeks we have the house to ourselves, a natural and unprompted hiatus in the middle of a busy season (well nearly unprompted, we did a little judicious refusing to ensure our solitude.)
We will be alone until Friday when a much loved nephew comes to visit so there is nothing to disturb our tranquillity.
That this coincides with our local festival – Des Terrasses et Del Catet- is fortunate indeed. Tonight there is a production of As You Like It in our local Chateau at Astis, tomorrow an amazing acrobatic/dance troop-Face Nord- in nearby Causses et Veran and on Thursday a performance by my new favourite diva, Madeline Peroux, in the Chateau de Mus.
In the meantime I immediately decided to do all those things one can only do in a house empty of clients.
Firstly I had a long and luxurious breakfast, Smoked haddock and Poached Eggs on toast, more toast and jam and loads of coffee. This was followed by a long and luxurious bathe (a rare occurrence in a house with showers) – I say bathe rather than bath deliberately as this involves filling our enormous bath (about 5 ftx3ft) with hot water and wallowing there like a humpbacked whale for about an hour with a book.
“With a book “ is also a part of the serendipitous moment as, just a few days ago an Amazon order arrived with two books, one by, and one about; Patrick Leigh Fermor- viz Ill Met by Moonlight by Stanley Moss, and In Tearing Haste the letters between him and Debo Mitford/Devonshire. Now I am spending my time dipping with great enjoyment between the two.
In my defence I will say that both of us have been working extremely hard at our retirement careers for the last two months so these days are certainly well deserved- and I will also add that in about a half hour Sile is going to start cleaning all four guest rooms and I have been volunteered to sanctify the bathrooms . Bathos indeed.