The beauty of freedom, one week post confinement

The beauty of freedom

We have now been free for a week and what a week’s it’s been.

Monday began with a rather rude awakening at 3.00am when our ‘friendly’ local stone marten (fouine) clattered over the bedroom roof and in its search for sparrow eggs sent a roof tile crashing to the ground. This is its second night-raid on our resident birds and the second time it has destroyed a roof tile as it foraged for food. I’m not sure whether I am annoyed or impressed that something that only weighs around two kilograms can make such a racket and has the strength to move roof tiles. They might be great to have around to control snake, rat and mouse numbers, but their lack of care for our property is beginning to grate.

  

By 11.00am, when the accountant called for a year-end Zoom meeting, we’d walked the dog, hung out the washing and had a picnic packed and ready to go as soon as the meeting was done. With no work for over six months, it was no surprise that the accounts showed a loss for last year, but at least we saved over 11,000€ (based on the previous year’s figures) on flights, trains, hotels and food, as Adrian wasn’t traveling for work. It’s always good to look for the positives.

 

A slice of apple tart on the V93 cycle path in Brioux-sur-Boutonne

With no restrictions on where we go or how far we can now be from home, lunch was on a bench about fifteen kilometres into a fifty-eight-kilometre bike ride, that took us way outside of the ten-kilometre radius we have been confined to for the last month. Freedom was beautiful, as were the deer we saw in a field right next to us, the field of buttercups, the dragonflies and butterflies, and the afternoon patisserie on a bench by the Boutonne river.

 

In typical sods law fashion, the weather then took a turn for the worse with wind and rain battering the garden on Tuesday afternoon and pretty much all-day Thursday. Freedom was curtailed once more and bike rides were limited to quick loops from home, squeezed in around work and breaks in the weather.

Updated vaccination information

 

President Macron spoke on Thursday about changes to the vaccination programme. From 10^th May anyone aged over 50 can have an appointment for a vaccination and from Wednesday 12^th May anyone aged over 18 can look online for availability of last-minute appointments for the following day, to ensure vaccination doses don’t get wasted. A quick check on the vaccination availability website showed almost 5000 vaccination within about 100kms from home, which was great news until I checked Adrian’s work calendar. Having had many weeks of not much going on earlier in the year, we are now in the position where he potentially has work scheduled all the way through to 8^th June. When you are the trainer, running a course and having to talk coherently all day, the possibility of having a fever or flu-like symptoms isn’t something we can risk. We know from experience that his work schedule can change at short notice, so for now we will have to hold fire and hope we can both find a last-minute appointment if a gap appears in his schedule.

 

By Friday the week began to improve once more. We thought Ed was popping back for a few days over the weekend, but one look at the amount of stuff he’d cleared from his flat, and we weren’t so sure. His lectures are finished, and his exams are over, so although he may head back to Poitiers occasionally, university is done, and he’s moved back home. This put a big smile on my face and Mini was delighted her favourite dog-walker is back in residence.

 

Victory in Europe Day 8th May 2021

The weather was warm and sunny on Saturday, so I was up early to make a start on Ed’s washing mountain, which was hung out to dry as the eight o’clock Angelus rang out over the village. Before heading off with a picnic lunch for an afternoon on the bikes, I joined the Maire and few others to pay my respects at the war memorial for Victory in Europe Day. For the second year running there has been no official ceremony, but the flags were flying, and flowers were laid, followed by a minute’s silence.

Vineyards in Le Gicq, Charente-Maritime

 

Our bike ride took us over the border and into the Charente-Maritime for sixty kilometres of cycling through pretty villages, and vineyards just bursting into life, before stopping for a picnic at a lake that we had to ourselves, despite it being a public holiday in France. The sun shone all afternoon and we were back in time to shower and change before pre-curfew apéros in a friend’s garden. 

On my first bike 1979

 

It was certainly a good idea to squeeze so much into one day, as Sunday was wet, wild and stormy, but it did give me the opportunity to sort through some old photo albums and look what I found, the first photo of me on a small-wheeled bicycle. It might not be a Brompton, but that Viky bike from the 1970’s, my first ever bike, holds a special place in my heart. I don’t think for one moment that seven-year-old me cycling around the back garden, would be able to imagine forty-nine-year-old me living in France and cycling around five thousand kilometres a year. 

Vive le vélo!  

Smile, it's World Naked Gardening Day 2021

A spot of weeding in the sun for World Naked Gardening Day 2021 

Smile

Welcome to May, where there is plenty to celebrate today; May Day, Fête du Travail and World Naked Gardening Day, plus the sun is out and I can almost smell the freedom of deconfinement.

 

A bunch of lily of the valley to bring you happiness

May Day

On 1^st May, in France, there is a lovely tradition of offering a small bunch of Lily of the Valley to your friends, to bring happiness or bonheur for the coming year. Since 1^st May last year we have lived through eighty-four days of confinement and over a hundred days of nightly curfews, so anything that offers the promise of happiness or raises a smile, works for me.

Stepping out naturally for World Naked Gardening Day 2021

 

World Naked Gardening Day #WNGD

The first Saturday in May is World Naked Gardening Day #WNGD, when gardeners are encouraged to step outside a little more naturally than they normally would. It is day to remind us to be kinder to the planet and the natural environment and to encourage us to reduce the amount of chemicals we use. It is also a day to remember to be kinder to ourselves (and each other) and accept who we are and what we look like. To stop obsessing about having a perfect body shape and love the skin you are in.

 

Enjoying the May sunshine for World Naked Gardening Day 2021

This year marks my ninth year of celebrating WNGD and I may have more grey hairs, wrinkles and saggy bits than I did back in 2013, but with so many rules, regulations and restrictions on our daily lives at the moment, the rebel in me was overjoyed at the chance to throw off my clothes and step outside to feel the warmth of the sun on my back. Here’s to carefree fun and silliness, that raises our spirits and makes us smile.

 

Deconfinement

As of Monday, our restrictions on movement will begin to ease. There will be no more attestations required for leaving home (outside of the curfew hours) and we will be free to travel where we like in France, for whatever reason we want. 

Deconfinement graphic from BFMTV

From 19^th May, non-essential shops, cinemas, museums and theatres, plus cafés, bars and restaurant terraces will be allowed to reopen and the curfew will be put back to nine o’clock in the evening. A sunny café terrace with a coffee and croissant and a spot of people watching, or a sunset bike ride; the things we’ve been dreaming of for so long, are now so tantalising close I can’t help but smile.

 

Keep smiling, stay safe and have fun.  

Book review of An Act of Love by Carol Drinkwater

An Act of Love by Carol Drinkwater

An Act of Love by Carol Drinkwater

 

This is the latest brilliantly written historical novel from author and actress Carol Drinkwater, whose writing I have admired for many years now. 

 

Set in a small village in the Alps during The Occupation, we follow Sara’s war journey from adolescent refuge, whose family are given lodgings in a small mountain village, to a life filled with danger when change was forced upon them once more. 

 

In this beautifully descriptive book, it was easy to visualise the village and the mountains, and to feel Sara’s emotions. In the small mountain community, we meet those who are prepared to fight, those who crave acceptance, whatever the cost, those who care and those who are driven to do what they can, no matter the consequences. As the changing of the seasons mirrored Sara’s maturity, I could feel her determination to fit in, her frustrations at her parent’s reluctance to embrace their new haven of peace, as well as her fear of change, and strength of character. 

 

Carol’s words painted a vivid picture of the Occupation in the south of France and the situation of the Jewish refugees. Things here were very different to Paris, but no less shocking, and the liberation came later than on the northern coast, something I hadn’t fully appreciated before. 

 

Sara’s story gripped my attention and I lost hours among the pages, my heart in my mouth, fearing for her safety.

 

There was a plot twist that totally took me by surprise and in one particularly moving scene Carol gave death a sense of peace and beauty that I’d not experienced before. This book will stay with me for a long while. I may have finished reading it, but I’m not ready to let Sara leave me just yet.

 

An Act of Love was released today by Penguin Michael Joseph in paperback and ebook format and links to Amazon can be found below. 

You can follow Carol on Facebook and Twitter and visit her website here. 

 

  

From the Writing Desk interview with Carol Drinkwater

In case you missed my From the Writing Desk interview with Carol yesterday, click here to read more.

 

From the Writing Desk of Carol Drinkwater

From the Writing Desk of Carol Drinkwater

From the writing desk, of Carol Drinkwater

 

Welcome to the French Village Diaries interview feature, From the Writing Desk, where this week, to coincide with the release of her new novel, An Act of Love, I am delighted to be (virtually) joining actress and author Carol Drinkwater at her writing desk in France.

 

Carol Drinkwater, known for her award-winning portrayal of Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, is the author of over twenty books for both the adult and young adult market, including the bestselling nonfiction Olive Farm Series of memoirs that recount her experiences on her olive farm overlooking the bay of Cannes. Her fascination with the olive tree inspired two travel books and The Olive Route, a five-part documentary film series following her travels around the Mediterranean. Carol and husband Michel split their time between their farm in the south of France and their home on the outskirts of Paris.

 

Carol’s memoirs were great comfort reading for me when we moved to France in 2004 and everything felt daunting and different.

 

Your writing space

 

Carol, how important is your desk space to your writing? Is it tidy and well-organised or creatively cluttered? 

 

Carol: My desks. I have three – two at the Olive Farm and one at our northern address, outside Paris, where my husband has his editing suites. All of them are extremely cluttered. Every now and again – usually when I have delivered a novel - I tidy up, but in no time at all, the piles grow, the papers shift like desert sands losing all order, covering over everything else and I am obliged to root out for myself a small patch where I can continue to write my notes, scribble thoughts, dates etc. By the way, the desks are all wooden dining tables stolen from other rooms. Two have drawers, the third doesn’t.

 

Does your desk have a view? If so, does this inspire you or can it distract you?

 

Carol: Each has a view. The principal one is in my library at the Olive Farm. It looks out across a courtyard to olive trees, a Judas tree, and drystone wall terraces. No, I don’t find looking outwards distracting. I know some writers need a blank wall but that would make me feel shut in, claustrophobic. I like to see the nature, birds and other creatures going about their day. The dogs come and sit at the open terrace doors and snore while I work. I find their presence very reassuring but I would not want them inside on my lap or at my feet. That would be too distracting.

 

Do you try and write at regular times of the day?

 

Carol: For work, I am a morning person. When I am deep in a book I like to begin at six or seven in the morning A cup of coffee in my hand, still in my dressing gown or, in summer, a sarong, I pad to my library and settle myself in silence there, tuning in to the dawn chorus beyond the French windows. I am not someone who can write late into the night. I have noticed though since lockdown that my hours are changing. I sleep later, which is something I never used to do. 

 

Writing during Covid-19 

 

As a writer, with a desk and computer at home, work would have continued for you throughout lockdown, but has the pandemic affected your motivation to write? 

 

Carol: Yes, now it is affecting me. Last year, I was editing my new novel AN ACT OF LOVE, and worked almost ceaselessly. Waking at a very early hour and continuing without stop for long stretches. I worked far more intensively than almost ever before. A year on since our first confinement, I am in a very different mental place: I am feeling a little directionless and I am grieving. Friends have died, others are sick. I cannot travel - Michel and I are incessant travellers. I find all these facts hard to deal with. I am at work on a new novel and I am battling with myself to allow myself sink into it. Even settling to this interview has taken me two days!

 

Do you think the content of your future writing projects will be influenced by the pandemic?

 

Carol: I think I am influenced by these experiences already and so the heart and soul of me, which is in my work, has been profoundly moved. It does not mean that I will write scenes set around a pandemic but some of the despair, the disappointment at how so much of this has been handled, has changed me. The loss of friends has left an emptiness within me, a sense of no return.

 

Your latest release

 

Your latest novel An Act of Love is set during the Second World War. The lockdowns and curfews of this past year are more normal occurrences during war years than in peacetime and have been challenging for many. Can you tell us a bit about An Act of Love and what are you hoping readers will get from this book that will help them cope?

 

Carol: My heroine, Sara, is seventeen. A brave, courageous and fiery spirit although of course at the outset she has no real sense of her own power. She, along with her parents, escaped Poland before the Germans marched into their country in 1939. They find themselves - after two years on the run, living in hiding – delivered into a mountain village inland from Nice where they are offered an abandoned house to take refuge in. Sara’s story is that of a young woman at the beginning of her adult life wrestling with all those mixed emotions. Her longing for love, romance, freedom, maturity, independence. However, she and her Jewish parents, are refugees. The world is not hers to take, to enjoy as she would like. During the course of the novel she makes some choices that change her and her life forever. She grows up, grows strong and learns that she is the mistress of her universe. 

 

The inspiration for An Act of Love came from the stories from the past that you discovered on a visit to a small Alpine village. How important do you think community is when people are living through difficult times?

 

Carol: This is a fascinating and very relevant question. Community plays a very important role in this novel and I think that community – learning to share and count on others – can be a huge blessing. A life changer, life saver.

 

One day, some time in mid-90s, I walked into a village where I discovered that the population of that French village had made the choice to harbour refugees, predominantly Jews, who would have be slaughtered if they had been caught by the Nazis, or sent to camps – at that stage no one knew what those camps meant. I uncovered so many stories of extraordinary heroism. French villagers and immigrants who risked their own lives to help, save others. Acts of love, bravery, decency. I was so inspired by so many of these generous human beings that I was impelled to write a novel about such people. Unsung heroes and heroines.

 

Life outside of writing

 

What do you look forward to, when you’ve saved the document and switched off the computer, as your treat at the end of the writing day?

 

Carol: These days, my desires are very simple things. A glass of wine by the fireside or out on the terrace with my husband. I have learnt to be grateful for what I have, which includes a treasure trove of gifts. If I have achieved a decent day’s work, I am at peace. If not, I take comfort from the fact that there is another day tomorrow, please God, and that I have a very special man at my side who encourages me. 

 

With plenty of space and lovely scenery, France is a great place to explore. If you were to take a break away from the writing desk where in France would you take your picnic?

 

Carol: Well, aside from a shady spot on our own lovely Olive Farm, I am always attracted to the Calanques area near Cassis (where I set my last novel, THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF). I also love the Camargue, so a windy beach somewhere there and a swim afterwards would suit me down to the ground.

 

How would you normally celebrate the release of a new novel, and will it be different this year?

 

Carol: I am usually on a book tour when my latest work is published so lunch or dinner with my publishers. Or with friends if I’m attending a literary festival. This year, I suppose, Michel and I will be together at the farm and it will be a very quiet affair. It is also the week after my birthday! That is fine, I am perfectly happy with the two of us together lifting a glass to a novel that I am extremely proud of and that, I sincerely hope, readers will enjoy as much as I have loved writing it.

 

I am sure they will. Sara’s story gripped my attention and I lost hours among the pages, my heart in my mouth, fearing for her safety. It is a beautifully descriptive book that will stay with me for a long while yet. Thank you for taking the time out of your writing day to let me join you at your writing desk. 

 

Carol: It has been a pleasure. Thank you for your interest and support.

 

An Act of Love will be released by Michael Joseph in paperback and ebook format, on 29th April 2021. Join me back here on the blog tomorrow to read my full review.

  

  

All of Carol’s other books are available in paperback and ebook format. Links to Amazon can be found below.

 

You can follow Carol on Facebook and Twitter and visit her website here. 

 

Celebrating a second birthday in confinement

At his desk, on his birthday

We are now three weeks into our four-week confinement and according to the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, who spoke last Thursday, all being well by 3^rd May our ten-kilometre restrictions will be lifted, although our 19h curfew will remain. This was just the good news Adrian needed to hear as he ‘celebrated’ his second birthday in lockdown. 

 

A birthday bike ride

Last year, when lockdown meant lockdown and life and work were on hold, his 50^th birthday involved a virtual cycle challenge, a few friends shouting greetings through the garden gate and a sparkly candle from the boulangerie, my feeble attempt to hide the disastrous topping on the carrot cake I’d baked. Thankfully things were a bit different this year, and although we had to squeeze our real bike ride in between work and curfew, we weren’t restricted to only being out for one hour, one kilometre from home, and the sun shone down on our 23km ride through the vineyards. 

Birthday cakes and drinks in the sun

 

This year, I wisely left Ed in charge of the birthday cake and his chocolate fondant cake was delicious, plus there was enough left to share with friends the following day. If reaching 51 was not enough of a reason to open a bottle of bubbles, the fact that our post-Brexit residence permits also arrived on his birthday, certainly was. 

 

On this day last year, we had reached day forty of confinement, a significant number held in esteem in many cultures and religions as a period of trial, transformation or purification. I certainly wasn’t expecting to still be coping with Covid-19 confinement one year on, but with just this final week to go, and the peace of mind from having our new residence permits in our possession, I’m hopeful we can look forward to brighter days ahead. 

 

Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham

Beyond This Broken Sky Siobhan Curham

Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham

 

Book Description

 

1940, London: An unforgettable novel about the strength of the human spirit in the face of war and the remarkable women who put themselves in danger on the front lines during the Battle of Britain.

As a volunteer for the ambulance service, Ruby has the dangerous task of driving along pitch-dark roads during the blackout. With each survivor she pulls from the rubble, she is helping to fight back against the enemy bombers, who leave nothing but destruction in their wake.

Assigned to her crew is Joseph, who is unable to fight but will stop at nothing to save innocent lives. Because he is not in uniform, people treat him with suspicion and Ruby becomes determined to protect this brave, compassionate man who has rescued so many, and captured her heart. Even if it means making an unthinkable choice between saving her own life and risking everything for his…

2019: Recently divorced Edi feels lost and alone when she moves to London to start a new life. Until she makes a discovery, hidden beneath a loose floorboard in her attic, that reveals a secret about the people who lived there in the 1940s. As she gradually uncovers a wartime love story full of danger and betrayal, Edi becomes inspired by the heroism of one incredible woman and the legacy that can be left behind by a single act of courage…

A sweeping tale of bravery and self-sacrifice that shows that even in the midst of war, hope and love can bloom. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network, The Secret Messenger and The Lost Girls of Paris.

 

Beyond This Broken Sky Siobhan Curham

My review

Having really enjoyed An American in Paris by Siobhan Curham, I couldn’t resist Beyond This Broken Sky, even though it’s set in London, during the Blitz, rather than in France. It was a wise move on my part. 

 

This is another gripping historical novel from an author who I can’t wait to read more from. 

 

We join Ruby, Kitty and Joseph, three very different personalities, from different backgrounds, all living in converted flats in the same house in Pimlico. As Hitler launches his daily bombing campaign on London in 1940, to begin with there is fear and fatigue at the nightly disruptions, but it doesn’t take long for their fighting spirit to come into play, and thrown together by the Blitz and their volunteer work, they soon start to bring out the best in each other. 

 

These three are great fun characters, especially the almost-irritating quirkiness of Ruby, who gave me many smiles as I was reading, even in the darkest of situations where my heart was in my mouth. We all need a bit of Ruby in our lives and her way with words and outlook on life will, I am sure, stay with me. My heart went out to Kitty, who just needed friendship and love to free her from her fears, something Ruby is determined to achieve, and Joseph was in some ways an unlikely hero, but just right in others. Ruby and Joseph were so different, yet so similar, and her journey as she discovers what really matters in life, thanks in no small part to his influence, really warmed me. 

 

There were many white-knuckle moments as I gripped my kindle, almost afraid to carry on, and my stomach dropped into my boots at one point, as I really couldn’t believe what I’d read. I got so engrossed in the events happening in 1940 that I totally forgot there was also the 2019 storyline to follow too. Here, the more Edi discovers about her new neighbours, the more convinced she is that there is a mystery to solve. 

 

This book gave me so much in terms of emotions, suspense and humour, as well as clever twists and turns before the plot revealed itself, it left me with a big smile on my face and a contented, happy feeling.

 

If you enjoy emotional, historical novels, with that magic touch of something different, I am sure you will love Beyond This Broken Sky. Currently priced only 99p. 

 

Purchase Links 

Amazon 

Apple 

Kobo 

Google 

 

Siobhan Curham

 

Author Bio

 

Siobhan Curham is an award-winning author, ghost writer, editor and writing coach. She has also written for many newspapers, magazines and websites, including The Guardian, Breathe magazine, Cosmopolitan, Writers’ Forum, DatingAdvice.com, and Spirit & Destiny. Siobhan has been a guest on various radio and TV shows, including Woman’s Hour, BBC News, GMTV and BBC Breakfast. And she has spoken at businesses, schools, universities and literary festivals around the world, including the BBC, Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Bath Festival, Ilkley Festival, London Book Fair and Sharjah Reading Festival.

 

Website 

Facebook 

Twitter 

Instagram 

 

French Village Diaries Book Reviews

Four friends, a wedding anniversary and a funeral

Outdoor aperos to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary

Four friends, a wedding anniversary and a funeral

We are now (hopefully) halfway through our four-week period of confinement and yesterday turned out to be a day of notable milestones. 

 

On the day the Queen laid to rest her husband of seventy-three years, we celebrated our 23^rd wedding anniversary, and ten kilometres into our morning bike ride, I clocked up 10,000 kilometres on my Brompton, KTTinyTourer, exactly two years from when I hit my first 1000 kilometres on her during our Bordeaux to Toulouse cycle touring trip.

 

Morning coffee and a bike ride

Some years we have been away for our anniversary, traveling France by car or by bike, and some years work commitments have kept us apart. This year we celebrated together with a bike ride, stopping to brew our morning coffee (accompanied by flapjacks) on a park picnic table, as there are no bars or cafés open here just yet. Despite keeping to within our ten-kilometre permitted radius, Adrian managed to plan a route that took us down many roads we’d never cycled on before and up a few hills I hadn’t realised existed. 

 

In the afternoon we had a socially distanced aperos in the garden with four friends, food, champagne and laughter. I was torn between watching the TV coverage of the funeral service from Windsor, for its ceremony and its place in history, and not watching something that I felt should have been a private, family goodbye to a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. We settled on having the lead-up to the service on in the background as we put the finishing touches to the onion bhajis, houmous and flatbreads.

 

Much as the 19h curfew has become a tad annoying; I’ve decided I actually quite like the fact that our social gatherings have to be done and dusted by 19h. By starting at 16h, we have plenty of time for a few drinks, nibbles and a lot of laughs, all while the sun is shining, leaving me free to have a quiet evening on the sofa. This seems to be a much better fit for my body than evenings that become early mornings, and that often give rise to sore heads the following day.

 

The cutting of the banoffee pie 23 years after the cutting of the wedding cake 

We have a little ritual on our anniversary; the annual viewing of our wedding DVD. We didn’t subject our friends to this, but I might have left a few photos albums on the table alongside the drinks and nibbles, which they politely flicked through. Our evening was then spent watching two much younger looking people celebrating a wedding, with fond memories, not only of a great day, but also of those who were with us then but are no longer with us now.

Views from the bike, within 10km from home

 

This morning we have been out on the bikes again, logging more kilometres #ForBen and the virtual challenge to get from UK to Bangkok and back before the 27^th April. There are still quite a few kilometres to go, so if you’d like to help by logging your walking, running or cycling kilometres, you can do so here.