Heatwave

France has been experiencing very hot weather for the past 3 weeks. Luckily for two of them we were in Iceland where the maximum temperature was no more than 14° as opposed to almost 40° in France. We had Friday 17th July off as the UN has the end of Ramadan as an official holiday and so we were able to arrive at the house before 19h30 on Thursday 16th. It was extremely hot but we were relieved to find that the house was a cool 23° which is much cooler than the Peron house - a bonus of a house made of stone with very thick walls. Most of my plants were just about hanging on and there is now a water ban in place so I put all the pots into Agnès's paddling pool and used a bit of water to revive them.

On Thursday morning after popping to the baker the sky went dark and there was some thunder. We then had a 10 minute downpour and then it was back to heat and sun as though nothing had happened. We went up to SuperU to get some provisions for the weekend. Back at the house I varnished the back door as it has only had one coat. After lunch I went off to Cluny pool with Agnès whilst Jules waited at the house for the aerial guy to come and sort out the Sky connections. Cluny pool was very busy and Agnès had a nice time but for me it was not very relaxing although sitting in cool water was lovely. In the evening we had a bbq and then tried to get cool but it was so hot.

On Saturday I woke with a cold. There had been some rain overnight and in the morning it did feel a little cooler. We decided to go off to Macon as there was a Napolean exhibition at the Mediatheque. Jules has just finished a large tome on Napolean so I thought it might be timely. By the time we got to Macon it was boiling again but the Mediatheque was cool. The exhibition was not large but interesting as it describes what happened in Macon when Napolean came back to rule for a second time. We then decided to join the Mediatheque as it has a lot of online resources including music and films. The lady was very helpful which is unusual for France. We then had a look round and Agnès liked the children's section. Maybe if we are there for longer we can borrow some books.

We then went off to the Ponte Loco for lunch which was delicious as usual. There was shade in their garden so we were able to sit out relatively comfortably. We then went back home and chilled out all afternoon. My cold was getting worse so I had a nap in the cool bedroom.

During the night there was a storm but not of the proportions that had been forecast. At least the garden got some water which may last until we come again in two weeks. I was not feeling great as my cold was developing and after breakfast we packed up and headed back to Peron. We did put down the rescued rug that I had washed and it looks very nice.