A Pot Pourri

This blog is a bit of a mix.  So here is Snork Maiden looking not at all bad for her survey yesterday.  In the photo it looks as though she's wearing her sails in the cockpit, but it's just a pssing cloud. Really. One of the amazing things about the Vendee is the incredible 360º cloudscape and the variations in the clouds themselves.  This afternoon is blue sky with an almost complete border of cumulus.  Oddly enough, the flat landscape can also give me a feeling of claustrophobia.  
  Yesterday we had the boat surveyed by one of the 2 Lloyds qualified, English speaking surveyors in France (the other one is on the South Coast).  He liked our boat - that's always good. He thought she was very well-equipped (she is).  Of course there are things to put right, as always, but nothing too big or too serious.  The engine started, third time of trying.  Not bad. I need to get a fuel filter - I think I can do that in La Rochelle.
 

The Pot Calling the Kettle....

The day before yesterday I went down with a nasty, nasty cold - croaking away, throat, chest, nose - the whole lot.  The survey was thorough but took all day - I lay down and slept at the end of it!  Today I have been to the pharmacy and have a pack of 4-day / night drugs - hope they do the job.  There's a new Mini-U in Charron (a village of around 2000 people) - has some organic (Bio) food.  The photo - well, those are 2 of the most important pieces of kit on the boat.  And because we use bottled gas, everything goes black.  The espresso pot really IS black - an impulse buy in Spain that has served us very well.  As some of you know, I love cooking on Snork Maiden.  She has a huge galley for her size.
 

Back to Charron - this skateboarding cow cheered me up this morning.  Found next to the Pharmacy.  I also found myself reflecting on all things French.  Their shopping in out of town malls has reached staggering proportions (Le Clerc the size of a small village outside Lucon). In spite of that, small villages like Charron sustain a pharmacy, post office, bakery.  Their's a sense of civic pride, but the French complain about regulation and taxes.  Left to themselves - like this boatyard, there's a sense of anarchy.  Environmental regs nowhere to be seen with all sorts allowed to seep into the ground, and later, the river.  The products themselves, though, are becoming more environmentally friendly.  Anti-fouling now less poisonous than it usedto be.
When in France, I do have a sense of a private, bourgeoise life, lived behind closed doors.  Streets are empty, gates and walls high, with an air of impenetrability, shutters closed.  This all in a marked contrast to our recent trip to Crete, where life seems somehow more public, more outdoors, in the street.
Al should arrive on Monday, having spent a week up in Staffordshire, surrounded by verdant countryside.  I can use the break from all the summer greenery that I find sort of oppressive after a while.  I am glad to see the cereal fields here taking on some high summer yellow tones.  OK enough.  It's 6pm and the sun is still high.  Time to slice and salt the aubergines for tonight's supper. I must be feeling better!