Monday 21st July to Sunday 27th July
Author: Jack
As if I wasn’t far enough behind writing up last week’s diary I’m even more behind now. It’s now Monday September 29th, nearly two months after the events. So the diaries for a while are probably going to be much leaner than they have been. I have been keeping notes but my memory isn’t quite what is so may be difficult. Anyway here goes.
Carrying on from my work in the vineyard last week, and continuing to panic about finishing the work in time, I rush out early to fit in a couple of hours work in the vineyard before heading off to Bergerac airport to collect my sister, Jen, and her husband, Laurie, who are coming for a two week holiday (that is they were hoping for a holiday but it didn’t quite work out like that.)
As usual I was late leaving home so made a mad dash through the back doubles to Bergerac. Beck was none too happy with my driving as it wasn’t making her feel too good. Luckily we arrived just before the plane touched down, so were able wave frantically at them as they walked down the steps. Bergerac airport is very small. Planes come to a standstill within twenty yards or so of the public waiting area so it’s easy too see everyone coming off.
As they have arrived at lunchtime we decide to nip into Bergerac and have lunch at the restaurant next to Leclerc before returning home.
Their ‘holiday’ starts in earnest on Tuesday with a full days work in the vineyard. Beck is at home today though so it generally means that one of us has to stay with beck, or at least check she is OK. Jen and Laurie set to the task at hand with great enthusiasm and we make steady progress up and down the rows preparing them for the désherbage (weed killing). Concerned though that the weed killer will harm the vines we take off considerable numbers of leaves from the lower parts of the vines (too much it transpires later, but we wanted to be sure we didn’t loose any vines).
Tuesday evening I received a phone call from Brian, our neighbour at La Vitaille. Seemed that the lady who lives opposite was most upset about the amount of rubbish left in the communal rubbish bin. There is one giant wheelie bin for the four houses in the hamlet. She had asked Brian to ring me, on the assumption that we had filled the bins to overflowing after the changeover at the weekend, and to ask that we take our rubbish elsewhere! Needless to say I was not amused. Not only hadn’t we filled the bins, but also since we pay our rates like anyone else, if we had indeed filled the bins we were perfectly entitled to do so. I conveyed both these facts to Brian and left it at that.
Wednesday saw more of the same in the vineyard, although with Beck at the holiday club progress was faster. We worked on until nearly 7. Antony and Jane came round for a prearranged BBQ to find me quite ill prepared. Fortunately they were very understanding and we did eventually manage to get the BBQ going and settle down to a very pleasant and relaxing evening.
Thursday – more of the same in the vineyard. By now I was definitely panicking. Despite our greatest efforts it was clear that we would never finish the whole vineyard in time. So I decided to call in the cavalry in the form of Jose who promised to spend all day Saturday helping us out. He was not too pleased at the situation however as he had believed that Joel would be spraying after the previous round of pamprage. Apparently he ahs met Joel several times since then in Duras and each time Joel had said he was about to come round, but he never did. Hence the need for another round of pamprage as the vines had naturally carried on growing. Another reason for looking forward to next year – we will be in control of the timing of the vineyard jobs.
Iain arrived Friday for a long weekend visit and with him came some relaxation for us all. We even managed to have a game of tennis at the courts in St Sernin on the Saturday. It was far far too hot really but then we are mad English! Best place was the swimming pool. Iain decided we should all be learning to dive. Laurie is not a swimmer but despite that Iain managed to encourage him to try diving in, which he did. Amazing. Rebecca was also keen and practiced too. I was not so keen but did make a few attempts. All too soon again it was Sunday afternoon and time to take Iain back to Bordeaux airport.
