A Summing Up
Although we spent more than a month in the French countryside, our phones were connected to the internet and we received frequent updates about events and developments in Israel, so that we did not feel cxoompletely cut off from our homeland. In consequence, we were constantly torn between concern for our friends and family at home and the calm atmosphere surrounding us, with the tranquil village houses, green fields, hedges and trees, and occasional visits to and from friends and neighbours. Even neighbours we hardly knew made a point of asking how we and our family were feeling and coping with the situation. We found all this concern and fellow-feeling very touching.
Our time in France was spent mainly in pursuing our hobbies and interests, enjoying the opportunity to walk in the clean country air, visit village ‘brocantes,’ where people set up stalls and bring out all manner of objects theey want to get rid of in return for a few euros. The range and variety of objects available never ceases to amazt me, reaching from all manner of toys and clothes to jewellery, crockery, plants, paintings, gadgets, knick-knacks and furniture. The atmosphere is friendly and it is quite acceptable to haggle a little over the asking price. We managed to pick up one or two little objects as well as some plants for the pots that have been standing empty outside our house in the village for a couple of years.
Despite the mournful character of our home thoughts from abroad, it’s impossible not to be positively affected by the beautiful and peaceful surroundings and the general atmosphere of relaxed harmony that seems to pervade everyone and everything in this part of France. The other drivers on the roads are generally courteous and considerate, and it is very rare to hear anyone using their horn. Tractors and trucks with trailers bearing agricultural equipment are not an uncommon sight on the narrow country roads (though not on the autoroutes), and one has to be on one’s guard for their occasional iinterruption of the smooth flow of traffic. Now that Yigal and I are both over eighty we try to restrict our driving and stick to less arduous journeys, but sometimes it’s inevitable, and we try to enjoy the scenery as we go while maintaining the speed limit and adhering to the highway code,
Being away from home has enabled us to engage in activities which are not part of our usual routine. Thus, I have been able to sit down after breakfast (and after doing my exercise routine and practicing piano on our Clavinova synthesizer) and try to do some painting rather than resuming my writing project, as I do at home. Yigal prepared a lecture about art and mythology in ancient Egypt and gave a talk to a group of friends, both old and new, who came to our house to hear him. They were all very appreciative of his effort, and we even received several thankyou letters (emails). Other than that we have both been able to practise using the Frrench language in various contexts, whether in shops, with neighbours, listening to the radio or reading the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro,’ whose weekend edition is replete with coloured supplements covering a wide range of articles, the current one having extensive coverage of the actor Alain Delon, who recently passed away.
We do not have a TV set in France, and our limited comprehension of the rare news broascasts on the music programme on the radio (France Musique) means that we are quite cut off from the news in the wider world, although brief internet news bulletins do reach us on a daily basis. On the one hand, it’s good for our mental health not to be bombarded by news broadcasts, interviews and discussions on TV, as we are when we’re in Israel, but it is not good to feel more or less detached from what’s happening in Israel.
Apart from enjoying the peace and quiet, there is the added pleasure of being able to go to one of the nearby villages or towns and eat at a local restaurant. If one sticks to the ‘plat du jour’ or even ‘menu du jour’ (daily set menu) one can enjoy a decent three-course lunch at a reasonable price. If the set menu doesn’t appeal to us, there is usually an alternative dish on offer. Sometimes we have to make use of Google Translate in order to decipher the menu, but we generally manage to find something to our taste. Besides all this, there is the added pleasure of shopping and cooking in France, and it is indeed a pleasure to pass along the supermarket aisles with their arraysS of cheeses, chocolates and other goodies. We’ve made a habit of occasionally buying a pre-roasted chicken (fresh every morning at the meat section of the supermarket) and building our meal around that. By adding a packet of frozen vegetables already peeled and cut for ratatouille we are saved hours of preparation. Strawberries are still available for dessert as well as cantaloupe melon, with the added joy of a ready-made Rum Baba for afternoon tea.
The ex-pat community in these parts seems to be constantly growing, and our little village is now home to several other Brits. Our neighbour hails from Australia, his girlfriend from the USA, and a Canadian has recently moved in just down the road. Most of our friends in the region are originally from English-speaking countries, and we tend to meet up for lunches or coffee in a local restaurant or someone’s home.
Our summer adventure started back in June, with our trip to visit friends (and the stunning Kroller-Muller Museum) in Holland, followed by a foray to Germany, where we visited Potsdam and attended the Bach festival in Leipzig, with the additional bonus of meeting up with an old friend from England. After that we were able to spend a couple of weeks in France before returning to Israel to catch up with friends and family there before departing once more for France. This time we flew to Marseilles, making a brief visit to a beloved cousin there before embarking on the long drive up through France to ‘our’ village. This stay has also had its highlights, with our inclusion in the first Gouzon Bookfest and attendance at a lunch with many of our friends in this part of France.
And so, as we come to the end of our time away from home, we look forward to returning to our usual haunts, the unique atmosphere provided by Israel, its scenery and population, as well as its political problems and often worrying security situation. Still, we keep hoping that those issues will be settled in the near future, a peace settlement achieved and the hostages released. And while the temperature in France is growing cooler, I know that Israel remains hot and sunny, and I’m definitely looking forward to that.
