French Rural life

As a rule we love life in deepest rural France but there are occasionally exceptions. This week for example ...

We have been waiting for a phone call from our tame visiting car mechanic to do some jobs on our car, promised that he would phone early this week. No call to date :-( According to locals some phone lines have been down since Sunday due to lightning strikes. When it will be rectified nobody knows ...

As many may be aware French unions are causing considerable disruption in all manner of ways, transport, flights, fuel, electricity etc. For the past week our power supply has been variable to say the least due to action at power stations. Last night our lights were constantly varying in intensity, from normal to literally like a candle. At one point the romantic candle effect lasted for nearly an hour, so poor that it was not even possible to read. This likely to continue for the immediate future as many power workers are on indefinite strike.

Fuel is another concern as supplies diminish due to refineries being picketed.  Many filling stations are either closed or imposing some form of rationing.  Thankfully that does not seem to have affected our immediate local area yet but might well do soon.  Like many others locally we rely on a vehicle for every day needs as the nearest shops are 7kms away.

Oh well, keep smiling whilst remembering that things could be worse - we might get Sarkozy back again!