We’re not going to comment further on the weather except to say that although it has continued wet and windy, it looks like summer is going to arrive next week. We’ve posted enough cloudy photos, so here is one of a local wood, sunlit between showers.
In fact the weather has been overshadowed as a topic of French conversation by the imminent prospect of a political storm, about which we will doubtless write more in future. We’ve been struck by the fact that in our church, and we believe in other French churches, little attention is paid to political matters. There are probably various reasons for this: a Protestant culture that prioritises a personal relationship with God and also fact that for over three hundred years evangelicals have, on the national scale, been an insignificant and indeed often oppressed minority. One upshot of this is that when Chris suggested to the leader of the service last Sunday that there might be a prayer for the nation, it was warmly approved but he was asked to do it!
But the evangelical churches are growing and are beginning to be noticed as an important social group. In our own church we had three adult baptisms two weeks ago and a good number of people coming into membership. After the baptismal service we had a very French bring-and-share picnic in a members garden with a lot of people.
Having had a winter visit to the fairly nearby Dordogne town of Brantôme, we paid another visit when the sun finally came out. Brantôme is one of those small French towns which has an enormous amount of interesting detail and charming corners that are easy to overlook. So we climbed a magnificent staircase in the old abbey to what was once the monks refectory, found a number of ancient buildings, some of which, alas, could have been in better state, and, by the river, we discovered evidence of previous floods. The 1733 one must have flooded much of the town.
We also discovered the small but fascinating privately-owned Renaissance Chateau de la Hierce where the owner gave guided tours. The rooms we saw were crowded with an extraordinary variety and quantity of furniture, paintings, fur coats, porcelain and stuffed animals (not all in the same rooms!). There were just us and the owner and we had some excellent discussions about French history.
And finally, on our own home front, one of the outstanding things that needed doing on the house was the thorough repainting of our very large bedroom. That has been done to our considerable satisfaction. With the exception of the fosse septique (septic tank) which we hope will be done in the autumn, we like to think we are now in what the French call mode maintenance, for which no translation is necessary. May it be so!
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