Sunshine and flowers

This week I remembered some of our reasons for moving to France. The sun is shining again and the ground is warming up so quickly compared with the English island soil. Local farmers are charging about on fifty year old tractors, cutting , turning and drying hay in such a short period it baffles me, having been used to my childhood haymaking taking forever, with showers outweighing the sunshine! My drive to the market takes me down a little winding lane, and this week it was a veritable explosion of wild flowers, all mixed in with roadside crops and blue skies. So, that's why I'm here!

Despite the idyllic wildflower-filled journey, my time on the market wasn't quite so uplifting. This week my two girlfriends and morning coffee partners have decided to leave our market for the summer season and migrate to their respective costal origins, so our ritual coffee was the last until September! Symptomatic of the French financial malaise; our little market seems to be slowly diminishing, less tourists, less money and fewer traders. The picture of a row of bored bums, epitomises our lack of trade,how often should you see a group of traders all sat in a row doing nothing at eleven o'clock on a sunny market day!

Luckily for me, the French still love their stomachs and cakes form part of their essential shopping list, so although my sales are not soaring as I had expected with the start of the summer season, I still have my loyal clients who are hooked on butterfly cakes and chocolate brownies!

As promised here is a picture of the famous chocolate and mint cream cakes that were such a success last week ( I photographed them quickly this time!) They have inspired a local English lady to order three big victoria sandwich cakes for her birthday party this weekend, so I am pleased that I can bring a little memory of home to someone!

Things are hotting up!

It seems that at last summer is on it's way back to France. I caught my first 'coup de soleil' (sunburn) today whilst sitting next to the fountain by my market stall gossiping with the girls on a slow early morning start. It sounds idyllic I know, and it would be if France wasn't in the middle of the Euro crisis, but at the moment hands are staying resolutely in pockets and there isn't much cash to be seen on the market. Lucky for me that the French have a sweet tooth and food is always considered a priority purchase, especially when it is pretty and sweet.

The sun shone and my mini Victoria sandwiches were in serious danger of toppling over with their butter icing oozing out in the warmth. This did nothing to put off my die-hard local cake fans who are loyally coming back week after week to bravely try each new invention I put before them. The local French inhabitants fall into two camps regarding English cuisine. Firstly the 'Don't touch it if it's not French - it might kill you' crowd and then the Anglophiles who have either visited England , have family living there or simply wish they could visit, so my cakes fulfill a little English fantasy at the same time as tasting good! If the good weather continues I will try adding iced green tea to my range as there is nothing like it with a slice of Lemon and a fairy cake to replenish the energy levels!

With the spring sunshine romance is sure to follow, and so my girlfriends on the market have decided to cash in by starting a speed dating business. This is nothing new on the rest of the planet but here it's a really big deal! Rural France isn't the ideal place to find a partner at the best of times so the girls set up a session in the local town for 40-55 year olds which was a roaring success. The next session was for a younger age group and I did try to persuade my amorous fishmonger to sign up but no luck in getting rid of him that way! (see previous post)

When the girls put flyers out around town, one found it's way to the local newspaper and hey presto! they had a call from the journalist asking for an interview and giving them loads of free publicity! Initially he wasn't sure if they had targeted his car because he was a journalist or because they guessed he was single, either of which could be a good enough reason, but either way, as the girls said afterwards, the quality of participants was so much better for the second session, they almost wanted to join in themselves , (which might not be a bad idea for one of them, who is already in a pretty turbulent 'menage a trois' style romance) and now they are waiting for wedding invites and the opportunity to buy new dresses for the parties they will be invited to!

The spirit of enterprise is alive and kicking here in the sticks, despite the infamous French red tape, and all power to those who are getting off their backsides to optimise their assets!