Climate Change

The Vienne River runs through Chinon. It’s about as wide and deep as the Exploits. The town has grown on both sides of the river and is connected by 3 bridges. There is a well-used park along the river bank. Monica and I are adapting to the area by finding an assortment of food tastes and sitting in the park for lunch. Today we get a wedge of brie and smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes and strawberries and the best baguette ever. People pass us and cheerfully greet, “Bon Appetit!”

It’s a great place to kick back. We soak up the rays and a little French culture. Monica is re-reading ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, a Dickens’s classic about London and Paris during times of the French Revolution. I’m reading a 17th Century history on the times of the divine monarch, Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil. Maybe knowledge of the French way of life will enter us through osmosis.

The weather here in central France is sunny and warm. I asked the hotel concierge about the climate. “Neige t’il ici en hiver?” I stammer triumphantly.

“We had a hard winter here last year,” he answers in perfect English. “One day it snowed!”

Well, I thought to myself, he’s never been on the Gaff Topsails in February.

It’s the end of September, time for harvest and making jams. A lady enters the lobby with a basket of fresh fruit. She offers pears, figs, quince fruit and kiwi, all locally grown. There are oranges in the hotel garden, palm trees in the park and grapes in the vineyards. C’est bon!