Sunday 20 July 2014
My first night in Montpezat-sous-Bauzon was not a good one. Despite my exhaustion, and the soothing sounds of crickets and the river in the valley below, I could not sleep. Loki was also anxious and my boyfriend was not sleeping either. After an hour or two of tossing and turning we all got up and my boyfriend lit a fire in the hearth. Watching the flames made us drowsy, and helped the other two fall asleep, but dreamland still eluded me when we returned to bed an hour later. I got up one more time to read a little before finally falling asleep around 3 o’clock in the morning.
When I woke up the next morning it was raining. The forecasts had promised stormy weather, so it should not have come as a surprise, but it was still disappointing. I stayed in bed for a while but Loki kept trying to wake me up and in the end I obliged. While the storm raged outside we had our breakfast in front the enormous fireplace. I could stand in there without any problem and it contained shelves for cooking equipment and a chain for hanging a pot above the fire. It was a fireplace far removed from small decorative fireplaces and evoked times long past with homemade stew boiling over the hearth.
After breakfast I tried to write down some notes for my blog but it was not long before I gave up and returned to bed.
When I next woke up it was to the loudest thunderclap I had ever heard. I felt the house shake. Outside the window white kernels of hail were battering the yard. It was 14 o’clock in the afternoon. As I descended my boyfriend, who was still sitting by the fireplace, informed me that the power was out. It failed with each thunder clap and he had given up turning it on again.
After eating some pasta for lunch we decided that we had to take the dog out, no matter how bad the weather was. So we got ready while the wind wreaked havoc with the garden furniture. But for once we were in luck. Just as we were ready to leave it stopped raining and the storm blew itself out. As the sun began claiming the sky again we followed a path leading from our garden down the mountain, towards the sound of the river in the valley below. 15 minutes later we arrived at a little bridge crossing the river, Le Fontaulière. Loki immediately wanted to enter the water and we had to stop him jumping in, knowing that the current would quickly take him with it. Instead we found a spot where some larger rocks created a sheltered spot of water and threw some sticks for him to catch. Two times the current did catch hold of our beloved dog but he managed to fight his way back to shore.
When we returned to the house, exhausted after climbing the mountain my boyfriend barbecued us dinner while I sat on the terrace typing away on my laptop. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny evening and we enjoyed sitting on the terrace until the night time chill drove us in to the warmth of the fireplace. All in all, not a bad day despite the dark and stormy start.
Tea, Books & Thoughts 
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