Neighbours

As we've been unable to get out and about as we might have wished over the past ten days or so because of the car being a problem,the facts of life of living in a small rural hamlet are brought home to you in a very tangible way.  We've relied on two lots of friends to get us to the shops etc. and without them we'd have been pretty stuck.  There is a grocery van that visits Diozidoux every couple of weeks but that wouldn't have helped us much.  So neighbours, and maintaining good relations with them, become very important. 

This makes me think about life here before the car.  You would fall out with your neighbours at your own peril then. Still no shops on the doorstep - though Flayat about 5 km away did have some.  One of the results of this would have been a high degree of self-sufficiency, and we really just play at that now.  We grow a few bits of fruit and veg but nowhere near enough to live on.  I make jam and bake a bit, but again, it would have been an absolute necessity in the past.  All the houses have cellars, including ours, and they would have been well stocked with bottled provisions for the winter months. You can still see the remnants of that at the quincaillerie (ironmongers) where there are shelves of preserving gear for the traditional housewife. Special offers on preserving jars now - get yours in before they all go!