Table settings.

Strange weather. Boiling hot one minute and cold and bucketing down with rain the next. It doesn't look as if the 2010 vintage is going to be one of the all time greats - with the water dripping off them the poor vines look decidedly weather beaten and forlorn.

What to do on a wet Sunday afternoon in deepest France profonde ? Last week we went to the museum of secateurs . This was quite honestly a bit of a disappointment. As we traipsed past display case after display case of pruning implements it became apparent that there is only so much that can be written about secateurs without lapsing into repetition or mind numbing tedium. To make matters worse there are only so many pairs of rose cutters that you can look at before they all look the same - and boy do they all soon start to look the same. Perhaps my memory of the visit would have been more positive had it not been for the guide who had devoted his life to the study of secateurs and felt the need to explain at length the benefits of welded as opposed to cast handles. Trapped in a room full of secateurs and no means of escape.

This week 'the font' suggested ( well to be more precise insisted ) that we went to the museum of table settings. My how the heart raced with anticipation at the prospect of spending the afternoon looking at table settings! However,having arrived with very low expectations I was pleasantly surprised. Did you know that in the middle ages plates were oblong rather than round? To prove the point the museum had set out a medieval table with oblong plates while above it (if additional proof was needed) was a medieval painting showing a table set with oblong plates. How's that for fact of the week?

There was even more table setting arcana to come.It seems that until relatively recently the French used to lay their tables with the cutlery turned upside down. Look closely at the bottom photo and you'll see that not only do the fork and spoon face you but they are inverted. This was apparently to keep the flies off - an early healthy home hint. In parts of France this style of laying the table lasted until well into the 20th century.

Wilf found the most interesting part of the visit to be the cafe down by the river. He hoped for a croissant but got a bowl of water. You can't win them all.