Quelle surprise !

Angus waits at home all day for the joiner and the plumber. In vain. Quelle surprise !.

Madame Bay spends an hour trying to coax the cast iron '' Vesuvius '' in the kitchen back into life . Twenty eight years of experience with the temperemental old thing makes her optimistic . When it was really cold, and the butane froze, she warmed the connection between the gas bottle and the supply pipe with a hair dryer to make it work. This time no luck. Vesuvius , all two tons of it , remains dormant .

An article in the weekend Financial Times House and Gardens section about living in this part of France . The headline - ' ideal for those looking for a stress-free environment '. Angus chuckles , it is after all April 1st . Clearly, the author has never had anything to do with the local tradesfolk.

Down to the cafe at first light. The waitress taking a day off. No illicit half croissant for Wilf. Some routines can't be broken . We go to the bakers and buy one . Early morning churchgoers can see a strange foreigner sitting on bench in the market place . He's feeding a croissant to what appears to be a small, shaggy, polar bear . The poor mans also talking away happily to the dog , as if it can understand . The passers by smile at them but carefully hurry past just that little bit more quickly . Mad or English ?

A sunny Sunday morning in France Profonde with an old family fellow.