Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Waxy Breack .



The night of the annual village meeting . A guest speaker from Bordeaux. A talk about the effects of the recent drought on garlic production . Due to start at seven . We wait until seven fifteen and walk across the green with Wilf. A full house. Madame Bay in a broad brimmed hat. The old farmer in checked shirt and track suit bottoms . Hugo, the malevolent Maltese, is there with his owners . Is it my imagination or do they ignore us ?

Seven thirty .The mayor stands up. '' It is with particular warmth that we welcome Monsieur ... " . He delves into his inside pocket for the slip of paper with the speakers name on it . He's unable to find it. Flumoxed , he turns , and points to the man sitting next to him on the platform . The man is dressed in black polo neck, black jacket, black trousers and brown shoes . After a suitable pause the mayor continues : '' Our speaker tonight is an acknowledged expert on garlic, its uses, and its recurrent maladies ". With that the mayor sits down .

' Ladies and Gentlemen. Dear friends . Welcome to the miraculous world of garlic ! '. Not many talks start like that . The facts spill out . 37% of French garlic is produced within 20 kilometres from here. Young people are apparently less keen on garlic than they used to be ( he uses the term a la snober ). Garlic is the best cure for gout. After this Angus starts to doze. Twenty minutes later he wakes up . The man in black still in full flow. There is a garlic malady with the unlikely name of Waxy Breack . Then a quick run through bacteria transmission, calcium deficiency and drought derived garlic diseases and we're finished . Half an hour of questions.

On the way out ' the font ' shakes the speakers hand. '' Absolutely fascinating . We wouldn't have missed it for the world ". Angus is less sure about the ' we ' part of this statement. Wilf sprints home across the village green . Roast chicken for dinner .




18 comments:

  1. Don't tell us the Garlic Festival for 2012 is endangered!

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  2. Hopefully you escaped from a degustation of garlic on bread and olive oil....
    Life in France profonde is sometimes very rough....
    Belle journée à vous trois. Bisous à mon tendre Wilfee.

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  3. Thanks, Angus, for the laughter to make up for yesterday's tears! Love to Wilf.

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  4. Absolutely fantastic life in rural france - like a comedy.
    Swift Wilf on the photo makes me happy - my cat came to the fridge this morning and dogs got their bones this way - everyone is happy here too.
    Love from all of us Susanne, Daisy, Foxiie and Kiri

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  5. I don't suppose vampires came up in the discussion of uses for garlic. That might have added a certain je ne sais quoi to the talk.

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  6. Small town life in France is very entertaining. Thanks for sharing.

    Cindy

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  7. Roast Chicken....(With Garlic)....yes??? lol...and sometimes Angus finds that Wilf has realized the bliss of snoozing...Nothing much missed, and waking just in time for a meal!:-) a (hug) for Wilf.

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  8. Oh yes, Angus. Like Puppyfur said, thank you for the laughter. Yesterdays post was heart-wrenching. It is physically sickening to think what might have happened to Wilf had he not escaped. Although it is very early morning here, I think i'll do something silly with garlic to keep the laughter flowing.

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  9. Laughed out loud. A special interest group for devotees of garlic....

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  10. in your town meeting recounts i always picture inspector clouseau smirking in the corner. the garlic speaker was dressed more for crime!
    he needs some lessons from madame bay on how to stand out in the crowd.
    i laughed all through it and now know that the font is truly a diplomat to the core! doesn't hurt that she probably already knows all the delicious and best ways to use garlic anyway!
    and are those pics of our boy not the greatest of all! laughing he is!
    big bear hugs from your friend,
    tammy j

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  11. Hmmm. Roast Chicken.
    With garlic?

    You've reminded me.
    I want a broad-brimmed hat.

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  12. Roasted chicken for dinner, the brown shoes would have been forgiven.

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  13. Who knew life in your little corner of the globe could bring such informative discussion!!! Fascinating stuff!! Wilf looking dapper as always! Keep on going Wilf!

    With love from your Canadian pals,
    Dianna along with Tor, Willow and Tucker

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  14. My thought, too - roast chicken with garlic; sounds like Wilf had his priorities in line :).

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  15. I think the roast chicken with garlic was the best part of the evening!

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  16. I'm thinking your evening spent listening about waxy breack was about the same as mine at the town council meeting where they discussed the mind numbing topics of dim street lights and which color to paint fire hydrants.

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  17. I'm wondering if you ever found out his name? I might have accidentally giggled at that point...

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