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'What do you mean?' I asked.
'If we love each other then we'll make babies,' said Sophia.
I explained that this was incorrect. It was only when two grown-ups like a mum and a dad
loved each other in a very special way that this amazing feat could take place. She looked
dubious. When I got home I told Sean about our strange conversation.
'Whoa!' said Sean. 'That's my fault. Sophia asked me where babies come from yesterday.
I explained that it happens when two people love each other.'
We agreed he should follow up with some clarification on his rather broad explanation.
Mike, the one who called Saussignac 'Saucy Jack', Bev, his wife, and their two young sons
arrived to visit for a few days' holiday. Mike and Bev were old university friends of mine
and we were looking forward to catching up… we also hoped that the extra help would ac-
celerate the renovations.
While Bev and I kept the children occupied, Mike and Sean set to preparing the ancient
kitchen for the new one we had ordered. This involved some tile removal and a minimal
amount of plumbing, which they vowed would be done in half a day.
Everytime wewalkedpast,MikeandSeanweredeepindiscussion surroundedbymyriad
tools, topics and countless plumbing supplies. A few hours later the car would roar off on
yet another visit to the
quincaillerie
, our local hardware store. Later, the discussion would
continue even more earnestly over a beer or two. Five days and countless bags of plumbing
equipment later, not a tile had been removed and the plumbing job was complete but leak-
ing.
The next time Jean-Marc came round I asked him to fix the work they had done. He took
a look, shook his head, then ran out to his van for a toolbox.
Five minutes later he declared:
'Ça fonctionne!'
Mike and Bev left as my parents and the hoar frost arrived. It transformed our farm into
a scene from
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
. White ice crystals hung delicately
off telephone wires, trees and vineyard trellising, and covered the ground like shimmering
snow.Inthesunitwaslikenecklacesofdiamonds;stunningbutextremelycold;thecoldest
winter in living memory.
Mum and Dad were in a state of shock. Not only were they finding it hard to accept that
we had left our successful city careers for a very risky rundown farm, they were new to
grandchildren and they were frozen. Their modern house maintained a comfortable 20 de-
grees no matter the weather. We were maintaining an uncomfortable 10 degrees with the
heating on full blast... until the heating packed up.
