I’ll miss the big event!

On Wednesday morning I catch a plane to the US. I’ll be attending a conference in Connecticut over next weekend and then flying on to meet up with Penny in Paris. We plan to spend a month together in France, visiting friends in Paris for a couple of days, then spending a week in a small village near Avignon, enjoying a home exchange, a week walking from Orléans to Gien with Sentiers de France, a week in another home exchange at La Grande Motte, near Montpelier, and another couple of days in Paris. I’m taking the computer, and it’s possible I’ll find the time and inclination to blog. Then again, maybe not.

Meanwhile, exciting things will be happening on the home front:

Yes, the unbearably long wait is almost over, and I’m going to be somewhere in rural France on the day of the grand opening. I hope some of my readers will manage to turn up and send me a photo or two …

I did print out all my entries about the saga a couple of weeks back and leave them under the shop door.  A few days later, I was nearly bumped into by Rod while out with the dog. He came bursting out of the side door, bright orange ear muffs on his head and an arm full of timber offcuts. ‘Jonathan?’ he said. I was impressed, because although we’ve chatted regularly I didn’t think we’d exchanged names. He recognised me from my gravatar (over on the right). He invited me in for a sneak preview. I didn’t have a camera with me, but I can tell you it’s not a bland space. My first impression was of a Japanese feel – one wall features a large manga-type image with graffiti tags, there’s a lot of wood, and an eclectic array of chairs, stools and benches, some of them upholstered in gorgeous fabric from Tokyo or thereabouts. There’s a chandelier and a miscellany of elegant lamps. It’s not a huge space, but somehow it manages to have a number of discrete parts to it – a counter, a wooden benchtop, tables. It’s a folie, a labour of love, an adventure. At the end of the month it becomes a café.

Right! Back to the cleaning.