Le canicule!

Our windscreen cracked top to bottom. It didn’t happen while we were driving, so no random stones are to blame. It just cracked, minding its own business, sitting in the driveway. There is one reason, le canicule, the heatwave. 

For almost a month the temperatures have been hovering in the high 30s, sometimes peaking over 40. There is something called a heat dome over Europe, and where we are in France is smack in the middle. Welcome to the new normal! 

Now, as Australians, we are used to the intense heat of summer. Roads and footpaths too hot for dogs, shoes sticking in the asphalt, waves of heat melting your soul. Either the dry heat of the inland or the humidity of the coast, we knew how to cope. 

Here the heat builds throughout the day, reaching a peak at around 5pm, slowly tapering off (if we are lucky) overnight. It takes some getting used to.  

Our village has houses dating back over 400 years, all built from the same limestone quarried nearby for the building of the Pont du Gard by the Romans almost 2000 years ago. They were designed with thick walls, solid shutters, small windows, stone floors, and terraces with pergolas covered in vines or shading to protect the walls and windows. Managing the house through strategic opening and closing of windows and shutters to ward off the worst of the sun, closed during the day, opened at night, and a summer lifestyle designed around lazy afternoons, seems to be the way to survive here. It’s a ritual and it works. Well, supplemented by strong fans! 

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Most older homes don’t have air-conditioning. Villages are tightly packed and the air-conditioning units are neither subtle nor compatible with the charm of natural stone. Aside from the environmental impact, we both prefer fresh air to conditioned, it just feels so much nicer. So we have adopted the French way of living in this heat, here’s a snapshot of how we are coping with our (hot) summer life... 

The mornings are for working, visiting markets, going for walks, and doing household chores. Before 7am the house is opened up to allow the fresh, cool air in, flushing out the warmer air gathered overnight. This is when we work in the atelier, making and organising, photographing and uploading. If there is a market to see, we head off early to miss the heat which starts to build by about 11am. The dogs get walked early, and we spend this time looking after the house, garden and pool (yes, we have a beautiful pool!).

After a light lunch we stay indoors, shutters closed, fans blasting, and catch up on reading, French homework, or binging a series on the television...we watched several seasons of Shetland, a British crime drama, figuring a series set somewhere cold would cool us down. It worked! 

By about 6pm the dogs are getting restless for dinner, amazing how they can tell the time! They are fed by 6.30pm, which is when we feel we deserve a cooling glass of something along the lines of a (very) chilled rosé, and perhaps a dip in the pool.  Dinner is usually something with salad, and hopefully the temperature allows us to sit on the terrace as the evening starts to cool down. It doesn’t get dark until after 10pm now - the evenings are long. Is it wrong to go to bed when it is still light outside? 

This is the time of year when all of the events kick off – soirees at vineyards, concerts, fêtes, night markets, festivals, excursions, and invitations to (or hosting of) apero or dinner. There are also must-see markets requiring a road trip. Juggling this in the heat is a challenge, it has required shady hats, sunscreen, bug spray, hand-held fans, and lots of linen...seriously the best fabric to wear in this weather. 

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And visitors arrive. We have a few lined up, which is exciting, and love showing off our part of the world. We live close to the Pont du Gard, which is a favourite walk (about 3.5km from our house) when it’s not too hot...so early mornings are perfect, and there is a pebble beach the dogs love. We take friends to our favourite market for seasonal produce, our favourite brocantes, and our favourite bars, cafés, and bistros. 

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And then there is the lavender. Fields and fields of lavender. We made a special trip to the Luberon to see the vibrant purple fields before being harvested, which is earlier this year due to the heat. And it was hot! But so worth it. We took a chance at THE most picturesque location, the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque, and thankfully arrived early before the crowds. Stunning, beautiful, a must see. And the smell was divine. We will definitely be sharing this with visitors!

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So the days are slow, filled with the chirping of cicadas, managing around the cycle of events and the weather. Our windscreen has been replaced, the pool is crystal clear, and we had a few drops of rain today. We think we will be okay. 

Bisous from Trixie, Louis, Tracey and Carolyn !