market day

Wednesday is market day in Hendaye. As the weather becomes more clement and the days longer the market is starting to flesh out with the stalls that I last saw here last summer. A large portion of the traders here are producers and I now know which ones to go to for cheese, pate, sheeps' and cows' milk, yoghurt and Breuille, the skimmed whey from cheese making. The first locally grown strawberries (from a tunnel) are on sale.

Several of the traders already know my preferences and suggest supplements or alternatives. One of them a farm just inland won a silver medal for its ham at the Paris Agricultural/food show in February. Another remarked that I was wearing a linen jacket: ' Today, yes but I haven't put my winter coats in the cupboard yet' was my reply.

Yesterday I lost a cheque made out to me and was going frantic with worry. This morning the owner of the local Presse called me to tell me I had dropped something in her shop and call by and collect it any time. I did (with huge relief) and then stopped by my bank to open a business account. I am now 75% of the way to becoming a registered 'auto-entrepreneur' - a micro-business. I've spent three weeks putting together dossiers (fichiers in French) and am very pleased to see them go through with only small hiccups.

In the meantime my seeds are sprouting (apart from the spinach which has keeled over in the heat this afternoon). My wallflowers, which stayed in flower all winter, are now up to neck height: I've never seen wallflowers grow so tall.  My geranium, inherited from the last owner of my flat, which I put under severe stress last year, has started to flower. Honeysuckle and sweet peas are finding the strings designed to encourage their growth up towards the guttering and the tiles.  Oh and a neighbour has a bag full of locally caught mackerel for me to collect this evening.

The tragic reality of Brexit lingers but I am learning to focus on the positive things in life. The gullibility of the UK electorate (expressed in May 2105 as well as June 2016) and the intransigence of both sides of the House of Commons (well there's only one side now - the only real opposition is the SNP) would otherwise have destroyed me. It almost did. It's been a long struggle since I am so emotionally, politically, psychologically and financially connected with the EU. Somehow I have this idea (perhaps naive) that whatever shit hits the disunited kingdom financially and diplomatically will trash the Tory party and the 'two party' state beyond repair.