More neige

The other night, while I was fast asleep, a blanket of snow fell on Chateau Coldspot. A blanket so thick and so deep, that when I looked out of the window I couldn’t see the piles of leaves that I had intended to spend the day burning. (Yes, we are I am still burning leaves at Coldspot, although it is a very long time since the autumn). I burnt a small pile yesterday. Several small piles and several more large ones are still piled up about the place. They don’t move, I have discovered, unless I move them ~ though I live in hope. What’s worse is that they keep getting rained on, which makes burning them much harder. Now they have been iglooed. The igloo theme, in fact, was evident throughout the grounds. La thème du jour, you might say, if you lived in France (as we do). Plant pots, tables, bushes and cars all hidden under their own little white houses. If a tribe of Eskimos had emerged from one of the mounds it would not have been much of a surprise.
And of course, as usual, no school. Arrgh!
Fortunately it wasn’t entirely unexpected. The departmental website had made the declaration on the previous evening, in large letters, for anyone who could be bothered to look. Top of that list were the Squarking Princesses who had no intention of getting up and making their way to the bus stop if they could stay in bed. And actually, I am with them on that one. How much more civilised to sit under the duvet and sip tea with le Comte whilst listening to the latest news on the World Service, than struggle to defrost El Peugeot with a grumpy Princess 1 in that miserable dark before dawn.
Unfortunately, one of Princess 1’s friends (Cinderella) had chosen that particular day to run away from home. Or rather homes, as her mother and her father are equally disagreeable and fight to see who can be the most contrary and inconsistent. Every now and again she comes here, since Coldspot is sufficiently far away from la Grande Ville to deter all but the most determined parents from coming to fetch her back. And this pair are not particularly determined (that would imply considerably more character than either of them appear to possess). Rather than take concrete action they simply take it in turns to phone her up on her mobile, which eventually runs out of battery, much to everyone’s relief.
However, this time she was unable to get home again the following evening (no buses, no trains) and was obliged to spend an extra night and eat several English meals – roast chicken, poached eggs and fruit cake – all of which were apparently better than the French ones she gets chez les parents (ha!).
While Cinderella was experiencing life à l’anglaise, I was helping le Comte in the gite. Not before I had been sledging, however – albeit in a small way. I rushed out first thing to grab la luge before Princess 2 was up and forged several moderately spectacular sledge runs down the large pile of earth that is the converse of the swimming pool.
It was good to be working in le gite. There has not been a lot I can do during the structural stages, but now it is time to paint, and although Princess 2 is banned, I am permitted – even encouraged – to participate. I started on the railings round the mezzanine. I do not paint quickly, so they are not yet finished, but they will be, and it makes a change from making uplifting cups of tea by way of contribution. I’ll post a picture when I’m done!