Bonjour!
I hope that you and yours are well.
Back home in my little corner of northern France after a week in the beautiful snowy mountains of Isère (story coming up in a future issue of The Good Life France Magazine), I had a strange encounter. I drove to the boulangerie to pick up a loaf as Bread Man is on holiday. The road was icy and a bit slippery, so I was concentrating hard. Suddenly an eagle-like buzzard flew right in front of the car really slowly. I could see into its eyes and stopped the car quickly as I thought I might hit it. The bird carried on drifting past as if it hadn’t a care in the world (perhaps it doesn’t!).
Animals crossing the road is a way of life where I live. The only time we experience gridlock here is when cows are walking from one field to another on the other side of the road. I once stopped the traffic on a busy main road through a forest, so that two young wild boar could cross. I often stop for hares and pheasants – which are remarkably dim-witted creatures who stare in surprise that they are not the only ones there. Three villages along, at around 4pm each day, a gaggle of geese cross the road via a zebra (pedestrian) crossing to go from one open pen to another, unchaperoned – seriously! But this is the first time I’ve had to stop for an eagle, and I swear it winked at me as it landed on a fence post at the side of my window.
At aperitifs with the neighbours I told them about my encounter. “Mark my words” said Jean-Claude, “that’s a sign that good luck is coming your way.” He also says that it’s lucky if spiders run in front of you, as well as black cats, white rabbits and miniature ponies. He’s no Nostradamus it has to be said, almost everything he predicts is the opposite to what happens. Later in the week I had a cooking lesson with another neighbour and for once, my cheese soufflé rose like a top chef’s not a flop chef’s! Perhaps Jean-Claude was right!
Wishing you a bon week-end wherever you are,
Bisous from rural northern France,
Janine
Editor
Top Photo: Menton, where I’ll be headed next for the fabulous Lemon Festival, followed by the Gulf of Saint-Tropez – come with me via Instagram!
Janine
Editor
Read the whole newsletter and see this week’s top features and recipe picks
Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream, My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. Her new book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.
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