Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Somehow the mind never really sleeps, or at least it seems to be able to set its own alarms about those things in life that are important. In any event and despite the tomb like darkness of the stone farmhouse, I started up fully awake at 5 am and hit the ground running. I knew I had an afternoon train to Paris and so much had yet to be done. Outside the dawn arrived in its usual splendour, all yellow and glowing like a golden, buttered pancake ready for the eating. There are certainly days here when I like to revel in it, soak myself in the timelessness of old stones and life remerging from a deep winter. And then there are days with freight train like agendas that just seem to drive forward laser like…damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.
Today was like that. Clean up the house, do the dishes, put everything away, finish the last of the laundry, hang it to dry, put up the dustcovers on everything. Lock doors, batten down hatches, plant the new roses and strawberries, find a place for the new camellia and forsythia, finish hanging the new shutters, lock the materials away, load up the wine for air freighting, take a long, hot, luxurious shower out side. Linger over that! Ok, good! Finally done and ready to go! Off to deliver the wine to the airport.
Arriving at the airport I reach for my wallet. Its not there! Damn, I think through all my actions of the past 12 hours. It’s in my jeans hanging on the back of the chair at the farm. OH MY GOD! I have 2 hours to go get my wallet, get the wine shipped at the airport and make it to the train in downtown Montpellier! And there are 75 km to cover along the way. Well, for those of you that know me you know the outcome, I of course made it with some minutes to spare…you might even say that I relaxed a little at the train station.
A comfortable ride to Paris, a harrowing trip through several train/metro/RER stops and I arrived at Herve de Montlaur’s for dinner, a little haggard and worn but hungry and ready for a glass of wine.
We spoke of the Chateau and the plans we have been working on. Had a wonderful beef stew dinner cooked by Romaine (Herve’s wife) and I went to sleep. At 6:00 am I was up and ready to go…reversing my route into Paris, as the sun came up behind the Eiffel Tower, and then on to Charles de Gaulle for the flight home. What a trip! So much ground covered, so much wine consumed, so many wonderful moments and of course a great deal of opportunity for thought, for letting the mind wander as it will. This I think is the great advantage of travel, the unadorned, unfettered time to think freely on whatever subject comes to mind. No set chores to do, no routine to become mired in (its Thursday Honey, we always have dinner at the club on Thursday!) just unalloyed beautifully free time!
Home at last! There’s no place like home!
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