I FOUND a GREEN PARADISE in FRANCE….
When my Partner and I reached this farm in Bouteilles-Saint-Sebastien…in Périgord-Vert, a well known province of France, we were very happy as the countryside was stunningly beautiful and with many small valleys and hills covered with cultivated fields or small forests where, time to time wild deer could be spotted…cool breeze was softly moving the branches of prune trees with reddish leaves, while the cherry trees were starting loosing theirs.
Autumn is about to start. There are also many other types of trees such as walnut, hazelnut, chestnuts trees are all growing in this province, either naturally or on cultivations.
Adrien, the son of a family of friends from Occitania (South of France) and his girlfriend Morgan from Belgium are living in this farm built with wide thick walls of local white stones. The material use for the building is making the inner room temperature very pleasant inside. Cool in Summer and warm in Winter. The construction style is obviously dating back many generations ago. The buildings are perched on top of a hillock and overlooking the valleys, like most of the farms of this province.
They had bought all buildings and all the land the lady was owning. A lengthy and tight negotiations had happened. The Lady owner, a spinster of 89 years, was very clear with what she wanted and more so, with what she did not want. They used a property selling system which I think, is typical of this region of France. in French is is called “Nue-Propriété”. Still, I am not very sure if this system is being extensively used here, for selling land or houses. It has been a long time since I heard about it last. Actually, it was lost within my faulty neurons bundle called brain.
Here is how the selling/buying negotiation worked. It consists in allowing the buying party to use some of the agreed sold part, by paying for the whole value of the property right after the amount has been agreed upon. The Lady who was still very alert and with a clear mind, had decided to occupy the main house till she passes away, in a natural way, of course.
Meanwhile, my friends had re-furbished the interior of another important part of that farm where they live now. This is where my Partner and I were allowed to temporarily use one bedroom till we decide to return to Chennai, in South India.
The province of Perigord is located north of Bordeaux and is close to another province called Charente. Perigord is very famous with its numerous castles, some dating back to the middle age. Also, it is very well known for the cèpes mushrooms as well as for the truffles. wildly growing in the numerous forest covering and dotting this land. Of course, the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean helps the growth of all those famous wild ingredients which the multi-stars Chefs use a lot in their cuisines.
The Périgourdins, as the people belonging to the province of Périgord are called, are well known for their gentle manners and British people as well as few Americans and also some other Europeans nationals have decided to settle in those numerous pretty houses we see everywhere in the countryside. The europeans belonging to the various countries of the European Union can settle wherever they wish within the Union. Unfortunately, because of Brexit, a lot of Britishers have returned to their country of birth, though many have decided to remain in this part of France.
Today, my friends and myself decided to go to a nearby village where there was a local fair market organized by its Major. It had attracted many people from the whole Périgord Province. I believe it is a regular affaire, and quite a famous one for all those who are “hunting” for a unique antique piece from a painting to an old oak tree made ancient furniture. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and not cold at all.
The Cafes had opened early in the morning and they had extended the size of each Coffee shop by a veranda type where people could enjoy a coffee or a beer or any juice. What was interesting also was the fact that there were many English speaking people, either looking for an antique piece at an attractive price or the rare object. Obviously, this Antics Market was attracting a lot of “connoisseurs” and negotiations were going on actively.
One could feel the British influence as, when the waitress came to take our order, she definitively sounded British though she was good in speaking French. What was also very interesting was to listen to a lady obviously from UK singing nice pieces of pop music in English or French. She had positioned an old hat on the ground next to where she was singing. Obviously, calling for some Euros. As the time had passed so fast, we did not realized it was so late already. So, we decided to return to our Farm as Lunch had to be prepared!
The recent News from the Internet I got from India are scary considering the great number of people who are being hospitalized in a day, way above 90 000 per day! How a man of my age (soon 80 years old!) can safely live a long life in such a dangerous environment?
Even though I had a cancer surgery about 40 days ago, I survived, and I am now back on my feet and feeling healthy ! But, will I be able to survive an Epidemic killing so many…Therefore, my partner and I have decided to wait till the figures we get from India reduce to a safe level allowing us to go back to our Home in Chennai!
Sixth month have past since we got stuck here and the seventh is passing fast and without much hope for us to return to our home soon.
Despite the great numbers of infected people in the State of Tamil Nadu where we live, its Government has decided to allow people to open their offices and factories and to function normally. Though the number of infected people per day is huge. The affected population numbers in our State are very high and yet, the numbers of dead per millions are far below that of the USA, but higher than Brazil.
I know that once I land in India they will put us into Quarantine, but I believe we will have to take the option to stay confined into our own house since it is 25 km away from Chennai town. However, what about the lady cook coming everyday to prepare our meals, what about our house cleaning man who comes every day to prepare our food?
It means we will have to keep away from them or decide to cook ourselves. I think it will be safer for us two.
Anyway, we are not back home yet as I just learned that India is the second in the World in terms of daily number of people infected by the coronavirus. Since India is the second most populated country in the World after China, with its 1,350 000 000 inhabitants, it looks obvious we will be on top of the list and even surpassing. the USA very soon!!!.
So? when are we going to be able to return to our Home????? The seventh month away from Indian home?
