Advertisement
Welcome to St Just, the only continuous building in my life since I was five years old and hence my only home and source of many, many happy memories. It was here that I wanted to get married (but let it be clear that I am so grateful for that wonderful day in Port Fairy) simply because it symbolises almost everything about me. Cherry orchards, coffee and fresh baked croissants, frisbees lost in hedge, swimming in ‘leech-infested’ lakes and great, amazing, wonderful, fattening food.
It has not all been roses; many poor family dynamics reared their ugly heads almost instantly but I am grateful that my wife has lent me new eyes. Now I can see myself doing stupid things and others doing the same and hopefully that is the first step to change.
A day in the life of Le Bois Hervy...
We wake sometime between 9 and 10. Get up and get some freshly baked croissants and pain au chocolat. For the first four weeks we were here, Ana and I went running every second day. For those who know us well this is a small miracle. For those concerned about the weight Ana was losing
due to spicy food in India, her breakfast consists of pain au chocolat (croissant with chocolate laced through it) with butter, jam and
chocolate spread! Then sit around to digest.
Do some housework in the lead up to the party. We had good times in the garden; the massive task of reorganising the shed (some of the wood had been in there for 17 years); painting the attic; cleaning the house over and over again...
Have most amazing lunch I have ever had (even though we have it every day). Freshly baked baguette with piles of salad, ham, mustard, salamis, pates of many different types, wine, beer... the list goes on. The word ‘mouthgasm’ got used a lot with accompanying moans of delight. Unbelievable.
Then sleep for a couple of hours. Wake up slowly with tea and do a bit more work around the house. Then time for drinks, traditionally kir royale with french onion dip (an extremely addictive substance). Have an amzing dinner, my favourite being French savoury buck wheat pancakes called galletes with hand, egg, cheese and mushrooms or moule frite which is mussels cooked in white wine and garlic soup served with chips. Oh
my yes. Then play card games late into the night. Not a bad way to spend a day.
For those who miss us
First of all, I made Ana laugh so hard the other day that she dribbled! I think this sets a new benchmark after the banging of her head on the Indian bus seat. Secondly, for all those who were missing my clumsiness, check this out.
I was making coffee fo breakfast (drunk out of bowls naturally, despite what misgivings you may have Luke Orr!) and as I pulled the coffee container out of the cupboard, it slipped from my fingers. Cue slow motion view of me desperately trying to catch it again as it spilled out all over the kitchen. Bugger. Got the dustpan and broom and proceeded to clean. Stumbled upon the coffee scooper which I picked up and put on the sideboard above me. Did not realise that the hand I was using also clasped the dustpan half full of coffeegrounds which I casually re-poured all over my good self and into my brother's shoes. Ha ha. Had to clean it all up again but then could not find the lid. Asked about
and someone asked whether it was that large lid like thing on the floor nearby. While I had admittedly not seen it despite its obviousness, it was on the other side of the room from where I had initially dropped the tin.
The lake of four winds
This lake is another thing from the collective history of the Fishers in St Just. We have swum there forever (ie 17 years). It is little more than a large dam with wonderfully brown, deep, cold mud and freezing cold water. On the first warm day on this trip (ironically the day before the party) George Macphee (who some of you may remember from his visit down under) insisted that we go down for a ten minute swim. So Ana and I, plus Luke and Celeste agree to go. His driving leaves something to be desired as we were all gripping to each other grimly as he shot through the country roads, narrowly avoiding windmills and tractors. "Was I the only one who didn't see that?" But get there we did and he was in the water before the rest of us could get out of the car. A great swim ensued
and even Ana got in.
The return trip was a little more eventful. George flew past the turn off and tried to do a three point turn in a narrow French road. Despite much protesting and warning he duly backed his mother’s car into a ditch. Sorry Moni. So, as most of us had swum in our underwear, there were four foreigners in their underwear in the French countryside while a skinny Englishman tried to get his car out of a deep ditch with reggae music blaring through the distorted speakers. Classic.
The second swim with George’s dad and brother, John and Hugh, faired no better. As when we dived in, two belligerent and angry Breton fisherman came up and stole our car keys and towels to express their discontent with the fact that we were scaring the no-existent fish from their lines. They even called the local council heavy in who told us that, if we were crazy enough, to keep swimming there but away from the angry Breton fishermen.
The second wedding!
The days grew understandably less relaxed closer to the party as we had lots to do, especially with the shed. But thankfully an
army of friends arrived from Australia. Skye, her friend Tegan, Ana’s cousin Steve, his girlfriend Alison and Luke and Celeste all arrived in time to enjoy the great food and to pitch in with the party preparations. It was wondeful to have all those Australians there. The day of the party itself was busy but punctuated with much hilarity (picture Dad and George with a hammer and nails)!
The blessing was on a Saturday and, as we later found out, there were lots of weddings on that particular day as the date was the 7th of the 7th of 2007, which is apparently a lucky day. There was glorious sunshine on the Friday, and on the Sunday, but for the whole of Saturday there was a huge grey cloud. But the blessing itself and the party went fabulously well!
For those of you who did not know, we considered getting married here in St Just due to how much it means to me (Chas) and so a blessing was necessary to involve all of those wonderful people who have participated in our lives (but mainly mine) for many many years.
I (Ana) had a bit of a
dilemma as to what to wear for the blessing as I had been expecting beautiful summer weather, which just wasn’t what happened on the day. But in the end, as Lolly, our wonderful family friend who came all the way from India, only had a dress to wear, I decided to ahead and wear the dress that I bought with my mum for the blessing whilst we were in Copenhagen. And despite the cold, wet, windy weather, I managed to cope with relatively no probs. Must have been all the dancing that we did until 4.30 in the morning (Ana is neglecting to mention that she could not feel her feet through either cold or alcohol)!
Most people at the party came from England or France, but having our little band of Aussies there, which was really nice. And Skye, our housemate last year, was our only friend who was there for both our wedding in Port Fairy and our blessing in St Just. Most of the people from England taught with Geoff (Chas' Dad) at Sherborne school, the town where Chas was born. They have all been lifelong friends and cared for both Chas and his family despite
the distance often put between us. They were family to Chas while his real blood relatives were on the other side of the planet. Hence, while St Just was a big distance to come, it was closer than down under and everyone made a huge effort to come.
The blessing was at about 8ish in the evening under the cherry trees in the garden. We had George Macpherson, Lolly and Geoff Cochius do readings, which were done so well. And after that the party started out in the barn/shed, and it was a fantastic night. Excellent food, great wine, good speeches and lots of dancing!
The dance floor got crowded around midnight and then suddenly everyone sadly left. Near the end there were only 9 of us dancing at 4am; one couple was a French couple who live in St Just, and who had to get up at 6am to go and milk the cows! We were most impressed by his effort, no piking for him! Plus there was our good friend from St Just, Helene, and her boyfriend Tony; Luke and Celeste, George, and obviously me and Ana. Despite having had a lot to drink throughout the
night, we must have put away a bottle of bubbles each in those early morning hours.
Oh, and to the delight of our close Croydon friends, Sof and Zac, we even did a nudie run that evening up the crossroad and back. We talked Helene and Tony into it by saying it was an Aussie tradition. Sorry if we defamed any Australians. But all in all a fantastic night!
The day after...
However, it was the next day that perfected the weekend’s festivties. Our french neighbours and Helene’s parents showed up to make it a truly French fete. The sun was shining and everyone showed up for lunch (or breakfast in many or our cases). While we were recovering in the sunshine, Riton and Rene (our French neighours whom I have disovered are more like family) brought out wine and their pallet set. This is a wonderful game, similar to patonk/boule where you try to land metal discs on a wooden board. The afternoon was wiled away with games of pallet, badmington, boule, etc all the while the bubbles continued to flow accompanied with amazing food. By the end of the day, despite several scandals raging from the
night before, I could honestly say it was a perfect day to top off a wonderful weekend.
Coming up next: our travels around Brittany and then on to the tour de france with Luke and Celeste!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.199s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 12; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0655s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sally
non-member comment
Lovely
It looks so lovely - glad you all had a wonderful time. Must have been awesome to see Luke and Celeste - hope thay are well. Ana - you're hair looks fantastic and the dress was an excellent decision! Yay Team Chasanaski!!! Much love to you both, happy second wedding. x x x