Day 1604 (Friday) 29th October 2021

I didn’t go to work today but I wouldn’t say I had a day off either. I had a lovely lie in until the Super U delivery arrived at 10am and I was very surprised to see that it was cool and cloudy, which was a shame for the passengers on these two cruise ships.

The light on the sea was quite beautiful.

Marie Claire (Seb’s mother) told me that these cruise ships usually have the capacity to carry 3,000 people but Covid restrictions only allow 400 so the town is making very little money out of them and neither are the shops and restaurants, most of the tourists go off in buses to Eze or Monaco – poor little Villefranche.

I had to do all my paperwork to get paid for October and Huw did my invoices, which was boring and time-consuming. We both did our Duolingo lessons and Huw cleared out our storage cupboard, which was a hell of a job. I checked to see if I have finally been paid by Ipag and was very angry to learn that out of the 60 hours I have done in September and October I have only been paid for 16 – why? And how dare they? I am absolutely knackered and over worked and yet I’m still skint. Well, I’m not skint but I should be pretty well off and I’m not. More time was spent emailing people to find out why I am owed so much money but nobody has answered yet. The clouds cleared and the sun returned and I finally managed to spend an hour sunbathing – so all in all not much of a day off. 

We are meeting Oxana and her family on the beach for an hour soon as they are going back to the UK tomorrow. Then, as it’s Friday we are going to Le Phare. Olivier sent me a message this afternoon saying that him, Audrey and Katy are going to join us there. I am also meeting Suzanne (the English lady who is a relative newcomer to Villefranche) and we are planning a knitting project. She has a small dog and has become a dog-sitter. She was lucky enough to take early retirement and wasn’t looking for a job but people have been approaching her asking to look after their dogs. Last weekend she went to a town above Grasse to dog-sit for a weekend and included in the pay was a fridge full of food and wine – not a bad little number. She has also just started dog-sitting for a rich Australian woman in Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat. I bet your wondering what this has to do with knitting – well winter is approaching and the French dog owners love a dog-jacket and Suzanne has given me a number of knitting patterns for these coats/jackets. Her dog has 100s of these and she is confident that if I knit these jackets she will easily be able to sell them. I love a knitting project in the winter and who knows? We may make some money. She sent me a text earlier saying that she has some ideas so we are going to have a ‘business meeting’ in the bar – this is going to be fun.

As it’s almost Halloween…

Not many pumpkins but a day off: How the French celebrate Halloween

People get dressed up for a zombie walk in Lille, eastern France. Photo: AFP

Visitors from countries such as the UK and - in particular the USA - might be expecting to see the shops full of pumpkins, ghost costumes and mini candy, but in France things are a little more restrained around Halloween.

While the French do acknowledge the event, it’s much less of a big deal that it is in some other countries.

That’s not to say it isn’t marked though – a survey done pre-pandemic by Maison Budget found that some 45 percent of French households were planning to put up Halloween decorations in their homes and 37 percent to decorate the outside of their houses with spiders’ webs or witches on broomsticks.

However 46 percent firmly believed it’s just a commercial festival and 19 percent thought it’s just for kids. 

French supermarkets are generally boasting some ready-made decorations around now, and there’s also a couple of shelves of trick-or-treat ready candy and sweets.

That’s because – unsurprisingly – French children have really taken to the idea of roaming their neighbourhood in creepy costumes demanding sugary snacks.

It’s not as ubiquitous as it is in the USA, but you may find you get a few mini ghouls or witches knocking on your door come October 31st.

And one side of the festival that France has really taken to is the blood and gore.

One American in Paris told The Local: “In the States the costumes are a lot more fun, or sexy, but in France they really like the horror aspect.”

There are also an increasing number of events with some cities hosting ‘zombie walks’ and fancydress events.

Pumpkin lanterns are a less common, however.

Although you will find the vegetable in the shops at around  this time of year, the majority of French people are buying them to cook, not carve.

But in good news, the French do celebrate the season in much more practical way – by giving people the day off.

November 1st, All Saints Day known as Toussaint in France, is a bank holiday.

And in even better news it falls on a Monday this year, meaning we all get a nice long weekend.

We had a very busy evening with Oxana and co and our delightful French friends and my ‘business meeting’ with Suzanne was fun and potentially interesting  but more of that tomorrow.

For now it’s time for more cats