I’m always surprised by the amount of social activity here in Provence. For a person who cherishes their alone time, it can be overwhelming yet comforting to not feel entirely alone here.
The weeks before Jason arrived were rather busy with dinners, impromptu apéros, bike rides with friends, stressful work deadlines, and multiple visits from Muffin (sometimes she’d escape to my house several times in one day!). Add in a move to Chez Paula, and it was hard to keep up.
And things have not slowed down one iota since Jason’s arrival. Firstly, the airline lost Jay’s bike, which added two days of stress before we finally had it in hand. This was promptly followed by a broken seat post on our first ride out. Jay had to cycle 7 km standing up to the closest bike shop. Our luck turned around, as the shop was open—not always a guarantee around these parts— and the owner was a sweet young man who turned himself inside out to help us solve our conundrum.
With a functional bike, the rest of the week continued with hot and sunny weather and more unexpected social activities. After a long, hot ride, we headed to the pool to find Robert, a wine importer and avid cyclist from the Netherlands. I happened to meet Robert six years ago when I took him for a bike ride around the area. Back again, we went out with him and another new friend Harry, for another ride, which ended up a rather long day out for Robert and Jay. The rest of the week was filled with dinners with friends, pizzas, ice cream, and a couple of fabulously beautiful rides on our own.
I am finally just now getting caught up with work, emails, texts, and writing. I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to continue in the same fashion, so I better get a lot of rest in between all these activities!
