Over the winter months our swimming pool’s pump developed an issue.

It stopped working – possibly caused by the freezing temperatures.

I tried changing le condensateur but it still didn’t work.

Then one day the pump gave up the ghost with a little plume of smoke.

I spoke to the landlord about replacing it and he said it was our responsibility. I told him I didn’t think that was fair as we had only been here for two years and the pump was 15 years old.

In the end he agreed to pay half the cost of a new pump – not exactly fair but il est tellement radin.

I got a quote from our local friendly handyman – €1300!!

I sought out des autres devis and found a pisciniste who would do the job for €680. And what’s more he could come the next day.

When he arrived, he got straight on with taking out the old pump and put the new one in. Within 30 mins it was done.

When I told him someone else had quoted me €1300 for the same job he said:

Il gagne bien sa vie

So now we have a new pump and la piscine looks blue again.

We went for dinner at a restaurant in our favourite Provençal town – Lourmarin.

It is not as busy on a mid-March evening as it is in the summer months.

But I tell you what- it is still stunning.

A lunchtime trip to Aix and we stumbled across une braderie. They were a regular site in Lyon but as we now live in the countryside we don’t encounter them as often.

It was nice to see the centre of Aix full of discounted goods.

We even managed to buy some things for someone who has a birthday coming up.

It’s the time of year when the vines need some attention.

It was good to see these workers out in force.

Among many excellent Christmas presents Cath got for me, one was this by one of my favourite French authors.

The only issue is, as I’ve mentioned before, M Mauvignier doesn’t like to use one word when he could use five.

For example in this passage where he uses:

Trous – holes

Anfractuosités– crevices

Crevasses – crevasse

Ravins– ravines

Plaies – cuts

As a result this book is somewhat of un pavé – a massive slab. It’s 744 pages long.

I wonder if that’s why one of the reviewers in France said:

Pourquoi Laurent Mauvignier veut-il punir les lecteurs qui ne lui ont rien fait ? 

Frédéric Beigbeder

Figaro Magazine

It is a epic story of one French family through the last 150 years.

I loved this description of a French village with its carotte rouge lumineuse (a tabac sign) and the echo of la croix verte (the pharmacy sign). Those are of course omni-present in all French towns and villages.

I would highly recommend it – but I might read a shorter book in English next.

Cath spotted something in the Times about 10 fascinating French museums that are nowhere near Paris – and one of them is right on our doorstep.

It is called Camp des Milles and is a former brickworks that became an internment camp that first housed German-speakers, then republicans Spanish and then Jews.

Two thousand people were transported from here to Auschwitz.

It was a real history lesson and you could see pictures and messages on the walls drawn by the detainees.

There was also a reminder of the need to stand up to things that you see that are wrong.

All in all, it was very moving and inspiring.

We even got a reduced price entry for senior citizens – which I was more happier about than Cath.

I saw this car in our local supermarket and its plaque d’immatriculation ( I can never pronounce that word – can’t get anywhere near it) caught my eye.

The ones like 974 mean they are from outre-mer – France’s overseas departments.

(When I studied the crusades at school outre-mer referred to the four Christian states established in the Middle East).

Anyway, this one is from La Reunion – an island between Mauritius and Madagascar.

That’s an 11 hour flight from Venelles.

So my question is – did this car come all the way from La Reunion? Or just the number plate?

Whichever, I always enjoy spotting one.

The other ones to look out for are:

971 – Guadeloupe

972 – Martinique

973 – La Guyane

975 – Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon

976 – Mayotte

While in Nice we went to the Marc Chagall museum.

There were lots of his biblically-inspired paintings on display.

And of course plenty featuring goats.

As Julia Roberts says in the film Notting Hill about Chagall’s painting La Mariée:

Happiness isn’t happiness without a violin-playing goat

As we left we saw this gorgeous cat who visits the museum every day.

I’m sure Chagall would have put him in a painting or two.

To celebrate Cath’s birthday we went for a weekend to Nice and stayed in the swankiest hotel I have ever stayed in – the world famous Negresco.

It is on La Promenade des Anglais – right on the seafront.

It has a grand hall with a chandelier meant for Tsar Nicholas II.

And houses 6,000 works of art – arranged by style on each floor.

Among them this portrait of Louis Armstrong by Raymond Moretti

And this octopus.

The service was second-to-none.

When we returned from dinner, our rooms had been got ready for bed.

And even a bookmark left on our books.

And the negronis weren’t bad either.

I woke up this morning to a sight I haven’t seen in the last 20 months of living en Provence.

De la neige!

It went down to -5c last night but we weren’t expecting snow.

It didn’t hang around for long- not sure we’ll see it again this winter.

Now just waiting for the swimming pool’s ice cover to melt. That might take a while longer.