Do you remember when we had our pool fixed and M Martinez said the pine trees above the pool were to blame shedding lots of aiguilles which had clogged up the pump.

Well it shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Our neighbour is having them chopped down.

A team of arborists have been working for the past three days to cut down two of the biggest trees.

I don’t like seeing trees being cut down – I have seen many birds in those pines – and the work has been very noisy.

On the plus side – there will be fewer pine needles in the swimming pool to clog up the pump.

And there will be more sun in the garden – but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

We took a little drive to a very picturesque village called Vauvenargues.

It had lovely narrow streets, some inviting-looking restaurants and an impressive chateau.

Now this chateau is owned by a famous family – Pablo Picasso’s.

He bought it in 1958 and lived there until 1962.

After Picasso’s death he was buried there and the chateau remains as he left it.

But I’ve got bad news for anyone who wants to visit it.

I like the le musée est à Paris line. Do they mean Go to Paris if you want to see Picasso’s work?

A walk around Venelles-le-Haut revealed some of the history of our new address.

Like Julius Caesar’s view of Gaul, Venelles is made up of three parts.

The old village – Venelles-le-Haut, Les Logis – the newer village-y centre and the business and shopping area Les Logissons.

In Venelles-le-Haut there is an old windmill.

There are some nice views too.

And some famous former residents.

Fernand Charpin was a French actor who never forgot his parents roots in Venelles. They lived in a house on the street that is now named after him.

Today there was a vide grenier – a car boot sale – at the Judo Club in Venelles.

It was very busy.

I learnt what Hungry Hippos is in French.

And there were some nice reminders of home.

And some not so nice reminders.

This week it rained in Venelles and that rain contained Saharan sands so left all the cars including ours covered in red dust.

One of the beneficiaries is the local car wash. There were some long queues. At the one in Venelles.

Hanna’s partner runs a garage in Marseille. He absolutely loves the Saharan rain.

It’s always nice to buy local products so how about this at our local Intermarché – des aubergines très locaux – from Coutheron – a tiny village next to Venelles.

We had to get some.

Then we saw this:

So we got a bottle of that too!

C’était l’heure d’aller au veto pour voir comment va Ula.

Le veto a pris du sang et Ula a saigné beaucoup alors ils ont mis un pancement.

Here’s a date for the diary – next Monday is the Fête de la Saint-Jean.

Not sure what it is actually but it is worth going to see at 5 o’clock next week.

Cath’s niece Hanna came round for dinner on Saturday and her partner Olivier is a dab hand at all things technical so I asked his advice about how to use the pool cleaner.

He gave me a tutorial and then proceeded to clean the pool. He showed me how to clean the filter and by the end, the pool was looking good.

So good in fact that Alma wanted to go in and join the inflatable phoque we had bought for her.

When we got up on Sunday some of the dirt had resettled so I put into practice what I had been taught and rehoovered the pool.

Afterwards it looked so inviting that I went in for my first swim.

The pool is only about six metres long so I just did four lengths to test it out.

I think if we stay on top of the cleaning it will be a very welcome way to stay cool in the summer.