A Year in Provence- January

Finally my copy of "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle has arrived from England by royal mail. Talking of which, I've read some time ago in a magazine that the royal mail letters can be delivered either first or second class.

Anyway, let me go back to the thing on hand. I've managed to read the first chapter of the book, but before I turn to that, I would like to point out two pieces of information worth knowing in connection with "A Year in Provence":

1. The book is not as much a travel journal with detailed descriptions of the culutre the writer encounters as it is a light-hearted autobiography and a travel/restaurant study of the South of France.

2. It should be taken into account that the book was published in 1989 and thus written in 1987 or 1988.

Now, let me turn to the Mayle's motives for heading to France, which can be subsumed like this:

They had been there often as tourists. They had cherished the dream of someday living all year under the Provencal sun. And suddenly it happened. They bought a two-centuries-old stone farmhouse situated between the hill villages of Ménerbes and Bonnieux:

On the pictures beneath-the houseWhat also needs to be added is that the house was bought on a whim, that the Mayle's are comparatively well-off and that they wanted to flee from the hectic life and dreary weather of the UK.

Their experiences are narrated according to month. In January, the Mayle's (husband,wife and dogs) had three main worries- firstly,the mystical Mistral, that almost tore their whole house apart. If you wish to read more about the Mistral and the weather in France in general, look at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/country_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT003570

Secondly, the French bureaucracy, which make a mountain out of a molehill even if you just buy a car and thirdly the unusually cold weather that according to Mayle has a direct bearing on the behaviour of the French. (I've found an article that says that weather doesn't influence our mood-http://www.medicineonline.com/news/10/2286/Warm-Sunny-Weather-Brightens-Mood.html

Everything else they experienced was pure joy, especially for their stomach. French food is just divine.

They also met colourful village personalities, which Mayle depicts in his own hilarious style. There is Antoine, who eats foxes; Menicucci, the plumber+lecturer and Bagnol, who is a floor-cleaner experienced in five-star restaurants.

It's really a book you yearn to read when you lean back in your most comfortable chair.