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......and now the Good News.


cajal
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A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy's Day

'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's,

Lucy's, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks;

         The sun is spent, and now his flasks

         Send forth light squibs, no constant rays;

                The world's whole sap is sunk;

The general balm th' hydroptic earth hath drunk,

Whither, as to the bed's feet, life is shrunk,

Dead and interr'd; yet all these seem to laugh,

Compar'd with me, who am their epitaph.

Study me then, you who shall lovers be

At the next world, that is, at the next spring;

         For I am every dead thing,

         In whom Love wrought new alchemy.

                For his art did express

A quintessence even from nothingness,

From dull privations, and lean emptiness;

He ruin'd me, and I am re-begot

Of absence, darkness, death: things which are not.

All others, from all things, draw all that's good,

Life, soul, form, spirit, whence they being have;

         I, by Love's limbec, am the grave

         Of all that's nothing. Oft a flood

                Have we two wept, and so

Drown'd the whole world, us two; oft did we grow

To be two chaoses, when we did show

Care to aught else; and often absences

Withdrew our souls, and made us carcasses.

But I am by her death (which word wrongs her)

Of the first nothing the elixir grown;

         Were I a man, that I were one

         I needs must know; I should prefer,

                If I were any beast,

Some ends, some means; yea plants, yea stones detest,

And love; all, all some properties invest;

If I an ordinary nothing were,

As shadow, a light and body must be here.

But I am none; nor will my sun renew.

You lovers, for whose sake the lesser sun

         At this time to the Goat is run

         To fetch new lust, and give it you,

                Enjoy your summer all;

Since she enjoys her long night's festival,

Let me prepare towards her, and let me call

This hour her vigil, and her eve, since this

Both the year's, and the day's deep midnight is.

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BACK into the garden?  Have never been able to leave it as we have a mature murrier whose shed leaves at this time of year is worth dozens of barrows.

Fortunately, we don't have to bag up the leaves and take them to the décheterie.  There is a large, steep bank at the bottom of the garden where we have the owner's permission to dump our garden waste.  Still need to be careful as OH is afraid that in a really hot summer the dumped stuff and undergrowth could burst into flames.  So we try to spread the stuff all along the considerable length of bank.

The gardening, although we have help, is getting to be very time-consuming and we are thinking of a move into a small town near us where we have a bit of outdoor space but no gardens with grass and trees[:)]

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At the beginning, we were still young, physically strong. Now not so much[:(]

I have a town in mind, where during normal pre-covid times, I used to go every week to meet up with Nordic walking friends.  My hairdresser is there, my kiné is there as is my favourite épicerie.

I do think we should make the move while we are still of sound mind and body!  Who knows what else la vieillesse might do to us?  Don't forget, de Gaule said it is un naufrage[:-))]

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We are also thinking of a similar move from here in Normandy to a bit further south, before we get too much older.  A smaller place without 2 acres of garden.  Would be interested in suggestions of little towns others have investigated. We would probably stay south west or central area.

We love the space around us as we are away from noisy neighbours/dogs, etc. but think the size of plot will get the better of us in a couple of years.

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Laurier, what do you mean by a "little town"?  Plus what sort of facilities besides say a resto, épicerie, boulangerie, the usual?  Do you need to have a train station?  To be a reasonable distance from an air port?

If you gave us some idea of what you have in mind, say, number of inhabitants, population density and the like, I may well have a few ideas.

For me a small town is one with around 2000 inhabitants, has a nice central place for meeting friends.  You know, tree-lined, with a café or two, a pretty church to admire, some nice buildings to provide ambiance, yes, French postcard if you like, but NOT so lovely as to attract hordes of tourists[:D]

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I do think we should make the move while we are still of sound mind and body! Who knows what else la vieillesse might do to us? Don't forget, de Gaule said it is un naufrag

Mint, don't hesitate. We started on this road 4 years ago and have not regretted it. We do miss the big garden, fruits own animals etc, but not the work that goes with it. Our flat in the residence is set in 2 hectares of grounds, trees and flowers by the side of the Loire, so we still have a garden, but none of the work.

It took us two years to sell our house, so even if you make the decision today, who knows when you can actally move. The longer you put it off the greater the risk you will be forced to move if it becomes too much.
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Gosh, you both have really whetted my appetite now. My French prof had said some time ago that you had to move when you were physically able. It is difficult to make the decision when you can cope NOW. Your place sounds absolutely ideal, Lehaut. It makes sense to make the decision and move while you have the physical (and mental) ability. We had bought our senior train tickets in January and managed one trip to 'try it out' before the lockdown. My idea was that when we were unable to drive places, we could get about if near a train station, so that is a given. Mint, I am measuring the size of town by one not too far from us which has about 3000 population, or somewhere on the outskirts of a bigger place so that we are not in the 'city' but are able to get to necessary old-age facilities. It is hard to know 'when' to make the decision because we are fit at the moment and OH absolutely adores his workshops. However, you have to think what would happen if one of us was left on his/her own and you don't have the 'partner back-up'. It would be hard to cope in a rural area on your own and especially with no support structure in France. We do have to get help in during the growing season. We love lots of areas of France so just don't know where to start looking, except that we would like to be a bit further south.

I would certainly be interested in any area pointers. As you say, Lehaut, we would miss the space and land but I know from looking after elderly relatives that after the age of 75, every year seems to have the effect of 3 years with general ageing and medical problems.
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