10 jan

All those hours at the Barley Pop Stop paid off. This is Julie talking when she’s playing pool. After having pocketed a ball. Maybe I should say that she says this while acting to play pool. Because to Julie life is just a dull alternative, even though it is exciting enough, to the way that life play’s out in Julie’s world of theatre. It is a fun show. I should film it and let anyone join for a few pennies. The billiard scene would make us a few thousand easily.
First of all, she holds her stick wrong, or funny. There should be a rule that when a ball is not within one yard of the intended direction, the player looses. But for Julie the unintended consequences of well aimed for shots (including comments like, ‘through the black, via the seven and off the two; no problemo) are part of the game. She doesn’t blink when the ball not only misses the two, but also the seven and never touches the black. ‘You should have seen me in my hay day’, she says, making cheerleader movements with the billiard stick.
This morning we went to the market at Brantome. It is one of the official truffle markets of the Perigord. We were late, because most of the truffles were gone, one guy was standing there with a truffle with a big hole in it. Second quality, a little brochure said. The black ugly looking creature could be snatched up for an easy 900 euro’s per kilo, which would have made it a good €40, £35, $55 I would guess. The guy described the animal that had ben eating the heart of his truffle out. That bug or mouse should be worth a lot of money, he laughed. But the ‘parfum’ was still delicious, he claimed. Which was true after we had a smell of this black gold.
We had a stop at the knife an d walking stick store of Brantome. Also a lovely place with a very charming woman who said it was no problem to wait a little bit with the possible purchase of the walking sticks they sell.
Lovely box wood with a walnut ball like creature at the top. Beautifully crafted. But a stick like that is more appropriate for the Marquis of Chassenat, than for the pilgrim to Santiago. It is more for promenading than for serious walking. But still it is made so well and looks so elegant I could easily picture myself with one. Maybe it forces me a little bit to calm down while walking.
Spent part of the afternoon raking leafs. A lovely activity although I do not do it often enough for it not to cause blisters. I always considered my dad a fool when he started raking leaves before all the leafs of the trees around the house had fallen off. But now I did realize there was a point in his obsessive tidying of every few leaves that invaded on his property. When you leave them too long, they become half dirt and it makes it very hard too rake them away. Ah well, keeps one busy.
One working week done here. Wrote not enough but figured out some kind of framework for the austerity book. Eight chapters about the 12 th century, eight chapters about personal memories of the financial crisis and eight chapters about the eight mortal sins, related to my journey to Santiago. It is invigorating to think about.
Walked around the estate before it was getting dark, in the lovely evening sun. Life is good, no splendid.
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