Weather. Pont Tremblant.

According to the forecast when we retired last night, it would rain until midday and then we’d see sunshine for the rest of the day.   By the time we’d had our statutory eight and a bit, there was indeed a dullness to the day and a gentle drizzle, but it was also accompanied by a revised forecast which predicted a halt to precipitation by nine, with some sunshine by ten.

We therefore timed our arrival at the little village with the bakery for nine, in time to see the drizzle miraculously cease and the merest hint of brightness peeking through the clouds.   When we arrived half an hour later at the first lock of the day, the sky had not changed, but the brightness came from possibly our favourite lock-keeper in all of France.

Abdullah, loves what he does and doesn’t mind telling anyone who will listen.  After reacquainting ourselves, and receiving his solemn promise that he’d keep an eye on us all day, we couldn’t help but notice that whenever we were underway he seemed to be somewhat manically shaking trees and climbing them and definitely looking for something, but we couldn’t work out what.   By the third lock he came to us with a hatful of unripened mirabelles, apologising for the quality and promising, while looking at the sky that if we ever see sunshine again they’d ripen in a few days.

Actually the sunshine he brought to us was easily as good as the other kind during the perfect afternoon we spent cruising gently down the canal to a spot which not entirely coincidentally is fifty metres from the lock house in which he lives.   I suspect the sun will be shining on us all day tomorrow as well no matter what the weather!