Changes, Changes, And More Changes

June 6, 2021 by libertatemamo 16 Comments

Things are a-flutter in the rural SW. The countryside is as busy as the flower bees. Farmers are cutting hay in the neighboring fields, gardeners are battling weeds and tending their summer plots, bumblebees are gathering pollen, moles are digging trenches.

And changes are coming….all over the place.

We have new folks in the village, young blood too. The house next to the hippy sold after more than a year on the market. It’s a run-down and awkward place, wedged on the corner between two roads with almost no garden and decorated in a bewildering combo of Japanese manga-themes and fake roman columns (yes really, and in case you were wondering…no, it doesn’t work). We all thought it would never sell, but a young 20-something couple obviously decided it was a total deal and snapped it up.

They moved in a few weeks ago and now everyone is superbly curious, wondering what these newcomers are like. Village gossip is ablaze, especially after they zoomed down the street in their car with some boom-boom music blaring and then proceeded to place a table and chairs on the main road for a morning cup of coffee. What is the world coming to? We’ll all need a few years to get used to such radically modern behavior.

But these are not the only shocking changes that are coming to our little rural community. There’s been talk of names, fiber and foreign visitors. Can we possibly adapt to so much change in mere months?

I guess we’re about to find out….

We Are Getting Street Names

Our house is getting a street name and number! And believe it or not that’s quite a monumental change.

We’ve only ever had a house name, as many old rural houses in France do. The French call it a “Lieu-dit” (literally said-location), and it’s common where street names don’t exit. Basically it’s a proper name that usually refers to some characteristic of the place, its former use, history, location etc. It can descriptive in geography too. For example you might see two houses next to each other, one called “Lustet d’en bas” (Lustet down below) and another called “Lustet d’en haut” (Lustet up top), which will be located below or on top of a hill respectively.

Interestingly enough leux-dits sometimes appear on wine labels too, in addition to the AOC name. In this case they refer to the specific name of a vineyard. They’re commonly seen on Alsace & Burgundy wines, although some of the top Rhône wines have them too.

Personally I’ve always kind of loved the “Lieu-dit” of our house, as I feel it makes it part of old France, but admittedly it’s often a nightmare for postal deliveries. Our local post lady knows where everyone lives of course, but DHL and UPS are often completely fazed. Usually they manage to make it to the village, but then give up when they realize they actually have to look at house names to find us.

Well, lost deliveries may well be no more!

In mere months our village will transmorgify into the 21st century with both real street names and actual house numbers. The house numbers won’t be what you expect because…well France….but it should be rather interesting. And people will {{gulp}} finally be able to find us.

It’s going to be kinda bittersweet to be honest, but I’m sure I will acclimatize to it….in a few years time.

Aaaand Fiber Internet

The other mind-blowing change that is going to come to our little enclave of rural SW France is fiber-optic internet. Yes, really.

Bestill…..my….beating….heart!!

Of course France has had fiber in the main cities for a long time, but little rural communities have (until now) been mostly forgotten. It wasn’t that many years ago that our house upgraded from dial-up to ADSL, a leap that took us all the way to {{drumroll}} ~1Mbps download, where we’ve languished ever since. Thankfully the 4G cell network is decent in our area, so we have a 4G box that blasts us to around ~15Mbps download, as well as two cellphones (on another network) that we can hotspot if we need a backup.

Multiple networks, multiple options….fulltime RVing taught us that much.

We get by, but it can still get truly frustrating at times.

However, all that is about to change! Right around the time when COVID started, the French Government decided to double-down on their fiber roll-out and their promise was serious. High-speed internet would be available to all by the end of 2022 and that would include the rural communities.

Within weeks work ramped to never-before-seen rocket speeds, and the results were undeniable. Just a few months ago we saw underground fiber being laid in the valley, and last week the pole supports (it’ll be over-ground in our area) were installed along our soon-to-be-named street. Apparently the magical cable is now mere months away.

And OMG, I am excited!

I feel a little like Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of The Third Kind when the big spaceship descended on Devils Tower and said “hello” in color and dramatic tone. This is the future, where aliens come to earth and share their vast knowledge with humankind. Or rather, when the fiber cables get connected to our house and we start sending data at the speed of light.

Well….not exactly that fast of course….light slows through cable (compared to a vacuum), and there naturally losses over distance etc…..all the usual scientific annoyances. But our internet will be faster….waaaaaaaay faster….maybe even 100 times faster? 1000 times faster? So fast my hat won’t have time to drop and time won’t fly? It boggles the mind!

I’m predicting this is one change we’ll probably get used to pretty darn quick.

Aaaaaaand Tourists

Bienvenue en France to all vaccinated tourists.

This was essentially the message that was released to great fanfare this week, and it was more-or-less exactly what everyone expected. Starting June 9th, not only will Stage 3 of the deconfinement plan be released (which means indoor-dining & gyms will open, curfew will be pushed back to 23 hrs…amongst other things), but foreign tourists will also be allowed to visit for the first time in almost a year.

It’s a great relief for all the tourist-based towns and businesses that depend on summer visitors, and also for second-home owners who literally haven’t been able to travel to France and visit their properties since March of last year. The French epidemiologists are not quite as thrilled, but with ICU occupancy down to levels not seen since January and vaccinations increasing everyday, everyone’s got their fingers crossed we’ll avoid a 4th surge.

Of course entry into France next week won’t be quite as simple as just being vaccinated, given that the plan was formulated by the powers that be.

In practice they’re adopting a “traffic light” system, where countries will be given a color (either red, orange or green) depending on how the virus is circulating in that area, and that in turn determines whether visitors can actually come:

• Green: Folks from “green” countries can come without any restrictions.
• Orange/Amber: Folks from “orange” countries who’ve been fully vaccinated can visit with a negative PCR or antigen test. No quarantine needed and no other restrictions apply.
• Red: Folks from “red” countries basically can’t come at all (except under very specific exceptions, including an “essential reason” for travel)

Right now both UK & USA are “orange” which means travel will be possible for folks who’ve had their jabs. But the light-map will also get updated regularly so everything could change at any time. Par for the course for 2020/21 I guess.

The tourists are going to be an interesting change. Although they’re desperately needed for businesses (which is obviously very important) from a purely selfish standpoint it’s been kinda refreshing to be without them. We’ve been able to stroll through popular French towns with ease, had beautiful spots all to ourselves, and that has been….crazy, but also precious.

It’s definitely going to take some adjustment getting used to the masses of crowds again.

Some Changes Are Always Welcome

It’s a perfect evening tonight.

The heat of the day has dissipated and there’s a light breeze that caresses your face like a kiss from an old lover. You’re sat on the terrace next to the rose bushes that hang heavy with bud, many of the petals starting to drop to the ground, their scent fading but still strong. The light is a perfect gold, the greens of the fields intense and super-saturated by it’s touch. Soon all will fade, the sun will dip below the horizon and then the next act of the evening will commence. Perhaps you’ll see pinks tonight, or brilliant reds, or perhaps it’ll all just darken to a soft purple before the stars come out. Either way, you know it’ll be worth the wait.

It’s a change that happens every day, every night and yet you never quite know what it will bring. What you do know however, is that you’ll always welcome it, and always hope that you get to see it again.

Some changes we never need adapt to.