Bonjour,
Hope you had a great week.
I have had an adventure I can tell you.
I’d been asked to help make a film about my favourite region of France – Hauts de France which is made up of the departments of Pas de Calais, Nord and Picardy. But before I even got to get on the Harley Davidson motorbike to ride around, discovering and filming some of the most beautiful castles, beaches, towns and gorgeous villages, the fun started in my garden.
“Let’s pick those ripe plums before the birds eat them all” I said. So I can’t really blame anyone for what happened.
The tiny plum trees I planted 10 years ago (and which were sold as miniatures – ha!) are now really tall. And of course the best plums were at the top. So Mark (my other half) got a ladder and climbed up into the tree to shake the plums down. I was supposed to catch them. This went well for a few minutes.
I caught some and put them carefully in the bucket. They were the biggest, purpliest, juiciest plums I’ve ever seen. Then Mark decided to use a rake to fizzle out some right at the top. He shook, they refused to budge. I was watching closely trying to monitor where the massive, ripe and ready to burst plums would land. Then – whoop. Two big ‘un’s fell, went through the middle of my outstretched hands and hit me full in the face. Well one hit me in my right eye to be precise which broke my glasses. The other squashed me nose and gave me a slight black eye.
Talk about panic. I wasn’t just filming but being filmed – eek. Luckily the black eye really was very slight (despite my being knocked to the floor and being a real cry baby about it. And Mark stuck my glasses together again with superglue so no-one could see the breaks.
Next day we were off… and then the adventure really began. But that’s another story which I’ll share when the film is finished – it’s currently being edited!
Best wishes, bon weekend and bisous from France… and take my advice, never stand under a plum tree when someone’s up a ladder shaking them down!
Janine
Editor
Top Photo: Gerberoy in Picardy, one of the places I visited last week – it’s officially one of the prettiest villages in France & I’m head over heels for it!
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