I love this time of year, when the summer heat fades away and the crisp clean air arrives to herald the approach of winter. The holiday season is over, schools return and in France the grape harvest begins. Keats captures this time of year perfectly.

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Autumn reminds me of the new school term and in particular, the September when I moved from a small Catholic primary school to a much bigger senior school. I was barely 11 and as I set out from home on that morning with my new leather satchel, I was both excited and very nervous, having never seen the school beforehand. To this day, the smell of new leather takes me back to that day. When I think back to my first day, I think how daunting Abi’s first day must have been as she started school in France (See later blog – St. Maurice)

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I can’t imagine what it must be like to go back to school this September with all the new regulations now in place and children having to stand apart not being able to communicate close up. For me it was such an exciting time, meeting new friends (who I’m still in touch with), learning subjects I would grow to love – English, French and Art and subjects I would never like – Maths and Physics. Let’s hope that schools will be able to get back to some sort of normality soon and next year will see kids able to hug, play and sing together.

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Normally, at this time of year, we head to France, where autumn is a glorious time in the countryside. The colours, as we drive across the country, are magnificent and when we reach the outskirts of Carcassonne in the Languedoc, the vines in all their varying shades of orange and red are stunning. In the distance are the Pyrénées with their first dusting of snow on the peaks.

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Friends of ours live in a small hamlet near Carcassonne (see later blog – Madame et Monsieur). They have a small vineyard and in autumn local wine-growers come to pick the grapes. Many of these small vineyards help each other out during the harvesting season. They arrive around 4am and start work straight away. Around 8am they stop for a hearty meal, consisting of charcuterie, cheese, bread and wine (obviously). By mid afternoon they have cleared the vines and are on their way to the vineyards to process the grapes. By working like this, and helping each other out, the work is done quickly and the costs of production are reduced. The wine is then bottled, labelled and sold with each vineyard having a different label.

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We have never had our own wine label, but we did buy half a huge pig one year (see later blog – Olivier’s Pig) and ended up with an enormous amount of pork including 50 tins of pâté with our name on (still eating it!).

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