When I was at university studying French, my favourite programme of study was a twentieth century French drama module. It confirmed my love of the works Albert Camus, even though he is better known for his novels. I re-acquainted myself with the works of Samuel Beckett (the only Nobel prize winning author to play first class cricket – great quiz question if you need!) and was introduced to the poeticism of Paul Claudel, in works such as Partage de Midi and to the symbolism of Alfred Jarry’s work in Ubu. I came across Jean Giraudoux’s fantastic ‘La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu’, as well as Jean Anouilh’s politically charged ‘Antigone’. I loved the absurdist work of Eugène Ionesco and the picture above is a simple ‘homage’ to him. However, it was the work of Jean-Paul Sartre that most divided the seminar group. I was always a bit jury’s out (he did, after all, have a massive falling out with Albert Camus and I always sided with Camus) about his development of Kierkegaard’s Existentialism. I was won over by Huis Clos, his brilliant three-hander set in hell, the title of which translates variously as ‘In Camera’ or ‘No Exit’ – perhaps most appropriate for the times in which we have been living.
I reference another of his works above – Les Mouches, The Flies, for no reason other than, at this time of the year, we have been plagued by flies. They were plentiful but manageable last year but for some reason have been intolerable this year. We started our defence early, with the purchase of ‘red tops’, killer bags which will kill hundreds of flies. The bags fill nicely, but too many still make it into the house. We next resorted to fly spray – again effective in the short term, but such an unhealthy odour! An online delivery of a pack of 10 fly swats was the next attempt to stem the tide. Successful in that all the family take great joy in using them, satisfaction gained by the sound of splat followed by a fly (or two if you are lucky) falling to the floor. However, flies are drawn to the pheromones released by some flies as they die, so the fly swats provide a catch 22 situation… Our last strategy is a plant, a pitcher plant, which is carnivorous. It works by luring the flies to it, getting them ‘drunk’, so that they fall down the stems and are unable to get out… I know, sounds ridiculous, but it does work.
Despite the flies, life continues with the new normalities to which we have become accustomed, which, combined with more established patterns of behaviour, still re-inforce the sense of how strange things are. Child #1 has friends down this weekend. They have visited before and always provide great entertainment. We woke up this morning to find the back garden festooned with a flock of pink flamingos, one of which seemed to have made it onto the thatch! Several further surprises are planned, so the writer her indoors has retreated to the study to work and I will shortly be in the kitchen killing flies and cooking!
Eating: As summer draws to a close, it feels good to have a classic ‘warm summer evening’ meal, so salmon with caper, lemon and mint dressing, new potatoes with mint, butter and lemon and ratatouille – ish, with all vegetables from the garden, so extra tasty!
Drinking: This very quaffable white went perfectly with the salmon… easy drinking and undemanding, went down rather too quickly!
Listening to: The soundtrack to the fabulous tv series Mrs America. As with Killing Eve, a wide variety of songs, really well matched to the storyline. Current favourites: A Fifth of Beethoven, Walter Murphy, used as the title sequence music and I know, Bonnie Raitt.
Cook.Eat.Blog.Repeat. 