At last it feels like summer

The village in the late afternoon

Having left the country, we're finally enjoying the Indian summer that we hoped we would have at home. Here in the south of France the sky is cloudless, the days are still warm and the vines are heaving with fruit.

Whereas a month ago this sleepy village would have been quietly dull apart from the occasional group of tourists canoeing downriver, it's now a hive of activity. The campers have gone home; the children have returned to school; and the 2004 harvest has finally begun. Every 10 minutes another trailer load of grapes arrives at the coopérative vinicole for processing, and the automatic picking machines can be seen travelling back and forth between the village and the fields. It's the busiest time of year here, and it shows.