Week 39 (25 September–1 October 2023)

A pretty uneventful week, reading bouldering weedwhacking having apéros. Then Sunday came.

Double trouble

My face paralysis is getting better, I can smile again kind of. On Sunday we climbed our third multipitch route with Z (L'histoire du renard qui voulait savoir l'heure, 5c/6a/5c+/5c+), and in the third pitch I took a lead fall because a rock gave in. Bad luck, there was a sort of ledge underneath, and the result is a deep cut on my knee and a lot of difficulty moving it. We were planning 3 days of multipitch climbing in Hérault next week, but it seems like we'll have to cancel :(

First roustide

(I'm getting a bit ahead of time here because this happened on October 2nd, but next week's weeknote will be pretty packed so I'm slipping it in here.)

We had a roustide (from the Occitan rostida: a roast) with F Monday evening. C the neighbour brought back some chestnuts from the Montcoquiol, the first ones. Chestnut is a huge thing in Ardèche, and particularly in our area, with a bunch of different varietals and a lot of traditions. The season starts now and will last until roughly mid-November, with a peak at the end of October (when most castagnades are taking place, village chestnut festivals).

We started by lighting a wood fire in the garden, chestnuts are roasted in the ember. Then we cut an X on the chestnuts (there's even a special knife for this, but F couldn't find hers), and tossed them in a chestnut pan, a metal pan with holes at the bottom. The pan goes straight on the ember until chestnuts are open and cooked through.

It was delicious! And a roustide is such a joyful event—wood fire, sweaters, white wine, roasting chestnuts under the stars.

Watching

New Wes Anderson shorts! Adapting by Roald Dahl stories! Match made in heaven. Just one note for all four:

Reading

Unplanned interesting parallels between Les choses and Lettres de Gourgounel, the former describing the birth of consumerism in 1960s Paris, and the latter being sort of White's response to it. More details in notes coming later!