Kicking around in the dirt

Jean Francis (yesterday's pique nique host) is a very interesting man and knows a great deal about the history of the village and surrounding area. He says that the next village, Crespian, was named after the first Roman Governor of Nimes who had a house there, and our village Cannes, was so named because of the canes which grew profusely in the area and from which the Romans made boats.

One day JF took me up to his plot of land overlooking the village (that I subsequently realised was where the pique niques are held) and having shown me a well that he had dug, started to tell me that there was once a roman villa on the site. Looking around at this somewhat barren patch I asked him how he knew. He started to kick around in the dirt and eventually picked up two pieces of clearly identifiable, hand made, roof tiles and the base of a large bowl or dish (I know they're local because they have Castorama printed on the underside - French joke!). I keep them and treasure them to this day.

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It's cloudy today, and we're all a bit 'jaded' so whilst both the girls clean and polish, I watch the tennis. Not wanting them to feel left out, I kept shouting the score. I'm that kind of man.