'The DSM' Editorial - Issue 94 The Simple Things

Anna wants a new dishwasher. I’d rather wash-up by hand, I like washing by hand, it’s simple. A dishwasher is something else to break down, then there’s the loading and the unloading, the food that always sticks; the washing tablet that fails to come out of its little door.

Part of the reason we moved to France was for a simpler, more laid back life. A sort of Catherine Cookson existence, working in the field during the day, eating a chunk of cheese and bread from a piece of gingham cloth. In the evening we’d sit around the fire, I’d be quaffing wine from a pewter tankard and Anna would be doing some needle point, or singing. On Sundays we’d go for a picnic in our hay wain or help our French neighbours erect a barn.

After a day of tilling the earth did Jean de Florette start unloading the dishwasher? No! After being caught in the rain, when it eventually arrived, did he tumble-dry his jerkin? No! When he wanted to know the weather, did he reach for his iPad or boot up his computer? No, of course not! He stuck his head out the window. When did life become so complicated? 

To survive the French winter, in our non-centrally heated house, we recently invested in some thick woollen jumpers and are adopting the ‘layering’ approach to staying warm. Like two Michelin men we crash around the place, remembering those heady summer days that were and will be again. Whatever your technique for keeping warm this winter, I hope it is working.

Have a fantastic February and enjoy this month’s issue.





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