Checking your ditches

7.30am. Darkness, complete darkness..there is no light at night only that given by the moon and stars, but this morning the cloud cover provided no such light. The rain and the wind have been unrelenting for three days now, many local rivers have burst their banks, roads are flooded and fields have become huge ponds. It must have been the wind banging the shutters. But no, again, there was a knock at the door, this time it was harder and louder.

It was Bernard, the commune gardener and his green tractor with its flashing yellow light. ‘Can I speak to your husband,’ he asks. Mark, gives his freshly laid poached eggs a backward glance and disappears into the rain, wind and darkness with Bernard.

Eventually they return, Coffee, I ask. Bernard declines..too busy he says. In this weather, I reply.

‘Why yes, these weather conditions are perfect for checking that all the ditches and drains are working properly’ he says as he smiles, waves and disappears in the green tractor with the yellow light flashing impatiently.