Meet Jean- Jaques!!!

Well, I don’t actually know his name, but he’s french so to me he’s Jean-Jaques or JJ for short. JJ regularly comes over from France in his little french citroen van packed with rustic gems for home and garden.

As you all know I LOVE anything old and rustic, which is probably why I’ve been married to John for so long.

So when JJ rolled up outside the shop in his rusty wagon and greeted me with a Gallic “Helooo” I got a little excited. It was like I was 6yrs old again, hearing the Corona van was in the village. I skipped out of the shop, clapping my hands, dying to see what he had in his van.

He opened the back doors, shooing me away as I caught sight of a sleeping bag, a pair of pants and an odd sock.

"Parlez vous francais?"

"Ah Oui oui, mange tout, mange tout, mon cherrie" 

I replied, slipping easily into fluent franglais.

I waited patiently as he brought out an array of candle holders and plant holders hand-crafted from rustic french roof tiles, ancient pieces of wood, nails and pretty pots, most of which will be on sale in the shop ( after I’ve chosen which pieces I’ll be taking home).

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It wasn’t just French men that got me all excited this week….

I’ve been on tenter hooks all week, waiting to see if my little chucky eggs were going to hatch. Two of my little fluffy chickens survived the fox attack and have since then been sitting on a cluster of fertilised eggs – well to be accurate ‘Meringue’ the Frizzle Bantum did all the hard work, sitting on the eggs day and night, until the other day when ‘Neil’ the Pekin Bantum kicked her off the eggs and took credit for everything!

You might have noticed me running in and out of the shop every few minutes, over the last few days. Some customers have even overheard me talking about lifting up the ladies skirts and feeling around to check on progress.

I could have easily been mistaken for being the village mid-wife rather than the village florist!

Well, on Friday it began, the eggs started HATCHING!!!

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I bought a selection of eggs for the chickens to sit on, so it was a real surprise when they hatched to see what breed they might be. So much so, that customers could have been quite confused at times when I ran in to the shop shouting….

“It’s another Polish one!“

“I can tell by the knobbly bit on it’s head”

Hopefully, I didn’t offend anyone who might have been in the shop at the time, but Meringue is going to be in for a shock tonight. I’ve been feeling sorry for the little Frizzle since Neil (girl) usurped her and pushed her off the eggs, so I’ve just been out to buy a couple of day old ducklings that I’m going to pop under her while she’s in bed tonight.