Charity

Well its been a quiet day on the donations front apart from:
Bouchard Pere et Fils who are selecting bottles as I write.
Turns out a lot of people started picking today or even yesterday, Domaine Leroy ( always aim high!) and Comtes Lafon among them. Others will no doubt be sharpening secateurs, washing buckets and preparing for an influx of pickers from heaven knows where.
Locals no longer seem to be interested in the back-breaking grind that is their harvest heritage and the young find its not worth getting up for. Probably a generalisation but I’ll see for myself in 10 days time when I get back to Corton. A large bus next to the vineyard tends to indicate imported labour.
A string of white Europcar hired vans is a much better sign.

I extended my vocabulary today. “Et hop !” seems to be another, more interesting way of saying “voila”, a word I don’t use because I try to use the right accents in my French correspondence and I can’t find the grave accent on my keypad, plus I’d probably use it far too much…
It looks like further additions to my French will be necessary as I look forward to a fortnight with the pickers. Still its better than trying to speak Polish or Portuguese. The phrase “comme un vache espagnole” comes to mind….