All quiet on the port

After the hurly burly of summer, the deep deep peace of gentle Autumn days. Sweaters, scarves, hot chocolate, and a recipe for pork tenderloin with grapes and honey.

Pork tenderloin with black grapes and honey.

I’m watching our neighbour trim the lavender planted on either side of her front door. Snip, snip, snip, off come the dried heads and the straggling stems, leaving neat little mounds. Last week, two men with high ladders came to prune the ivy that covers the front of her house.

After a summer filled with people – we’ve had more than thirty visitors this year ourselves– the autumn is calmer, when we gather ourselves, take a breath. The village is quieter. You can always get a place on the terrace at the Marine Bar and a table at Le Belem. The seafood shacks that hug the edges of the lagoon are on their winter hours now, lunchtimes only, weekends only. Some are closed until spring.

Following months of carefully planning my days around the heat – just as carefully as I once did around the cold and the rain when I lived in England - the cooler days are freeing. I can walk the dogs whenever I want, or take them with me to a restaurant, without worrying about the heat of the pavement on their tough little paws.