Pedestrian Splendor

What strikes me most about the South of France is its unrelenting sameness. Over the past week, for example, we climbed the hill towns of Reillanne, Opedette, and Saignon. Each one was basically like the previous: predictable in its monotonously stunning variegation.

In Provence you drive for miles past the same boring inspiring vistas, climb the blandly exquisite cobblestone roads past forgettably striking stone buildings up to the mundane towering cathedrals or fortresses, and look out for miles over a countryside indistinguishable from the other campagnes provençales except for their breathtaking variety.

And the pretty mountain range dulling the horizon? Seen one, you’ve seen all of just a tiny fraction of the awesome natural beauty blandly dwarfing our petty human endeavors.

Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt

Makes you want to add just a touch of modern personality to the natural cliffs, valleys, hills and villages with a few scenic developments. Like, for example, the decidedly anomic family communities of Ashburn, VA, or the cookie-cutter houses near my former home in formerly idyllic West Chester, PA that, in their undifferentiatedness, are reminiscent of suburban Camazotz under the dictatorship of IT.

Saignon

Or build some strip malls like the ones in Glendale, every one of which has its unique beaux-arts qualities representing the finest of human endeavor. This is why you can see so many paintings of Subway and FedEx storefronts at high-end galleries here in Provence. Build some strip malls here! In a hundred years I’ll be the first to return from the beyond to nominate one of them for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Reillanne

But what I really wanted to write about today is the house, which is all but ours. Nearly all of the seller’s stuff is out. The list of thing’s we’ll need to look at, fix, replace etc. keeps growing. We’re thinking a fresh coat of paint will brighten things inside, so that’s going to be one of my first tasks.

A room on the main floor suddenly in need of big people furniture

We’ve arranged for internet and even ordered a washer and bed. We’ve visited home improvement stores, furniture stores, this and that stores, priced everything from a can of paint to a dining room table, and reached out to various architects to look at the place and give us proposals for the kitchen (which looks smaller every time we see it) and bathrooms. Trees need trimming, and the other day I noticed, thanks to Google Lens, oleander growing in the yard, which Susanne remembered is highly toxic for dogs. So we’ve contacted tree surgeons/gardeners for estimates.

Our future living space

We’ve jumped through most of the bureaucratic and financial hoops. But the signing isn’t until Tuesday, so we’re here in Manosque just cooling our heels. Our big excitement the other day was watching a bicycle race pass by our apartment building.

So it is that we’ve reached the end of the “what on earth are we doing?” phase and are about to enter the “omg what have we done?” phase.

Foreigners like us hurrying to leave Manosque for their new homes in Apt