Harvest

Well, I've pretty much ignored the vendanges for the last few weeks, for two reasons: a) they have been barely noticeable because b) the crop has been decimated by drought, frost, and hail. The harvest will be even lower than last year, already one of the smallest ever. The lack of the usual abundance of tractors and trailers on the roads is very noticeable.

Another reason the harvest is less noticeable is because there are no longer bands of pickers gathered on the square at lunchtime and at the end of the workday, washing hands and tools in the fountain (they couldn't do this now anyway because the fountain is bone-dry). This is the replacement: one man and a giant machine, plus one man with a tractor and trailer (not pictured). It's a lonely, noisy job, but the cabin is no doubt air-conditioned.

I went to the community gym session this evening, for the first time in ages. There were only three of us and we no longer have a teacher, so it was a relatively gentle, self-directed session.