Ten things that surprise me about living in rural France

1. You can buy live maggots in the local supermarket
2. Snakes and lizards sunbathe in front of the house
3. Lizards’ tails come off when they are caught, and continue to wriggle and writhe wildly for some time, while the lizard itself slips away unscathed.
4. Frosts are a major ordeal
5. Wood fired heating is a way of life: chopping, cutting, splitting, moving, stacking, stoking, cleaning, dusting. Preparing wood is hard physical work, and warms you up. By the end of the day you are so exhausted you just want to go straight to bed, so no need to light the fire.
6. There is more happening than you expect
7. Swallows and bats make a noticeable difference to the number of biting insects.
8. The changing seasons bring different swathes of creepy crawlies into the house: spiders, stinky bugs, mosquitoes, chrysopes…
9. Harvest mites. I counted 139 bites on my body last month. Frosts have their advantages, killing them off until next season.
10. Mice come in when there is a storm brewing, made bold by excitement and nerves.