What if?

On Thursday afternoon Jacques arrived with his equipment to cut the large box hedge that edges our garden and leads to the marsh.

After his "Bonjour" and kisses he set off to start work. 

Two seconds later he was at the cuisine door " Come and look at this!! It is the biggest I have seen this year".

I thought it was a mushroom or something similar so ambled out to look.

Eeeeeeek !!!!!! A snake basking in the sunshine at face height too!!! It didn`t want to move and was quite content whilst we looked on . Well, I say looked on...Mark and Jacques looked on and I stood mortified at a distance!!

They couldn`t see it`s head to see if it was a grass snake or a viper so they didn`t take any chances and after a short while it slithered away inside the hedge.

"Don`t worry" Jacques told me "now that it has been disturbed it will go back to the marsh and you will not see it again".

He carried on cutting the hedge on his step ladder with his stomach resting against the leaves. I watched terrified from the cuisine window. What if it was still  there and sunk it`s fangs into his middle?!!!

Yesterday was Friday so after setting off for La Poste we returned home in the glorious Autumn sunshine. I went down to the post box joking with Mark that if I didn`t come back the snake had dragged me away. I glanced at the hedge and froze in sheer fear. There he was again in the same place !!

I screamed for Mark as I was frozen to the spot. You may have guessed by now that snakes are my biggest fear - well my biggest fear next to no brocantes!!

Mark managed to take a closer photograph before it slithered back in the hedge.

We think it is a grass snake and later when asking our local head of the "pompiers" ( fireman, rescue and general save everybody department!!) he said that we need to see it`s eyes. If the eyes are round then it will be a grass snake but if they are slits like a cat it will be a viper and to take care.

SO this is the situation....I shall never weed around that hedge again and every time Charles comes through the cat flap I have to run and check what he has in his mouth.

What if it gets in the post box ? What if it has friends ? What if it comes in the house ? What if it gets in my shirt on the washing line? What if?  ..What if?...What if ?

Yes I know I live on the marsh but after five years this is the first one I have seen in the garden. Or have they been there all the time? What if?

A la prochaine mes belles

Save me!!