The Ragondin Brothers.....

There are two old brothers that live in our village. One as thin as a willow stick with a black beret so fitted to his head that I think he must have been born wearing it. The other as stocky as a little barrel with mad grey hair sticking out of his woolly hat.

They live in a tumble down cottage that if you didn`t realise was theirs you would assume it was derelict. In the Winter a small plume of smoke from their chimney is the only indication that someone is there.

They ride a battered old war-time Mobylette. The kind that you have to peddle to get going and it sounds like a hairdryer. I once saw them driving across a ploughed field with them both clinging on for dear life as the mud clogged their wheels which was a sight to behold!

Sometimes after lunch on our way to La Poste we will pass them on the road. The thin one always drives and the stout one clings on at the back usually the worse for wear after a long lunch with a little vin rouge. They wear 1960s type crash hats with leather ear covers and we have always referred to them as "The Odd Couple".

We have noticed recently that any communal village jobs seem to be handed to them. Unblocking ditches, hedge cutting, repairing the church gates and more recently trying to control the Ragondin population on the marshland close to the village. So they have been re-named " The Ragondin Brothers".

Every morning at 5am we hear the moped coming down the lane , past our garden and on to the gloopy mud on the marsh. 

But today on the way to take our parcels we saw that they have had a great forward move in their business. They have added to their company fleet and were very proudly driving a very battered bright yellow van. They are so much like a French Del Boy and Rodney now!

Later in the afternoon they were chopping trees on the long driveway to the large chateau on the edge of the village. Business must be good for the Ragondin Brothers if they now have four wheels instead of two.

Who knows where they will be in a years time!!!

A la prochaine mes belles.....