1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 245: Start preparations!
Before he knew it, it has been almost a year since Ronan moved to Provence. He has gradually integrated into this second home and sometimes even forgets his identity as a Parisian.

But there are many things in Provence that make it difficult for Ronan to integrate, such as all kinds of unreliable people and things here.

If Ronan were to write a novel about Provence in the future, the theme of "unreliability" would definitely run through the entire story. He might even add a separate appendix at the end, summarizing an "unreliable list" to help readers avoid pitfalls.

And on this 'unreliable list' there must be a weather forecast.

The weather forecast in Provence is so unreliable!

In their broadcasts, every day is sunny and cloudless.

Ronan thinks the weather forecast in Provence should be renamed "Wish Forecast" - the people of Provence hope that the weather will be the same as they forecast 365 days a year.

Later, Ronan heard from local villagers that they had long given up watching the weather forecasts issued by the local meteorological bureau. If they were very concerned about the weather, they would order a private weather forecast printed by a company called "Carpunk Weather Station".

This mimeographed weather forecast is published once a week and gives an overview of the weather conditions in various parts of Provence for the coming week.

The Paris family had the habit of checking the weather, so with the help of Louis, they ordered this private weather forecast.

It will be delivered to his mailbox every Monday.

Feng Zhen was used to waiting at the window for the postman Tracy to appear every Monday morning, but she was more eager about it these days.

"Oh my god, it will be windy again next week!" Feng Zhen opened the weather forecast that would determine their fate for the next week as if reading an imperial decree, and said angrily, "This strong wind will have a huge impact on our customer flow."

Ronan could no longer remember how long the northwest wind lasted.

In short, ever since people around me started talking about it, the trend has never stopped.

It's just a matter of big or small.

But no matter big or small, the people of Provence will be in a bad mood when they see bad weather. When they are in a bad mood, they don't want to go out. When they don't want to go out, their restaurants will have no customers.

Due to the continuous northwest wind, the restaurant has closed the outdoor dining area ahead of schedule because it was not fully occupied. But according to their previous estimates, it should not be closed until the end of November due to the lower daytime temperatures.

"We are lucky that we still have customers and can maintain normal operations. Didn't you hear on the radio that all the restaurants in Bonnieux are closed?" Luo Tianhai said as he flipped through the newspaper that was delivered to him.

Ronan said, holding the coffee cup:

"It's not the restaurant that's closed, it's the grocery store that's closed. The owner thinks the world is coming to an end. There's no need to open the store to make money."

The northwest wind that swept through Provence for several days weighed heavily on the hearts of local residents like a bank bill, and talk about it could be heard everywhere.

Even Lourmarin, who had become "vibrant" under Ronan's influence, was shrouded in an atmosphere of depression.

There's nothing we can do about it. People in Provence really hate bad weather.

The ability brought by Level 4 [Planting] only gave Ronan the ability to speculate on weather phenomena related to "water", among which wind was one of the criteria for judgment.

So Ronan didn't know when this northwest wind would last.

Feng Zhen carefully read the weather forecast and finally gave up:
"I will go to church with Thomas today for evening classes."

Luo Tianhai smacked his lips and said unhappily:
"You don't believe it, so why go? Don't listen to Thomas's nonsense. Can God control whether there is wind in Provence?"

Thomas is organizing people to go to church to pray, hoping that God will give Provence good weather again.

"What are you doing?" Feng Zhen said angrily, "I prayed to God to give me a good mood! If the wind doesn't stop, I will suffer from depression like the people in Provence!"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Luo Tianhai glared at his wife, which was rare.

Suddenly, a huge "roar" sound came from far above the head.

Ronan was stunned at first, then he immediately thought of the source of the voice and exclaimed:
"It's the fire-fighting plane. The forest is on fire!"

Firefighting aircraft are only dispatched when forests catch fire far away from villages and water sources.

The Paris family quickly ran out of the house and looked up to see several small red and white planes flying low in the blue sky.

Because they were dragging a large water tank behind them, they looked extremely clumsy, but the three of them could not say anything to laugh at them.

"So many planes?" Feng Zhen looked into the distance and saw many more that had not passed over Lourmarin.

Ronan said very seriously:
"With such a strong wind, this fire is hard to put out."

Those planes were heading in the direction of Frasier.

Since it is not certain where the fire started, but it looks like the fire must be extremely serious, Ronan did not go out to dig truffles today, but has been waiting for news in Lourmarin.

Although there is no official and accurate information at present, Provence has no shortage of people to spread the news.

There are 'intelligence experts' at every table in the restaurant who share their first-hand information with friends.

"The forest near Roussillon caught fire. The fire was so big that the whole of Roussillon was covered in thick smoke. I heard that a firefighter had died while on duty. He was facing the fire when a pine nut or something exploded and created a spark that ignited the forest behind him. There were only a few seconds left, and no one had time to save him." "Isn't that too exaggerated? A small spark can't save him?"

"Because of the 'help' of the northwest wind, a little bit of it will turn a small spark into a big flame, and then quickly turn into an exploding flame. This strong wind is the culprit!"

"The weather this year is so weird. The rainy season has become so long, and the wind has been blowing like a monster in November. Is this really the end of the world?"

All morning, planes kept flying back and forth between the Mediterranean Sea and the sea of fire over Lourmarin. Rumors began to spread that the fire was gradually spreading to Lourmarin, causing panic among the villagers.

Because the situation looked really serious, Blanco organized government officials to urgently provide fire emergency response education to every household.

Leah said worriedly that every Christmas, Blanco would give villagers fire prevention education, but at that time everyone would joke:

If there is a fire, hide in the wine cellar with a wine glass and a corkscrew. I would rather get drunk to death than burn to death.

But no one can make a joke now. This means that this incident has really made everyone feel scared.

This feeling of fear continued until the next day.

The Provence Daily finally published a detailed report on the fire.

The fire did happen near Roussillon, and it burned more than 40 hectares of pine forest near the village. It took 300 firefighters, 14 firefighting planes and countless fire trucks to put it out.

The newspapers showed photos of horses and sheep being led to safety and the backs of firefighters battling a blaze.

Today, apart from an article in the "Provence Daily" about a 22-year-old young man and a 65-year-old woman from Ile-de-la-Sorgue getting a marriage certificate despite their family's opposition, becoming the legal couple with the largest age difference in Provence today, the rest of the pages and headlines were all about the forest fire.

The official reports did not ease any fear among the villagers, but even exacerbated it, as in a small area, the police announced the progress of their investigation into the forest fire.

Please note, it's the police!
Once a forest fire becomes related to the police, things are not that simple.

It turned out that this huge disaster was caused by arson.

It was reported that the arsonist wrote a letter to the police before setting the fire, provocatively saying that as long as the northwest wind did not stop, he would set fire to every forest in Provence with matches. The police are currently on their way to arrest him.

"What a damn guy!" Henry threw the unlit cigarette in his mouth onto the table, "He actually set a fire because of the northwest wind!"

Theo's expression was ferocious, as if he wanted to eat someone:

"If he dares to come to Lourmarin and set fire to it, I will beat him to death!"

The gentle slope behind Theo's house leads to a forest. When he thought that Anna might be in danger, he wanted to go out with a gun and join the police team in searching for the arsonist.

Cornell was in no mood to drink anymore, and kept sighing:

"When will this wind stop, God, it's causing so much trouble."

The air is filled with strong negative emotions, the kind that even a force 10 gale cannot blow away.

Ronan, who was sitting among the farmers, also felt his mood hit rock bottom.

The fire may have only affected the mood of other people, but it had a real impact on Ronan's business.

Since yesterday, the restaurant's traffic has plummeted, and at mealtime the occupancy rate is less than half.

If the situation continues like this, we won’t even be able to pay our employees’ salaries this month.

He cannot bet that the flow of people will pick up in the next few days. He must make preparations in advance and at least pay the salaries of more than 20 employees.

But the guests won't go out if the wind doesn't stop. Even God doesn't care whether there is wind in Provence, so what can he do?
"We can't rely on those damn policemen. We can't rely on anyone!" Henry pulled out his chair and stormed out of the restaurant.

Pierre was worried that Henry might do something impulsive, so he asked him:

"where are you going?"

Henry gritted his teeth and said:

"I'm going to prune the grape branches! I have to find something to do, otherwise I won't be able to control myself and I'll beat those damn things to death!"

In order to reduce the consumption of ineffective branches and concentrate nutrients on the fruiting branches, winter pruning is required after the grape leaves fall and before budding.

Recent strong winds have blew all the leaves off the vines, and hardworking farmers have already started doing this.

Pierre told Henry:
"Don't burn the dead branches you cut off. Be careful recently and wait until the wind dies down before burning them."

"Got it." Henry grunted.

Ronan stopped Henry and turned to Pierre:

"Do you burn all the grape vines and branches that you cut off every year?"

(End of this chapter)