Window painting and The Gourmet

In the rush to get some things finished before returning to England, we ordered some glass to replace that broken in some windows. It took us about half a dozen trips to the local Bricomarche to actually obtain it, which meant spending our final afternoon before packing up, in putting in, puttying and painting the window. Still all done eventually, only another 15 windows to paint and fortunately not all require replacement glass, only about half of them. But we won't be painting or replacing the glass this visit.

Meanwhile I have been reading Muriel Barbery's The Gourmet, which I have to say I found less engaging than The Elegance of the Hedgehog. The main character, on his deathbed, reminisces about his life as a food critic, which to me seemed pretentious. A variety of other characters from his life, his wife, children, cat and dog all have their say, giving their opinions as to his character as husband, father, and pet-owner, most of which are very unflattering. Some of the descriptions of food are delicious, though. The character of Renee the concierge is introduced in this story, and further developed in The Elegance of the Hedgehog.