One Summer In France – Episode 32
One Summer In France
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- 1. One Summer In France – Episode 32
Suzette stood on the small balcony of her apartment, looking down at the Paris traffic. Normally when she returned from being away on tour she was relieved to be back and stood here to soak up the frenzy of the City of Lights contentedly, knowing she was home. But today, for some reason, the magic wasn’t there.
Today her rue looked unkempt, with litter blowing about in the breeze, and somehow the noise and bustle of people and the city traffic, with its loud hooters and sirens, made everything feel belligerent. As if everyone was personally fighting a war of survival. Suzette sighed. How was it possible things had changed?
This was silly. It was her home. She only felt unsettled because of the changes she knew she was facing in her life. A long holiday in the countryside would surely help her in deciding which way her future lay, but it was to this apartment she’d return at the end of summer to begin her new life.
Resolutely Suzette went inside and closed the French windows. She had two whole days ahead of her, with lots of things planned, and she was determined to make the most of it.
She made her way to the bedroom cupboard and took out a suitcase. She might as well make a start on packing a few things. Shoes and clothes first, then some material and embroidery silks. The cape with its intricate Lesage tribute she’d been working on before Monaco was finally finished and she was itching to start something else.
Infuriatingly, she couldn’t find anything that inspired her in her pile of new material. At least now she had an excuse to go to the Marché Saint-Pierre tomorrow and see what treasures she could find.
With the suitcase already half full, Suzette decided to leave the packing until she’d done the shopping she planned to do. At this rate, if she wasn’t careful, she’d end up having to take two suitcases back to the auberge.
Suzette was up early the next day, and after nipping out for a croissant and coffee which she ate sitting on the balcony, she got ready for a happy few hours wandering around her two favourite markets. First up would be the textile market.
Suzette loved choosing material at the Marché Saint-Pierre. There were so many shops and bazaars full of a variety of her favourite materials – velvets, linens and silks, to name but three.
Today she even loved the time-consuming business of actually buying some fabric in the large store that bore the market’s name. It would have been easier to shop in one of the many smaller outlets, but she’d fallen totally in love with some stunning scarlet velvet material she planned to use as a base for some cushion covers.
Standing waiting to pay for the several pieces of material she’d chosen, she picked up a leaflet advertising the Fête des Brodeuses, Pont-l’Abbé, Bretagne. Thoughtfully Suzette placed it in the bag with her purchases. Pont-l’Abbé wasn’t far from the auberge. An exhibition of embroidery and costumes sounded interesting and might give her some design ideas for her own work.