39.

October.

Why I`m near the front door I don't know, but I get collared by a Jehova's witness, who tries to envelope me in her non-stop saga. I suppose I should be surprised to find the group here in France, but I`m not. With such a history of anti clericism here, there are evangelicals and witnesses everywhere. That's all very well, I say, but it's only a set of beliefs. Life's a mystery and should stay that way. To look for 'truth' leads you up too many blind alleys and anyway it's those who are fixed on their truth as being the only one, who become dangerous. Why I'm discussing this with her, I can't quite fathom. I must be in need of company! She nods and replies that that is true. She seems quite reasonable! I add that if god is all that it is supposed to be then it wouldn't be interested in whether I believed in it or not. That's just so petty. I wouldn't believe in any god that demands I believe in it, would she? She has an answer which is slightly confused or slightly confuses me anyway, and which I promptly forget, while I write this. She does not persist, I suspect because she recognises that my French is not quite up to it. We part with smiles and a handshake and as she leaves I twitter that it's really about people being together and comforting each other with common beliefs....I wave and close the door quickly, before she has time to parry an answer. I'm not proud of myself.

It's an overcast, showery day; oh of course, that's why I'm in the house. I need to light the fire as I can feel the chill descending from the peaks. There is snow on them, far away. Drizzle here is snow up there.