News and La Touche

Regional headlines are:

Three cases of measles in Indre et Loire, two adults and a baby.

A forest fire near Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil yesterday that required 3 water bombers.

In local news: la guinguette Le Lavoir lancera sa quatrième saison le 26 avril 2025

And finally...

There are many places in France called "la Touche" or "la Touche *something*". I've often wondered why, but never got to the bottom of it. The usual response I got when asking a French person was either bemusement, or "just is". Looking on the internet never bought a satisfactory answer either - until last week, when looking up something altogether different I happened upon a reference to a "la Touche" in Basque country that said that the name was pre-celtic (ie pre 6th century BCE) and touche means a wood or small forest.

Some of the many Touches near Preuilly sur Claise

So there (hopefully) you go.

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I wrote the above a bit tongue in cheek, because at the moment we really don't have much in the way of news. Six hours after I wrote it, I received notice that Louis Charcellay, usually referred to as "the aged one" or "the orchard neighbour" on this blog, has died at the age of 89 years.

Until recently he was a fixture in our local market, selling his excess garden produce by the livre (literally a pound, but actually more or less half a kilogram).