I love the Louviers farmers’ market on a rainy day like today.  All the vendors are under umbrellas in varying colors, from vivid red, to blue, to sun-shocked yellow.  Business starts out slow, so early morning when I get there is akin to a party – one vendor is under the others’ umbrella, joking as he rubs his hands together against the wind and rain.  Another vendor has taken warm shelter in the market café, leaving his stand to his neighbor, who will sell a bunch of watercress, a dozen eggs, a bunch of carrots to the straggle of customers brave enough to emerge.

Here, I am choosing my bread, which has been carefully baked in a wood-fired oven and despite the pitter patter of rain on the umbrella, is still as crisp as it was when it emerged hot and crackling.

Wish you’d been there.