"There's a notice in the paper here." said Bear, "The water won't be drinkable tomorrow between nine in the morning and three in the afternoon. It's something to do with the roadworks."

It's true, they have been digging and generally causing chaos for the last few months and getting in and out of the village has become increasingly frustrating but to deprive us of 'eau potable' - a nuisance but not that surprising.

It was unusual, however, that they didn't bother to put a note in the letterbox or come round with the loudspeaker.

Anyway, this morning I put bottled water out and warned people not to drink the tapwater - not that they would: it tastes awful.

Just before lunch something made me look through yesterday's paper to check exactly what was going on. Bear can usually be trusted to read French even if he refuses to speak it but I thought I'd make sure.

The notice translated as:

The drinking water will be turned off from 9a.m. till 3p.m. in Rue de la Gare

We don't live any where near there.