Seasonality

Odd really; I know the theory of when the seasons come and go, but my feelling is:

Winter = December-February (includes two of the darkest months of the year)
Spring=March-May (latter only occasionally is sunny and rarely hot)
Summer=June-August
Autumn=September-November

Once, in the 70s, I used to take my holidays in September and go at least every second year to France. For many years, the weather in September and sometimes even October, was glorious, but since the millenium that has proven in the years I've been there not to have been the case.

I feel sorry for you if you have never been to the Dordogne in the 70s and even 80s; the food was eccentric to say the least, often wonderful, sometimes abysmal...

The strangest meal was one which was served at Chez Jeannot [in Beaumont-du-Perigord], which is no longer there (in sad circumstances); a spectacular 11 course meal for 110 Francs - approximately £11 at the time, including aperitif, vins, et digestif. There were trestle tables and bench seats and you rather expected there to be small portions. Nothing of it; the four centre courses were virtually meals in themselves. One of these, which was a stunning lamb dish in a rich gravy had one piece left in it which others suggested we should eat "for the honour of the English" (there were Dutch and Danes also there), so I obliged wondering about the remaining courses... Jeannot appeared with his wife (the chef) obviously delighted that this dish had been finished. With another of the same course... an amazing place. But I couldn't eat there again!

When we left we were given a bag of sweets, a bottle of the wonderful, dry peach aperitif they had served and a huge slab of saffron cake. We then drove back down an unlit very twisty (hairpins) narrow road to where we were staying. Not ideal!