Where has our summer gone?

So where has our summer gone?    Has it gone to the Scandinavians who normally come to the Dordogne for their summer.   A sketchy memory of a newspaper report - perhaps in The Economist - saying that the Scandis were having their hottest summer ever...

Anyway, here I am sitting at my desk as the rain dribbles outside - today it is 15 centigrade according to the temperature device on the door window - a flattened tin frog.  The children are safely at school, grumbling over their books and the canteen food, parents damply returning from the school run are faced with another chore:   the terrorist tomatoes are in a basket on the door step.

For some unknown (to me) reason the cool summer seems to have immensely pleased the tomatoes...I say 'terrorist' because I pass the box every time I enter or leave the house and I can almost hear ' do something, bottle me, crush me into soup....Do Something.'

The immediate answer is a glass of Viognier and a search through ancient cook books - books, you know - those things made of paper..for recipes...and the answer is CHUTNEY. 

Tomato chutney is unknown to the locals..they are going to be very surprised ...and I shall be very tired for chutney making involves several pans, skilled hands and - most of all - Patience.