The "No Croissants For You!" Story

Tree that had fallen across the road that took us from our villa
to the main entrance gate of our gated community.

 It was an ordinary day.  That is until I hopped in the car and headed down the hill to pick up the requested chocolate croissants for breakfast.  I drove about 30 feet and there in front of me was a tree draped across the road.  I guess I should give you some background into what occurred yesterday and last evening.  The sky opened and buckets of rain can pouring upon us.  The sound on the metal roof of our villa was deafening.  

Very large thorns on the branches of the fallen tree made
made it impossible to grab the branches and move them.

Our visibility was no more than 50 feet when looking toward the beach below.  Then, as dusk came, the winds picked up and things started to fly.  By morning the sky was brighter, but the remnants of the storm were visible.  I drove as far as the tree and got out of our rental to see if I could budge the tree enough to get by it.  Tramped on one of the branches and one of the sharp, long thorns came through the bottom of my Clog sandal.  Decided right then it wasn't going to be me that would move the tree.  Directly next to the tree was another property that evidently didn't know that a tree was blocking their way towards the main road.  I walked up to the gate and found a brass bell that I assumed was to summon the owners.  Looked down toward the villa and realized the owners were taking a dip in their pool au naturale.  Hey, this was important, so I rang the bell.  Boy did they hustle when they heard that.  Their dog was the first to greet me than the woman came to the gate. When she said, "Bonjour!" I knew I may be in trouble. Seems she knew zero English and I know the same amount of French, so we stood there and used hand language.  

Two workers work on removing the tree from the road.

After pointing to the tree it was obvious to her what my problem was.  Then her husband arrived in his bikini and the three of us signaled to each other.  Finally he held his hand to his ear as if talking on the phone and I got the idea.  Jumped back in the car and backed back to our villa.  About an hour later I heard the noise of a motor coming from down the road.  Walked down the hill and saw two young guys clearing the tree.  One was using what looked to be a weed-wacker while the other was using a machete.  Too late for the croissants, since we decided on eggs and sausage from our fridge, but at least I was able to take my wife out for supper on Mother's Day.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.