Comment: Keeping the sun out is the norm in the south of France

My cousins have been staying, and OMG the window saga! They kept opening them.

"Oh look, what a fabulous day!" they would exclaim, flinging open the windows in their room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the sitting room and any other room they entered. 

"How lucky you are to have French windows!" 

They left all the doors open too. Nightmare. Apart from dust, the house filled up with heat, flies and mosquitoes.

"In the hot weather we leave the windows closed," I said, pointedly. "To keep the house cool." 

"Oh, but all this lovely sunshine!"

They were desperate to make the most of the glorious weather because they don't often see the sun in Cambridge. 

Taking sunny days for granted

I had forgotten what it was like living in the UK where you might only get a few sunny days in the year. I had forgotten just how sun-starved you can get living in a cold climate. I had to sympathise. Poor things.

We have been here so long that once the temperature climbs into the mid-30s, we are indoors with not only the windows closed but the shutters too. 

We only emerge in the early hours of the morning to do gardening and shopping, and in the evening to do watering and have apéros. 

The rest of the time we live indoors, opening the shutters in rotation on the shady side of the house as the sun moves around it. Sometimes the temperature indoors is so fresh that I find myself actually wearing a cardigan in August. 

Read more: Tips for keeping your home cool during heatwaves in France

The joy of sun avoidance

There is something very relaxing about avoiding the sun. Obviously it means you don't have to attempt to get a tan, which was always an uncomfortable and tedious business. (So much easier to remain pallid all-year round.) 

It also often means you can get a table in a bar or a restaurant because all the tourists are busy turning themselves tomato-faced outside while the tables indoors are empty.

We tried explaining this to the cousins, but they really could not get on board with the concept. It was only once they had been thoroughly bitten by mosquitoes that they began to plot ways and means of keeping them out of their bedroom. 

An aerosol appeared, along with a plastic egg thing designed to be hung in a tent. A stinky candle and a sticky twist of brown paper followed. Then a selection of lotions and potions from the chemist. 

Read more: Air conditioning at French home: what aid is available to install this?

Finally, a combination of these did the trick, and the cousins decided to write instructions on repelling mosquitoes for use by subsequent guests. 

We did not bother reading it, to be honest, because we have the knack. We never open the bedroom windows in daylight hours. 

If we ever do get overheated, we wait until the mozzies have gone to bed. Then we turn all the lights off and open the windows from midnight to about 04:00 to let the moonlight in. 

By dawn, our windows and shuttered and barred. Apart from anything else, keeping the sun out of the house stops the carpets fading.