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Looking back

2008-12-31T15:45:00.001+01:00

New Years’ Eve – and time for a recap

This blog is in text only - to see the year in photos please visit : http://rosievie.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/2008-in-photos/

January

DIY seemed to have been then main topic of conversation – planning it, buying parts for it and decorating the ‘bedroom that would become a lounge’.

We were planning our holiday in Hong Kong, and talking about book clubs, watching Masterchef (can’t wait for the next series) and watching wildlife, including the kitten who made his first appearance; he was later to become known as BB (short for Big Balls) for obvious reasons should you have ever seen him walking away from you. We went to the sales and did a bit of trolley browsing and went for a long drive in search of the ‘snow capped mountains’ in the Cantal but didn’t quite get far enough. We did, however, come across the smelliest woman in France in the supermarket on the way home again!

Jon took advantage of the milder weather and did lots of work in the garden clearing land and making the cats a special shelter so that they could stay dry if we were out and it was raining.

We looked back on 2007 and forward to 2008, thinking that we would have got a little further with the loft (and so what?) and that we would have lots of visitors – that was true at least!

February

Our telephone supplier let us down very early in the month but we were off to Hong Kong for a holiday so we left it all to deal with on our return. The cats were packed off on their own ‘holiday’ and we had a fantastic two weeks in the most incredible place.

We have discovered a slightly faded but wonderfully placed hotel on one of Hong Kong’s islands. It’s right on the beach and very peaceful but with easy access to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon only a short ferry ride away.

We had a wonderful fortnight’s holiday enjoying the sea, sights and smells of the Far East.

March

It wasn’t until 20^th March that we were finally connected back with the outside world after our telephone was accidentally cut off and we found a new supplier. A very frustrating month!

The weather was fairly pleasant at the beginning of the month and Jon was busy outside clearing lots more land

Then it rained. And rained and poured.

We read more books, went to more reading groups and attended our village pub quiz for the first time.

It was a damp miserable Easter but finally on the last day of the month work started on our pool. They told us it would take two weeks….???

APRIL

We heard the first cuckoo of spring on 1^st April last year – we were wishing it would shut up by the end of the month!

Work continued on the pool as Jon made a hole in the sitting room ceiling to give access to the loft.

Friends came over and they and Jon spent a day taking down trees and letting in more light (still loads more to do in 2009 though!)

Work continued on the pool and the weather wasn’t too bad. On Jon’s birthday we had a lovely sunny lunch outside a restaurant for the first time this year, and four days later we were drowning!

But later in the month the sun came out again and we had our biggest tree cut down

The pool was finished but the heater didn’t work!

May

3^rd May we had our first swim!

We enjoyed sitting outside and watching the lights in the pool and down in the village so it must have been fairly warm.

The log burner was on order and we had the calcaire delivered for the garden paths on the hottest day of the year so far!

We tried to get our tax forms completed, unsuccessfully, and went to a plant fair which was more successful.

Amanda and Alice came to stay and the rain returned – fortunately not for the whole week.

Alice learned to swim!

June

Mum came to stay and the neighbours cats obviously decided she was a soft touch and thought they’d try and move in with her.

Fat chance.

We returned to the UK for a party and had the most wonderful weekend.

Within hours of our return to France our new grandson was born back in the UK – missed it! So I had to return to the UK again to get my baby cuddles.

We had our new log burner fitted, after some bees had to be ‘rehoused’ from the chimney and enjoyed some of the hottest weather of the summer.

July

The weather was hot and sultry. Vic and Shirley came down and stayed in a nearby gite, we had some lovely meals together and swatted a million flies!

The new stairs and new front door were fitted

Robbie came to stay and helped Jon move tons of logs!

I had another series of arguments with the telephone company and the neighbours cats decided to break in while Jon and I were in the garden, eat our cats’ food and make themselves totally at home, one on the sofa and the other up in the loft! They were swiftly evicted – squatters rights? Not applicable!

August

The month started very hot, vegetables were springing up all over the place and the veggie plot needed frequent watering.

The floorboards were delivered but the delivery truck couldn’t get up our driveway and we had to shuttle them from the village in our two small cars – quite an eventful day!

Lizzie and Tristan arrived for their holiday with our lovely little boys. Poor Leo had chicken pox and wasn’t at his best. Jack learned to swim in the pool and Riley was just adorable.

The cats went into hiding as much as they could for the duration of this visit and Jon and I moved into the chalet with them at night, leaving the house to the family.

We enjoyed the BBC Promenade concert season and started ‘rehearsals’ for a scratch performance of the Messiah.

September

The month started with a continuation of the busy entertaining schedule, staying guests and local friends. Rolf and Christine came and took us out for a wonderful meal in a local restaurant.

We thoroughly enjoyed the scratch Messiah at Puycelsi in the Tarn – a cd is available but we haven’t got a copy yet.

We went to Paris and Telford which didn’t go exactly to plan but we had a wonderful time at Bonita and Steve’s wedding despite Jon’s serious attack of gout and were extremely grateful for the loan of some comfy footwear to allow him to walk Bee down the aisle

A week later we welcomed Bee and Steve to stay with us for a week.

October

Bee and Steve left us and Nicki and Marcus arrived. We had some superb weather and the leaves began to turn colour.

Jon had a major battle with the shower unit which refused to settle down and stop dripping.

Nicki and Marcus left and Merv and Maria came over to celebrate an early Christmas. Boxing Day (23^rd October) was bright, warm and sunny.

Then, when our last visitors of the year had left (and the gout too), we were able to really get on with the loft.

Jon donned his Ghostbusters costume and treated all the wood, then laid the floorboards.

November

Suddenly the weather changed and we were out of t-shirts and into layers of sweaters. We even had a smattering of snow!

Jon finished laying the floor in the loft – which looks brilliant

We eventually picked up our Velux windows and a builder came to fit them. Just as he was packing up, it snowed again!

December

We took a quick trip to the UK and saw lots of family including the lovely boys. We even managed to fit in a trip to the theatre to see La Cage Aux Folles.

We both went down with bugs collected on our travels – Jon with a persistent cold and me with an inner ear infection.

The insulation for the loft was delivered and we have fitted it now, making the house so much warmer already.

Friends had a lovely big Christmas party where I sang(?) and Jon played the piano for me, some cellists and lots of carols.

On Christmas Day we had friends come to us for lunch, but on Boxing Day all our plans went awry when the snow came down bringing the local area to a standstill. Other parties were cancelled too.

And now, we are looking forward to a quiet New Year’s Eve on our own. A dinner for two and a glass or two of champers – what better way to reflect on 2008 and look forward to 2009.

We hope you all enjoy your New Years’ Eve, whatever you may be doing.

Snowed in

2008-12-27T08:42:00.003+01:00

LA VIE EN ROSE IS MOVING, PLEASE CHANGE YOUR 'FAVOURITES' TO www.rosievie.wordpress.com

We had a fantastic Christmas Day. The sunrise was stunning that morning.

Our friends Mr and Mrs H came for lunch which all worked exactly to plan and they were very complementary about my food, which I am very happy about as they used to own a restaurant and Mrs H is a food presentation expert. We sat by the log fire having several cups of after-lunch coffee, generally chewing the cud and relaxing. A lovely day.

Yesterday we had been invited to some other friends for the day. Mr and Mrs H were also invited and had kindly offered to drive us as it is at least an hour away.

An hour or so before we were due to leave a light sprinkling of little snow started.

'I'm so glad it's not us driving today' we said to each other.

By the time Mr and Mrs H turned up to collect us, it was a little more serious.

It would have been foolhardy to have driven in this, and we called Mr and Mrs E to say that we just couldn't make it. Mr and Mrs H had already taken 15 minutes to get to us, a drive that is usually 5 minutes maximum. We might just have got to Mr and Mrs E's by tea time instead of lunch and then there was no guarantee that we would get home again.

Our friends bid a hasty retreat home while they could, just in case it got worse and they couldn't get out again.

We had some lunch then decided to wander down to the main road to see what was going on. We could see a few vehicles crawling along the road from our house. On our track, our neighbour had abandoned his own car just before our driveway and had walked the rest of the way home uphill. Further down, another car has been abandoned too - we have no idea whose it is as it is registered in a completely different part of France!

Down at the main road, looking north we saw this.....

... but looking in the opposite direction up the hill we could see that nothing was moving and some lorries were completely stuck. The gendarmes had been called to supervise the traffic and were having a noisy conversation with a couple who had just left their campervan.

Just as we were turning to go back home, a steady stream of traffic crawled down the hill. Dozens of cars, lorries and trucks made their way gingerly northwards. It appeared that there had been a traffic 'incident' about which I can learn nothing at the moment, but these vehicles must have been stuck for at least two hours as we had seen nothing moving for at least that long.

We tramped back home and snuggled up in front of the log burner to watch 'Mamma Mia!' on DVD, then we scrabbled around and managed to make ourselves a very nice supper.

Today the snow is still lying. The cars are still abandoned on the track and we will be going nowhere again. The cats are totally bemused by this cold white stuff and only venture outside for the briefest of times to answer those calls which cannot be ignored!

The bird feeders are being well frequented and our resident pair of magpies are hopping around underneath hoping that the blue tits, coal tits and blackcaps will drop them some little titbits of food. Misty inside the back door chattering at them but not bothered about going to chase them off today.

So, if you want to know where we are today. It's just here.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T06:14:00.002+01:00

St Noël

Happy Christmas to one and all!

A very early Christmas morning for me. I don't remember being up this early on Christmas Day since I was a kid. Or was it when Jon used to have to work an early shift on Christmas Day? Probably that.

I've seem to have had a run of early starts for no apparent reason. Well, cats I suppose.

Anyway, here I am with a bit of time to reflect on the last few days.

The Christmas party just over the hill here went very well. Many of the guests joined in the spirit of things and did a 'turn'. There were jokes, cello playing (with audience participation), stories, monologues and some dame singing a couple of songs. Luckily I managed not to screech off key too much and they seemed to go down well. Jon hammered away on the piano and everyone joined in The Twelve Days of Christmas bullied by myself into singing a line per couple and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The carols were loudly sung with the odd descant popping in here and there.

After the performances our friend, Sue, put on a brilliant supper for 28 people and everyone mingled well before disappearing in their various directions, probably to meet up again at drinks parties over the next week or so. We have told our friends that we are expecting a repeat party next year since it went so well. They are keeping quiet about whether they can face another one but I bet they do!

On Monday I was due to take Mrs H shopping but unfortunately her foster dog (which is a whole new story) took ill and she had to take him to the vet. I took advantage of the day ironing and making shopping lists and menu plans. We did make our shopping trip on Tuesday and it seemed that the whole of this corner of France had decided to do the same thing.

Or so we thought. Until Jon and I, up early on Christmas Eve, decided to make an early trip to market, via the supermarket, to buy our festive goose. We arrived at the supermarket 10 minutes before opening and watched the crowd gather at the door from the warmth of our car. It was freezing!

The French do enjoy oysters on Christmas Eve. And Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day... any party they can think of. A stall was set up outside the supermarket piled high with boxes containing 3 or 6 dozen of these funny looking shellfish. People were taking advantage of the supermarket not being open by buying up several boxes each and returning them to their cars.

Eventually the main doors open and everyone piled in. I was expecting a Sainsbury's or Tesco mad dash all around the shop but no, everyone headed straight for the fish counter and stood in another queue.

Luckily this gave Jon and I the shop to ourselves and we managed our few bits of shopping - milk, cream, smoked salmon - in record time.

The market in town was bustling and we soon located the smallest goose we could find. Actually we didn't have a lot of choice since we didn't want a huge bird and there were no medium-sized ones to be seen. We decided that we will supplement the goose with a slice of Festive Ham, which I have cooked according to Nigella's book Feast, in cranberry and apple juices with cinnamon, cloves and star anise (actually, Nigella doesn't use star anise but I love that smell that reminds me of Hong Kong and Christmas both at the same time).

So today's menu is:

Chestnut soup
Individual smoked salmon terrines with beetroot crisps and salad
Roast goose and festive ham, chestnut, prune and pork stuffing, roast potatoes, maple glazed parsnips and green beans
Selection of cheeses
Muscat wine crème caramels with cinnamon biscuits and spiced fig
Coffee served with christmas pudding truffles

Which reminds me - I'd better get cooking!

Happy Christmas, one and all. Have a wonderful day.

With love and best wishes to you all.

Sue and Jon

Let the festivities commence....

2008-12-21T08:21:00.002+01:00

St Tomaz

The Christmas festivities begin today with a party at friends' this afternoon. These friends are in the midst of rebuilding their house from the ground up. We are in awe of their project compared to our 'dabbling' in DIY.

They completely gutted their house in the 'Grand Designs' tradition and are recreating their living spaces from the ground up. They currently have a completed bedroom, bathroom and boiler room but their kitchen and dining room (almost as big as our house) are still work-in-progress. They have organised today's party for 30 guests cooking with only two electric rings and a microwave, a couple of slow cookers and a hand basin in place of a kitchen sink. Their kitchen units are waiting to be fitted when they have laid the floor tiles which they were hoping to have done by now but ran out of time.

Our friends asked if I would help by making the canapés which will be served to all the guests when they arrive along with a drink. The aim of the drink is to make everyone relaxed and convivial as each invitee has been asked to do a 'turn' before dinner. Our hosts are performing some sketches and poems. Jon will be playing the piano for carols and accompanying some other friends who will be playing the cello. I decided when the invitation came some months ago, that I would subject the audience to a song or two. Now I'm beginning to panic! I changed song two days ago when I realised that I just couldn't cope with the one I had originally planned, now I have two other songs and I think I might just have learned the words(?)

Yesterday I spent all day in the kitchen making nibbles. Delia Smith's little cheese and olive scones are always a hit, little mouthfuls with a piquant bite to them. There are tiny cheese and tomato puff pastry bites and Serrano ham bites too; feta, pepper and olive sticks, stuffed cherry tomatoes, tiny tuna vol au vents and a pile of bruschetta waiting to be spread with various toppings.

It's the first time I've been asked to provide food for someone else's party and I wasn't sure how much to do. I'm sure there's far too much food here but we can always use the left overs for lunch for the rest of the week if we have to!

If I'm not run out of town for creating a terrible noise I will report back on the party tomorrow.

Dark days and warm places

2008-12-18T08:25:00.003+01:00

St Gatien

Not terribly unusual that I was up early this morning - the unusual thing is that it wasn't because the cats dragged me out of bed. Quite the opposite in fact. Figgy, who has been sleeping on our bed every night for the last week or so since we 'liberated' him from the cattery, was nowhere to be seen.

He crawled in late last night and after a brief kneading of Jon's lap disappeared somewhere in the house and hid.

He didn't stir when I popped down to the kitchen to give him his late night Whiskas kitten food (the only 'wet' food he gets) a ritual he usually loves and waits for.

So when I woke early and he still hadn't stirred I began to worry. As I roused myself, Misty appeared and asked to be let out, so I pottered down to the kitchen at 6am and couldn't be bothered to go back to bed. Figgy finally appeared about 15 minutes later but I still don't know where from.

They've both been out on their usual morning patrol and are back indoors looking for fires, blankets and warm spots.

At 8.30am it is finally just about light. I hate these dark mornings but then in the UK I used to hate the dark evenings. There was nothing worse than going to work in the dark and arriving back home in the dark. If I didn't get out of the office at lunch time it was as if I didn't see the light of day for weeks. Our weather has been very dull for a week now but there is light on the horizon as the forecast for Sunday is sun all day.

We had a good day yesterday. We finally were both fit enough to spend a day insulating the loft, and are very pleased with our progress. The majority of it is now done but the last few sheets will have to wait for a few days.

Why?

Because Jon is now injured again after he fell (and we still don't know how) off the ladder in the loft. Luckily it is nothing more than a nasty bruise and a sprained shoulder and, like a good trooper, he climbed straight back up the ladder to finish the job. Today he will be very sore and probably won't be able to use his arm again for a couple of days, but we do hope he will be able to play the piano for our friends Christmas Party on Sunday afternoon, otherwise the carols will be very dull.

Moving house

2008-12-15T09:22:00.002+01:00

Morning, readers.

I've been working on a new project. I've been thinking of moving home - there is a new La Vie En Rose over at Wordpress - please drop in and let me know what you think!

Find my new home here

I will continue to update both blogs until I decide which one to keep going - all old posts can be found on the new one as well as here.

Bugs, germs and rolls of insulation

2008-12-14T14:15:00.002+01:00

Ste Odile

We both seem to have collected nasty germs during our trip to the UK. Poor Jon has been coughing and sneezing all over the place and I have got some sort of virus which has kept me immobile for days, mostly on my back as the room spins uncontrollably every time I stand up. However, I think we are both on the mend. Which is just as well given the busy fortnight up and coming.

We sadly missed our first Christmas party on Friday due to the bugs which we were very disappointed about, but we did have a very pleasant surprise on Friday morning.

You will recall my numerous moans and groans about slow, late or just vanishing deliveries over here Sarkozyland. Well, in the hunt for insulation materials I came across a website which promised delivery 'in under 48 hours'. Fat chance, we thought, but since we don't have the transport with which to collect 7 rolls of 15 sq m of insulation, we thought we'd give it a go, expecting the stuff to turn up sometime after Christmas.

I placed the order on Wednesday afternoon just before 3pm and had an immediate acknowledgement by e-mail. Nothing very surprising there as these things are usually automated.

On Friday morning the telephone rang at 9.30. I was still struggling myself into a sitting position in bed (it's been taking me a while) so Jon handed the phone to me. It was a delivery company asking for directions so that they could deliver our rolls of insulation. Within 15 minutes the van was at our door, unloaded and paid for.

Wow.

Jon thinks it will take the two of us a couple of days to put it all in place in the loft, so we should be toasty here for Christmas when we have cut out the draft coming down from the roof. Just as soon as I can stand up straight we can get on with it.

Meanwhile my eyes are beginning to work again so I can plan my Christmas Day menu, and my canapes for our friends 'bit of a do' next Sunday, and we can rehearse our turns for the same little party. Jon has been asked to play carols and accompany me and a few other friends. I haven't quite decided what to sing yet though.

The weather has been rather chilly this week but now it has started to rain. We hope we don't get quite as much rain as the UK has had this weekend, we don't want a repeat of last years' floods, thank you very much.

Friends and Family

2008-12-09T14:05:00.003+01:00

Ste Guadalupe

'You're back!' - friends seem pleased to see us. 'How did it go, how are you?'

That's a difficult one to answer.

We're pleased to be home, no doubt about it. There's nothing as good as your own bed, having the cats back home (they are truly grumpy about their own 'holiday'), being in your own home and knowing where everything is, a log fire, open spaces... I could continue.

We are pleased to be away from the heat of England. No, don't get me wrong, there wasn't a freak heatwave over there last weekend, quite the opposite, but we are used to the chill of our own home and the sharp French winter we're experiencing, and find everywhere in the UK from homes to shops to public transport, theatres, restaurants, even the Royal Festival Hall where we stopped for a five minute 'culture break' on Saturday evening, just very warm and slightly oppressive at times. Should you keep the coat on or off? Would you need a scarf, gloves or a tee-shirt and shorts?

However.

There's always a 'however', we had a wonderful time with family and friends. Lots of lovely cuddles with our grandsons, seeing the 'Sisters, and the Cousins and the Aunts' (no we didn't go to a G&S production), the mothers, the in-laws, the brother, the father. We can't deny that there's a pang of guilt, much sadness and a few tears when we say our goodbyes at the end of a visit. And, of course, with a 'split' family, Midlands and South, we didn't manage to see two of our daughters and granddaughter this time round.

We met up with friends that we haven't seen for two years, including some from overseas who happened to be in the UK at the same time as us. We didn't get the chance to have a long chat with all of them but it was good to see them 'in the flesh' and all looking so well.

We celebrated a 'virtual' New Years' Eve with the friends who were here in October for a 'virtual' Christmas, and sang the 'New Year' in with a verse of Auld Lang Syne.

We spent Saturday in London walking the traffic-free Regents Street and side roads, paying a visit to one of our favourite shops dedicated to musical theatre, The Dress Circle. We had a very nice lunch in Charing Cross Road at a new (to us) restaurant Med Kitchen, and later, after a visit to the fantastic show La Cage Aux Folles. The show was just amazing, even though we were sitting in the cheap seats on the 'mantlepiece' as one of the actors called it. It's one I've wanted to see for years so I was very glad we managed to fit it in.

On Sunday my (exhausted) sister entertained as many family and some friends, as she could fit into her house to lunch. We had a lovely time catching up with siblings and cousins and even recreated a few photos of ourselves as children, although the clothes and hair were not quite the same - my brother having been photographed in 1963 in a pair of short tartan trews!!! - Such a shame we couldn't find a pair to fit him again.

We are both grateful to everyone who made our trip home such a success, to friends for putting themselves out and finding time to meet up with us however briefly, to family for coming to see us on Sunday and especially to my sister Anne, my Mum and daughter #3, Lizzie for feeding, driving and entertaining us so well.

I know you're all exhausted, so we promise not to do it too often. Unfortunately!

Don't forget all. We're open for bookings for 2009!

PS - If you are wondering where the photos are. They are in my camera. Which is in my sister's house. Ooops!

Seeing the light of day

2008-11-29T16:29:00.003+01:00

St Saturnin

Ooops

Don't worry, it's not serious.

On Thursday our builder friend arrived to start work on the Velux windows. We knew that it would be one day's work per window. He was still with us at 6.45pm on Thursday evening.

This was the state of play on Friday morning.

Luckily he had a better day and had completed window number two by 4pm.

Over lunch on Thursday we reminded him that we would be going away for a few days next week, but not to worry, we could leave him a key.

Oh no. He wanted to finish it all before the rain comes on Monday.

I was amazed actually at his faith in Mr Meteo's predictions. As you all know we have very little faith in his accuracy and have virutally given up even looking more than a few hours ahead these days. Our friend, however had seen that rain was forecast for Monday and that was that.

He returned this morning at what seemed like first light (we are not early risers these days and as it was the third day on the trot we were feeling a little jaded). He has been working away all day and finished in the middle of the afternoon.

It was just as well because as he finished his cuppa and slipped our rather large cheque into his back pocket this happened.........

I don't think he had seen THAT coming on Mr Meteo!!!

One door closes ...

2008-11-24T18:35:00.002+01:00

Ste Flora

... and another shuts in your face, as my mother (who will probably deny it) used to say.

This isn't about us. We're doing OK, but our local English bookshop is closing its doors at the end of this year. It's sad to see any business close but it does seem to be a sign of the times as there are 'liquidation totale' signs up in many windows in our local towns. Luckily the reading groups attached to the bookshop have elected to continue, so we will still be getting our reading matter.

Just around the corner from the bookshop, another shop, three times the size, has just opened. This shop is selling English (should really be British) produce, they are taking orders for Christmas turkeys and gammons, they have a supply of clotted cream, Marmite, curry sauces and Walkers crips.

Most of these things are available here if you hunt for them and are prepared to pay the inflated price. We have made do without most of them or found alternatives, but I confess I have ordered myself a Christmas gammon. I asked for the smallest they could supply as it is VERY expensive! As for Marmite, we brought 3 huge jars over a year ago and still have plenty to last us a while. Curry sauces - we make 'em ourselves. Walker's crisps? Far too salty. Clotted cream? I can't remember the last time I had some of that. I'm sure I can live without it though.

A touch of glass

2008-11-19T16:38:00.002+01:00

St Tanguy

Did you see what I did there?

Our Velux windows were due for collection today. Being organised (Who said 'that makes a change?' I'll get you later), I decided to call the store yesterday to be sure that they would be there this morning.

Automated machine tells me to make my selection. That was easy 'Press one to verify the status of your order'.

Thank you. 'Please hold and you will be transferred to the relevant department'.

Goodie.

'Please enter the 10 digit order number'.

OK. Done that.

'Your order number is 1234567890. Press 1 for correct, press 2 to re-enter'

Pressed 1.

'Your order is not available. Good bye'

What? 'Hold on, I want to talk to someone'

Disconnected.

Tried again. Exactly the same thing, no option to talk to a human being.

So I thought I'd look at the website and see if that was any more helpful. Oh yes it was. I entered the the number of the first order. 'Your order is not yet available'. Tried the other order 'Your order is not yet available'. The website told me that the order was expected to be available today but I believe nothing.

You can therefore imagine my surprise when I went through the whole rigmarole again today only to learn that my order IS available. Lovely. My chauffeur collected me, drove me to the store, we collected the windows and brought them home.

As I felt we were on a winning roll, I suggested that this afternoon we try for the fifth time (no exaggeration) to purchase two pieces of glass, one for a small window in the loft and the other to replace the glass in our 'bullseye' window through which gales howl even on a still day.

My chauffeur from this morning had suggested a little shop which we had never been to before. It is slightly out of town and seemed to be a wallpaper and ceramic tile shop. However we thought it worth a try.

A very nice young man asked if he could help us as soon as we entered the shop. Did he cut glass for windows? Certainly he did. We gave him the measurements and were told to go shopping for an hour.

An hour later we returned, were given to pieces of, not unsubstantial, glass and charged the princely sum of 5 Euros and 5 centimes. Wow! The same glass in the UK would have cost me at least 20 quid!

Now we have to wait for our builder friend to come and fit the Velux, hopefully next week, and meanwhile Jon will be learning how to make window frames for the two 'awkward' windows.

Silent Saturday

2008-11-15T14:02:00.003+01:00

St Albert

CHEERS!!!

The Peak, Hong Kong, February 2008

Copyright Sue Smith 2008

It's curtain time

2008-11-14T16:09:00.003+01:00

St Sidoine

As Jon is progressing in the loft, I decided that I must put in some effort into preparing the soon-to-be-extended sitting room.

I've been looking for some curtains but not been very successful until I asked the question on a local website of where I could go looking for reasonably-priced fabrics.

A few suggestions were forthcoming but sadly one of them, which we went in search of last week, seemed to have disappeared. This was the day we also intended to buy our Velux windows.

We thought we were doing the right thing by checking the supplier's website first . Yes, the did them in the style we wanted and yes, they had three in stock. When we arrived in the showroom we were told that, in fact, they only had one in stock but could order the other two for two weeks time.

Fine. We would take the three fittings though.

Nope. We stood in line for the collection point only to be told that the one window claimed to be in stock wasn't, and of the three fittings, they only had one in stock.

Next week a friend is taking us to Brive in their estate car to collect the three windows and the remaining fittings. Meanwhile we are hoping and praying that the following two weeks remain dry so that our builder can come and fit them.

So, the trip north was unsuccessful on all accounts.

Yesterday I met a friend in town and we 'did' lunch. She then directed me to a little treasure trove of a shop just out of town.

This, fairly small, shop was laden with fabrics of every shade, weight and composition. Wow. My eyes lit up. We edged our way between bales and rolls of furnishing fabrics. Madame asked if she could help.

'What I'm really looking for, Madame' said I, 'Is inspiration'.

What exactly is Madame looking for? Curtains? For the dining room or bedroom. No, the salon. Ah, and does Madame want something bright, dark, lightweight?

Madame said she was looking for something fairly plain but with a certain 'je ne sais quoi'.

'I'll know it as soon as I see it' I said, helpfully.

Madame directed my friend and I to a pile of creams, beiges and whites, where we spotted a few 'possibles'. Suddenly I saw a flash of aubergine colour at the bottom of the pile. My alcoves are painted aubergine. This was hopeful.

My friend insisted we took the roll of fabric to the door to look at it in daylight. Good idea, I hadn't thought of that.

Yes, even better, the colour is just exactly what I wanted (even if I didn't know it when I walked into the shop). Cream with a splash of aubergine.

I'm looking forward to getting out my super sewing machine, bought two years ago and very low mileage, to get going on making the curtains this weekend.

Window shopping

2008-11-12T16:25:00.002+01:00

St Christian

Every Tuesday or Wednesday piles of leaflets pour into our letter box. All the local supermarkets, and there are many, want draw our attention to this week's special offers. One may have pork on special offer, another will have special deals on duck. We used to spend time looking through them just to see what possible bargain we might find this week, but nowadays we give them a more cursory glance and consign them to the recycling bin.

The only leaflets we give more time to these days are the DIY store leaflets. A new DIY store recently opened and it seems to have spurred its only real rival into action. However, the rival has two branches, one in each direction, both a half-day trip, of course, and these two branches never have the same things in stock. If we see something in one and don't have room for it but happen to be passing the other a few days later, it won't have it in stock, or it will be a completely different price. It's most frustrating.

This week we had a treat, three, yes three, leaflets from the wonderful stores Gifi and Foire Fouille. Now these are veritable treasure troves of shops. Readers may recall that Gifi is where we did our 'Christmas' shopping the other week. This time they have their Christmas decoration stock it. Ooh, I can't decide, shall I decorate my house in gold this year, or red and white? What about Venetian style? The options, it appears, are endless. I could even go for a black and white theme.

But then what about all those Christmas decorations we've collected over the years? The things that we had when the children were tiny and the baubles we bought in New York? No, I think we'll just get the baubles and tinsel and all those memories out again the same as every year.

Get those leaflets into the recycle bin quickly!

Oh, and.......

2008-11-07T12:09:00.002+01:00

Have you seen this? It's brilliant, but I can't help thinking that some people have way too much time on their hands.....!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4.

Some pictures

2008-11-07T10:35:00.008+01:00

Ste Carine

The loft floor is almost finished.

The electrics are in, the windows are on order, the man to fit the windows is on order.

Just the insulation and walls to do then. Just!

We were going to create two rooms but 'he who shall be obeyed' has expressed his preference for one big open space. For now at least. One end for bed and dressing ....

and the other for relaxation, office and my craft table (I just slipped that in, in case Jon is reading and didn't know!).

While he's been doing that, I have been cooking, cleaning and working. I managed to pick up some transcription work this week. It's not ideal, I would much rather have a large project to work on but at least it is varied.

I've also been planting some bulbs, in between showers as we have finally had some welcome rain, and I've been trying to find some fabric to make curtains for the soon-to-be enlarged lounge and kitchen. I've been given some tips on where to shop for fabric but the shops recommended are all at least one hours' drive from here - and every one in a different direction. So I will be taking my time touring the countryside in search of just the right fabric. A good excuse for the odd day out, methinks!

And here is what we woke to one day last week.

Pretty eh? Luckily it was only there for an hour or so.

We are the champions (well, this month at any rate)

2008-11-03T14:46:00.002+01:00

St Hubert

We gathered together a little team of six for this month's pub quiz. We quite look forward to these little gatherings and it's good exercise for the little grey cells.

This month's categories included Music, Literature, Rivers, Spelling and Nature. We usually learn something new. For example do you know that bees have five eyes? That's nice, they can obviously see all around them. But hang on. We have looked it up now here. That's all very well but where exactly are these eyes? We found a dead bee in the cellar yesterday and took a look at it, but I couldn't see five eyes. They must be well hidden. And do you know how many whiskers a cat has? 12, 18 or 24. I insisted it was 24 (although I suspect the Little Bar Steward and Misty Moo have even more than that), but the other two ladies on the team insisted that it couldn't possibly be that many. Herrrumph!

Well, despite that, we won. Only by 2 points, but hey ho, who cares. We are delighted to be the proud owners (for a month) of a very tasteful champions cup, and were even more delighted to be presented with this month's first prize, a jar of honey, three bottles of wine, a cigarette lighter each and a pair of pale green knickers.

No, I have no idea.

The wine has been donated towards our friend's 'bit of a do' for Christmas, the honey came home with us and the knickers are, I believe, tucked away in a drawer somewhere south of here.

So unpredictable

2008-11-01T09:04:00.003+01:00

St Toussaint

A week ago we were basking in glorious sunshine, t-shirts and shorts, lunch in the garden, all the windows open.

Now it's cosy by the log fire, dodging showers and even (we just couldn't believe it) SNOW this week. Luckily the snow only lasted for as long as it took for the air to warm up a little.

Fortunately, the day before the white stuff came down, I had wrapped up the delicate plants in their winter coats. Two days later (yesterday) the temperature was back up to the 'teens' and feeling very mild indeed. It's just very unpredictable.

We're quite glad that we're having some rain really. It's been a long time since we had any decent amount and the ground will need it over winter and so will the reservoirs.

Today is All Saint's Day. It's the day for putting huge pots of chrysanthemums on the graves of the departed. Shops have been full of them all week but we didn't like to buy them for the garden. Well not yet. Apparently next week they will all be half price - a bit like red roses in England the day after Valentine's Day! Then I will go in search of some to brighten up the patio until the bulbs start coming through.

Today is also a public holiday in France. The first of two in November - Armistice day being the second. I'm sure there are many who are extremely disappointed that this one falls on a Saturday this year as it doesn't give them an extra day off work. It hasn't stopped people from travelling away from home for the weekend though, and the roads have been quite busy. I expect they are all travelling back to their birth villages so that they can place the aforementioned pot plants on the correct graves.

Moving on

2008-10-28T18:19:00.002+01:00

St Jude

Hey Jude!

Now all our visitors have left it's back to work with a vengance, for Jon if not me. As always he says there's no room for me to help as he lays the floor in the loft.

The air was rather blue yesterday as he laid the first two rows and the pieces just wouldn't join together but with a firm anchor to work against now, it all seems to be going down much easier.

Our 'little man' is booked to come and fit our three loft windows in about three weeks time, before he goes back to England for Christmas, so we've been checking local stocks ready to make a trip or two to go and collect them. We took some time deciding how large to have the windows and checking on sizes available so I was a little horrified to discover that there aren't many places that stock the size we need! Luckily the shop we had originally wanted to buy them from does have them and isn't too far away, just an hour's drive.

Lucky for me the shop isn't far from my favourite fresh produce shop and I'll take advantage of being there to stock up on 'exotic' vegetables and cultivated 'wild' mushrooms, looking forward to making some delicious soups and curries in the coming weeks.

Praying for .....?

2008-10-26T18:06:00.003+01:00

St Dimitri

This little lass turned up yesterday afternoon as we were outside enjoying the sun.

She climbed onto the table and tapped Jon on the wrist. We never did find out exactly what she wanted!

That time of year again

2008-10-24T07:25:00.004+02:00

St Florentin

Very sadly we have just said goodbye to our last staying visitors of 2008. (Bookings now being taken for 2009!).

Readers may recall this time last year when we celebrated our virtual Christmas with a virtual Christmas dinner, virtual gifts and probably thought we were all mad. This year was even better.

Our friends arrived from the UK on Tuesday evening (Christmas Eve). We greeted them with a glass of champagne and enjoyed a Thai meal before sitting in front of a roaring log fire. At 11.30, as is traditional, we sang carols round the piano.

Let me just explain something for the uninitiated: This couple are very old friends with whom we never managed to spend Christmas, so whenever we could have a few days together, usually a rented cottage at half term, we would have a 'Christmas Dinner'. The tradition has expanded a little over the years.........

On Christmas morning we were very lucky to find the shops open (?) and armed with a maximum budget of 5 Euros each, we bought presents for each other in a little shop. The ladies had separated from the gents, I had to buy a present for my friend's husband, he for me, she for Jon and Jon for her.

We had great fun trawling the aisles of this little shop and found some fantastic little gifts. However, as we left we noticed a marquee in the car park - Christmas gift shop! Wow, us ladies were in our element and had to go and look at (I must add) some of the tackiest Christmas decorations we have ever seen in our life! We had to buy just one or two as we couldn't believe our eyes.

After a light lunch we prepared all the vegetables for Christmas Dinner and, since it was drizzling outside, we stayed indoors playing silly quizzes and games all afternoon.

The traditional roast turkey had shrunk and became chicken, but it was none-the-less tasty. However, before that we had to open our Christmas presents to each other. Sadly my photos of the gifts didn't come out very well, so you can't see the fantastic cow socks that Mrs Y received from Jon or the wonderful mobile phone holder that I bought for Mr Y, but here is Jon's gift ....

.... and here are my lovely socks (Mrs Y also received the same pair) which came with a lovely knitted hat (not matching).

Not bad for under 5 Euros, eh?

Yesterday (Boxing Day) was a beautiful day so we drove over to Rocamadour a medieval village and pilgrimage site which our friends had not visited before. We had a lovely time looking around the sanctuaries and gift shops before coming back home for a traditional (?) afternoon of moving logs and burning garden rubbish.

We've waved our friends off on their way to Toulouse airport very early this morning, but we're looking forward to seeing them again at their home soon to celebrate New Year's Eve - on 6th December.

Showers, visitors and chutney

2008-10-13T12:40:00.004+02:00

St Géraud

We are having a wonderful Indian summer. 26 degrees and a lovely warm southerly breeze. The trees and hedgerows get more colourful day by day and every excursion out is 'worth a wow' (family joke).

And what have we been up to in the last week or so? Well, the fig crop has been marvellous again this year and was supplemented by some friends crop (they don't like figs at all and end up with sacks of them), so the freezer has a plentiful supply and the other day I made 14 jars of chutney with the others - plus a few desserts of baked or stewed figs.

Jon had to remove the shower to repair the leaks, and has since relayed the floor and is currently revarnishing it.

We are currently enjoying the company of friends who have suffered a damp, cool summer in northern England and are delighted to find sunshine here so late in the year. They have been enthusiastic about the area, views, countryside, quiet, sun, wine, wine, cheese and wine, and we are delighted that they are so excited about everything. Our visitors do make us take another look at life here and, although every day we love the life we are living and the area we are living in sometimes, when we might just be starting to take it all for granted, along comes a new visitor to stir up our own enthusiasm and it is just like seeing the whole area through new eyes again.

Drip, drip, drip

2008-10-08T21:29:00.002+02:00

Ste Pélagie

Our super new shower has been installed. It's lovely. A big overhead shower, a hand held shower and side jets to massage aching backs.

I love it but we've had to disconnect it.

(Sighs dramatically.)

It took two days to install. The main problem being that the bathroom is very small and the shower is very big. Our plumber (and friend) worked on the pipework. Jon put the shower together in the lounge. They both took it apart again, having ensured that everything was there and then re-assembled it in the bathroom.

It became apparent that, although the shower fits really nicely in its allotted space, there wasn't enough space for Plumber to get behind it to connect all the bits and pieces.

Ooops.

OK. Cue scratching of heads, a bit of bad language and suddenly.... the idea lightbulb switches on and... the answer is to, disconnect the hand basin and remove it, pull the shower unit into the middle of the room, go into the loft and drop through the (oddly placed) loft access hatch that used to be directly over the bath.

Plumber, being a very slim person and, after all, the expert here, duly climbed into the loft and down the ladder behind the shower unit. Eventually the pipes were connected and the sides were ready to be connected to the base. Silicone sealant was put in place. Bits and pieces bolted together and, eventually, the whole thing was put in it's proper place (with Plumber safely back on the right side of it).

Wonderful. We loved it.

This morning, a lovely shower followed by furrowed brows. Where was that dripping sound coming from? Dammit. Right at the very back of the shower. Further exploration revealed several little 'oozings' from the side jets.

The only solution is going to be to move the whole thing out again and that means taking the hand basin out again... you get the picture ... and people are expected for lunch in an hour.

So tonight all is quiet. The shower is disconnected. No more drips.

And tomorrow we start the whole thing over again but this time without Plumber.

Joy, oh joy!!

Bit of a shocker!

2008-10-05T16:30:00.004+02:00

Ste Fleur

We've had some mixed weather, but it still came as a shock yesterday to see a frost. I hadn't been keeping a close eye on the overnight temperatures or I would have taken precautions with the vegetable plot.

The tomato plants have been shivering, the courgette leaves are shrivelled and only the figs seem to be, so far, unaffected. I went over this morning to gather up what was left and ended up with this little lot...

Quite a lot of green tomato chutney on the way this year, I think! Note the rather medium sized water melon grown by yours truly on the left - we are looking forward to cutting it open and trying it soon.

The sweet chestnuts in their prickly coats in the background were gathered by daughter #2 and her husband on a walk the other morning. They looked for wild mushrooms too but I think we get up a little late to beat the locals in the search for cepes and pied de moutons.

We've been rather disappointed with our walnut crop this year, there have been very few from our three trees and those that looked good were pinched by the red squirrels before we could get to them. Our main tree had none at all. We think it must have been upset by the flooding earlier in the year. We hope to get it back on track for the 2009 crop though.

The hedgerow was looking particularly colourful this morning, reds, yellows and still some greens are making our little corner of France look very pretty these days (not that it isn't normally).

Who ya gonna call...?

2008-10-02T14:42:00.003+02:00

St Léger

The day has dawned. The foot is a lot better, if not completely recovered. The whip was cracked by yours truly and I insisted that my ghost buster got up there in the loft and treated the woodwork for woodworm and termites.

He looked very fetching....

...and when I had stopped laughing I took a few photos.

It wasn't too hard a task luckily, and we'll be blocking it off tonight just to make sure the cats don't wander up there and get any of the noxious stuff on their paws.

The next job will be moving the wood up there to lay the floor. We have heard nothing from the mayor to let us know whether our application not to apply for planning permission has been refused (they have one month from the submission of the application to let us know if it's going to be refused or needs to be changed in any way), so with fingers crossed this time next week we'll be able to call our builder to fit the windows.

So things are moving on at last. It may even be done by 2010!

Office duties

2008-09-29T15:57:00.002+02:00

St Michel

I'd forgotten just what a pain audio typing is! I've been sitting at the 'puter for what feels like days, trying to make sense of a series of audio files that have white noise, mumbling regional accented voices and periods of everyone laughing and talking at the same time. A mobile phone was placed too close to the microphone and kept receiving beeping signals throughout the files. I finally finished typing them up at 9.30 this morning and we went out to play for the day.

We took the young people to Domme which, as you will recall is one of our favourite local places, especially just out of season when it is quieter. We had a lovely drive and a very nice lunch in the main village square.

Although it has been a lovely warm day, the leaves are beginning to turn from green to yellow, in some places they are quite brown and in other places they are falling from the trees like handfuls of confetti at a wedding.

To update you on 'the foot', it is still quite painful and a little swollen but we are hoping that Jon will be fighting fit and back working on the loft in a very few days!!

No time Toulouse

2008-09-26T23:33:00.003+02:00

St Damien

What a busy week. Not only nursing Jon's poor gout and trying to keep him sitting still as much as possible with his leg in the air, but trying to start work, back at the audio typing game.

We've had two lots of lunch guests and four friends for supper last night (my birthday). Book club, quiz night. It's a mad social whirl here.

So this weekend I will have to continue working but also I'll be collecting daughter #2 and her husband from the airport in the morning and we're looking forward very much to having them to stay for a week.

We've finally organised for our shower unit (which has been languishing in the garage for a year) to be fitted in 10 days time, and work must continue on the loft next week, starting with treating the woodwork and then on to laying the floor. Our planning application has been in for nearly 3 weeks now and at the point of 4 weeks if we've not had a reply then we can arrange for the windows to be put in.

Suddenly it has become autumn with chilly mornings and evenings but we are putting off the first lighting of the log burner. Rest assured, you will be the first to know when we have a 'grand first lighting'.

... and the bride's father wore .....

2008-09-22T17:29:00.004+02:00

St Maurice

Well we are back from our little sojourn in Paris and Telford 48 hours earlier than intended.

We left as planned of Thursday morning to catch the train to Paris, had a good journey up and arrived at lunch time. Lunch was partaken in a little tourist restaurant next to Shakespeare and Company, on the left bank of the Seine, overlooking Notre Dame. Very nice too.

Then we went in search of a tie to complete the Father of the Bride, outfit and headed back to our hotel for a bath and a rest before dinner in one of Paris' oldest brasseries, Bofinger.

Bofinger is a wonderful building, all art deco, glass, paintings and wood. The food was delicious and a very friendly Maitre D served our table.

Sauntering back to our hotel in the Marais area, Jon realised that his foot was aching rather more than it should have. Maybe just the shoes, and the slow walking, we hoped, but when he took his shoe off back at the hotel we both (silently) thought that it was probably worse than that.

Friday morning after little sleep we realised that yes, in fact, it was gout. Very, very painful.

Our plan was to catch the metro to Charles de Gaulle airport, plane to Birmingham and then rail to Telford and a taxi to our hotel. We managed it, heaven knows how, as Jon's foot was just getting more and more swollen, redder, hotter and more painful.

The day of the wedding dawned. Jon was under strict instruction to stay in his room with his foot up while the 'titivating' party went off to titivate the reception.

As we were getting dressed for the ceremony, Jon was determined to put his shoes on.

No way.

He was in agony and had to remove the shoe immediately. I'm amazed he even tried to put it on.

There was no way he could wear it. But he was still determined that he would be able to walk down the aisle and give the bride away.

Our friend came up with the only solution.

'He's not wearing those!' I thought to myself. Well, maybe I voiced it as well.

He did.

The father of the bride staggered down the aisle wearing a very smart linen suit, new tie from Paris and

..... ...... a pair of £6 Tesco carpet slippers!

But at least he managed it and performed his father-of-the-bride tasks admirably, with a smile on his face even though he was in pain!

Thanks Tesco!!

Off we go

2008-09-17T15:25:00.002+02:00

St Renaud

I always feel so awful when I take the cats to their holiday home. Today I felt worse as they were so good in the car (they are usually very noisy giving me a 'musical' accompaniment all the way there).

And to see their little faces looking out of the run.

Misty looks at Figaro and shrugs

Figgy says 'Dammit, what have we done this time?'

'I really don't know' Misty replies, 'but it was obviously bad enough to warrant another spell in the slammer'.

They are probably already making plans for their escape - will it be the tunnel or will they disguise themselves as a couple of German Shepherds and sneak out under cover of darkness?

---

Meanwhile, it's the early train for us tomorrow to Paris meaning we have to get up before daylight (do people really do that?). Friday a flight to Birmingham and on to Shropshire for our daughter's wedding on Saturday. The big hat and the suits are packed safely. We have French embellishments for the bridal car and have double, nay triple checked; passports? Tickets? English money? Have we packed the father of the bride's speech (it's a cracker!)?

So, no more blogging until Wednesday next (sorry, Jim).

See you then!

A strange and unusual plant

2008-09-15T13:26:00.003+02:00

St Roland

Meet Audrey 2....

As you know, we were out all day on Saturday 'Hallelujah'-ing and 'For unto us a child is born'-ing. It was dark when we got home and we didn't really take any notice of the outside.

I was very surprised yesterday morning when I came down to let Misty out and make tea to spot this little lady on the garden table.

We'd never seen her before and she had no label to say how she got here. None of our friends know anything about her and we don't know of anyone else who would have left her there.

So, we have decided that as she is a 'strange and unusual plant', and appears to have just landed here from nowhere, she must therefore be an Audrey 2.

We will be extremely careful to feed and nurture here and not to cut our fingers anywhere near her. If she starts saying 'Feed me', we will run like Paula Radcliffe and Emil Zatopek out of here!

If you don't know what on earth I am talking about - look here

By the way, if you do know anything about how she got here, do please tell!

Le Messie de Haendel

2008-09-14T10:12:00.004+02:00

St Materne

Halleluhah!

Yesterday morning we were up before light (ugh) and out after a very quick breakfast. We were surprised how many other people were also out and about that time on a Saturday - and they weren't the chasse in their white vans.

We headed on south into the Tarn and alongside the river Aveyron before heading down further south to the village of Puycelsi. The village itself is one of 'The Most Beautiful Villages in France'. There is an association of 152 villages in France with this accolade. There are certain criteria to meet such as the number of occupants (less than 2000), the architecture, environment and heritage.

Sitting on top of a hillside with stunning views all around, this peaceful village is incredibly busy with lots of activities, bars, good walking and the Church of St Corneille. This once beautiful church is in need of restoration and lots of TLC. An association has been set up to raise the money for restoration and one of the fund-raising events is a performance of Handel's Messiah with a scratch choir.

Thus briefed we all paid our registration fees, which included lunch and afternoon tea, and duly gathered together yesterday morning eager for our first rehearsal. Unfortunately, because we had registered late, our names were not on the list of choristers, but we were still allowed in!

After two hours of practice we were ready for lunch of salads and quiches, cheese and dessert which set us up for a second two hour rehearsal and then afternoon tea (which was very welcome) and our performance began at 6pm - very, very early by French standards. Of course before we were allowed to sing there were the obligatory speeches, the mayor, the chairman of the restoration committe and another chap whose role I didn't quite get but he spoke at length about the cost of restoration and the way it is achieved. Finally we could begin.

We sang our little hearts out accompanied by organist Nicholas O'Neill from the UK to the direction of Mark Opstad. Four excellent soloists completed the group and the performance itself went very well indeed.

We performed our encore, a second rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus and the audience stood to applaud all the performers.

On my way out of the church I was stopped by an elderly gentleman.

'Thank you so much for a wonderful evening's performance' he said.

Little things like that give you such a warm feeling inside.

Which was just as well since as soon as we set foot outside the wind got up and the heavens opened. I threw off my 'instrument of torture' shoes and ran for the car bare footed. The rain lessened just long enough for me to take a photo of the most stunning sunset I've seen in a long time.

Such a long day and we still got home in time to catch the second half of the Last Night of The Proms - Bryn Terfel's voice is just wonderful - and thanks to the new Proms Director for not playing Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs which has just got too farcical for words these days!

All photographs copyright Sue Smith, September 2008

The Omnivore's One Hundred

2008-09-12T10:52:00.003+02:00

St Apollinaire

I found this on Veronica’s lovely foodie blog (I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow, Veronica).

It’s quite popular on the foodie blogs so here’s a go. There are some very ordinary things here and some rather odd and probably dangerous ones too – I never considered myself an adventurous eater and I really think a poisonous fish is a step (chew?) too far, but I’ve tried more than I would have thought. It’s actually given me some ideas to have a go at some other things too. I have to confess that I had to look a few things up on google!

Here’s how it works:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare (admittedly I opted for the partly cooked version and it was only a taste of someone else's!)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (Vietnamese beef soup – I love Vietnamese food but haven’t ever tried this one)
13. PB&J sandwich -(Peanut butter, yes; jam/jelly, yes, but together??? perleeese!)
14. Aloo gobi (Indian potato curry)
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses (many an odd cheese but not this one - yet)
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Home made elderberry )
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (At least I think I've just grown some!!)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
~~25. Brawn, or head cheese~~ (bleugh!)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (I’m not that stupid)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (lightly grilled with garlic and shallot butter - yum)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (Should do, it sounds lovely)
31. Wasabi peas (We’ve made wasabi chicken but never tried peas)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (Clam Chowder but not the sourdough bowl)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (both, but not together)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (I really must try it though!)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
~~42. Whole insects~~
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (Please note I did not buy said bottle)
~~46. Fugu~~ (can’t understand why you would want to)
47. Chicken tikka masala
~~48. Eel~~ ~~(too much like snakes for my liking!)~~
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (yuk)
~~50. Sea Urchin~~ (no way!)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
~~53. Abalone~~
54. Paneer (Indian cheese)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (how embarrassing to admit)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (sounds quite disgusting, gimme a g&t any day)
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (Also sounds quite disgusting)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (??)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
~~66. Frogs’ legs~~
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (accidentally on French OU summer school in Caen - quite revolting!)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (poor deer)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (half a point methinks as Lyons must be the same sort of thing)
78. Snail (I was persuaded to try one by a friend, shared half a one with someone else, we both agreed that they are quite revolting – Jon quite likes them though)
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (I hadn’t even heard of it until now)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (Oh, in my dreams!)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (Nooooo! We have them in the field here, rarely but they are so lovely)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
~~89. Horse~~
90. Criollo chocolate (At least I think so)
91. Spam (Lord, school dinner spam fritters!)
92. Soft shell crab (much to my surprise I really liked it - probably because it was served up at a wonderful restaurant in Surrey - Kinghams in Shere)
93. Rose harissa (Yes to harissa, we use it all the time, but not with rose petals)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox - not together though
97. Lobster Thermidor (Lobster yes but Thermidor-ed nope)
98. Polenta (Didn't like it much - must try a different recipe)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
~~100. Snake~~

Well, that’s just 67 out of 100. With 9 I wouldn’t consider, that leaves me plenty to seek out and try. I really look forward to number 84.

Note to self – find rich man to take me out to dinner!

Something(s) in the air

2008-09-11T13:43:00.002+02:00

St Adelphe

I have tried, honestly, to get some nice photos for you of our latest wonder. Having been dive bombed every day for weeks in and around the pool by ghastly green-faced horseflies with a bite like nothing you've known, we are now enchanted by our latest 'playmates' by the pool. They are dragonflies - we have Golden Ringed dragonflies and Emperor dragonflies fluttering around. Sometimes they stop right in front of you and it is as if they are peering into your face to see what you are.

They are just beautiful and quite amazing creatures. We'll be looking them up to see if we can find out more, and also trying to photograph them for these pages.

Later this afternoon whilst sitting and sewing outside in the garden I heard a lot of chattering going on, a sort of 'tseep' and 'tchirrip'. Looking up we could see literally hundreds of house martins swooping and fluttering around as the clouds rolled in and the sky got heavier. Obviously there were plenty of low flying bugs and flies for them to feed on and they were enjoying a huge bugfest orgy! The area they were covering was very wide as they filled the sky.

We know that they are nesting in the church and around the village and now and then the flock has come as far south as our house but we had never seen quite as many as this and we wondered if they were beginning to head south for winter, gathering into larger flocks on the way.

It will be a sad day when we don't see them any more in the village as a sign that summer has left us. Today we have had 26 degrees and beautiful clear skies once again until late afternoon when the cloud has begun to gather. The next few days are forecast as unsettled but we have great hopes that summer isn't over yet.

Summer continues

2008-09-08T18:42:00.002+02:00

St Adrien

I'm really sorry to tell you chaps in Brownland that summer continues beautifully here, fantastic clear skies and warm temperatures.

We went to Rocamadour this morning partly on a search for clothes for the wedding and partly to treat ourselves to lunch out to celebrate our wedding anniversary yesterday. Having noticed a distinct quietening of the roads and shops since 1st September we were very surprised to find the village absolutely packed with tourists. Where were they all staying? Certainly nowhere near us, all the campsites are empty and the hotels are quiet too.

We found a table at a restaurant on a terrace overlooking the valley and browsed the menu. No sooner had we made our choices than the restaurant suddenly filled up. French, British and Dutch diners all clamouring for their cassoulet or confit de canard.

It was a lovely lunch, very relaxed and, considering the number of people visiting the village, quiet.

The best news is that I now have an outfit for the wedding.

I think.

Maybe I still need some shoes.

But I do have a hat!

Silent Sunday

2008-09-07T10:29:00.003+02:00

Ste Reine

No, not Sunday lunch, these are our neighbours!

Sheep shall graze, Frayssinet, July 2008

Copyright Sue Smith, July 2008

Chilled courgette soup with mint

2008-09-06T15:35:00.002+02:00

St Bertrand

I didn't pick any courgettes yesterday having checked them the day before and seeing none that were in danger of taking over the garden, so I was a little surprised to find a couple of marrows on the courgette plants today - it's amazing what a little rain can do - and it wasn't heavy rain overnight!

So, this next recipe is for courgette and mint soup - to be eaten chilled. Allow at least 4 hours for the soup to cool in the fridge before eating.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan and gently cook 1 chopped onion for a couple of minutes until softened.

Add 1kg of courgettes, chopped. Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes further then cover and leave over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the courgettes are soft but do not allow them to colour.

Add 1.5 litres of vegetable stock and a handful of chopped fresh mint leaves and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and leave to simmer for a further 20 minutes until the courgettes are soft.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before blending the soup. Adjust the seasoning and add stir in a small pot of creme fraiche.

Put the soup into a large bowl or tureen and allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Taste before serving and adjust the seasoning if required. Serve in individual bowls with a swirl of creme fraiche and a sprig of mint.

Time flying by

2008-09-02T17:54:00.002+02:00

Ste Ingrid

We had a call from a friend yesterday inviting us to supper on Friday. 'We'd love to of course' I said and went to write it on the calendar. We thought that after a heavy few weeks we had at least two weeks free to concentrate on home before we disappear to the Midlands for a weekend (more on that later).

Last week, after our last staying guests for the time being went home we had time to clear out the chalet and restock the fridge, then it was bookclub and friends to supper night, followed by quiz night. We had this week free, then a couple of things on next week culminating in the Messiah performance on Saturday evening. A few days later we head to Paris and then on to Birmingham and Shropshire. So we were looking forward to a few quiet days.

Then on Saturday morning as I was heading for the bakers my mobile rang:

'We're in town and thought we'd drop in and see you as we head home. You did say that you might have some bread and cheese to share for lunch'....

Of course I did, as Jon says, I'm very free with my invitations for people to 'drop in' even if, as in this case, it isn't actually on their way home - they live in the opposite direction!

Thinking on my feet, I bought extra cheese, and a few sliced meats too to pad out lunch.

It was lovely to see our friends as they had been back in the UK for 6 weeks and hadn't been well before they left. We spent a couple of hours catching up and, that was most of Saturday taken care of.

On Sunday we were expecting people to lunch. We spent the morning getting lunch reading and tidying the garden which had been neglected for a week.

One o'clock came and no visitors. Two o'clock, two thirty..... At three I started making a cake, convinced that they would like something to eat later with a cup of tea. And we ate our lunch without them (it was very nice).

At four fifteen they called and it was apparent that they were heading for another village with the same name (almost) as ours. Finally at 5 o'clock they arrived. We had a nice cup of tea and lemon drizzle cake in the garden, showed them around the house and they went off to their hotel not very far from here.

At eight we went to a restaurant where we had planned to meet them. At eight thirty they turned up.

It was a lovely restaurant just north of Cahors at St Martin. We had a very nice meal, delicious, beautifully presented, excellent service and not too expensive. Just a really relaxed evening with some lovely people. They had offered to take us out to dinner at a restaurant of our choice and it all worked out beautifully. We said a sad goodbye to them at the restaurant and hope to see them again soon, probably back in the UK.

And we didn't once mention lunch.

Quizzical

2008-09-01T18:00:00.000+02:00

St Gilles

'..and the next category is Pop Music'

A groan echoes through the bar, but it's really all pretence.

We are in the new village bar attending the monthly quiz - 'Le P'tit Quiz' to be precise. It's only the second time we have attended having been prompted by a friend who wants us to come along.

Earlier in the evening we found ourselves sitting alone at a table, not knowing anyone else other than by sight waiting for the three people we did know to turn up.

The 'new' bar is a rather ugly construction, totally out of context with the rest of the village but proudly constructed by the local village council to house the bar, shop and apparently now, restaurant.

The village always has had a very small shop and bar, poorly attended. About 8 years ago it suddenly shut down, and we watched from afar to see what would happen. Eventually, the property was leased by a couple in their early 40s who ran a small shop and bar once more. We had originally hoped that it might be bought by someone who would run a shop and restaurant, but to be honest, this village is not really a 'restaurant' type of village. As tenants, their landlord being the local council, they were persuaded to move into the new building and run the new shop, bar and restaurant. We have yet to find out exactly what the restaurant is offering. However, the shop is small but reasonably stocked and not seriously overpriced. Last night wass our first foray into the new bar.

Due to a bit of a mix up, we were put with a couple and their son who we had not met before but we seemed to get along very well and (she said proudly) our team came a very close second (close that is to third and not to first!).

The other couple were very pleased that the 'usual' winners were well and truly thrashed this month and a new team took home the winners cup, for a whole month.

It is an ex-pat quiz in English, I should add at this point, but we were surprised at the number of English people who do live very close to us - we don't normally run into any of them, don't see them at the shops or anywhere so although they may get together once a month for a bit of light entertainment, it isn't exactly an 'English enclave' we are living in.

The banter and complaints are the same as you would find in the UK:

'The answer 'fish' shouldn't be accepted when the questions is 'what are the two main ingredients of a kedgeree', called one lady 'it must be smoked haddock, nothing else would be acceptable'.

She was over-ruled (probably by the team who needed a point from 'fish' to stay in the running.

Pop music was the one category we were dreading, but the questions were kind.

- What number relates to the Rolling Stones' nervous breakdown?
- Who was waiting for Robert Di Nero?
- What wasn't it unusual to see Tom Jones do in 'It's Not Unusual'?

We did very well. Surprisingly we also did well on the category 'film'.

But our moment of glory came when one of our team recognised the 'mystery person' was Spike Milligan from the first 5 words of a 25 word clue. He'd hardly said a word all night but his quick response managed to win our second place. Well done to him.

By the way, does anyone out there know the number of grams of fat in a Big Mac?

Would you want to?

And the winner is....

2008-08-29T08:29:00.002+02:00

Ste Sabine

I duly took my book selections along to the group yesterday evening and they selected one of the books I don't already have (of course), Alison Light's 'Mrs Woolf and the Servants'. We'll be discussing this one at the end of October, so I'm quite looking forward to reading it and seeing what the others think.

I was asked by a friend yesterday why I don't say much at these book groups, which set me thinking a bit. I never have any trouble chatting away inanely with friends but in a large group I tend to shut up (did I hear a distant cheer?). I think it's because someone has usually already voiced my thoughts and I can't be bothered to either repeat them or to find something else to say. So, I suppose that just makes me lazy? However, when it comes to talking about Mrs Woolf I will have to lead the discussion and think of all sorts of intelligent things to say. Ho hum. At least I have a couple of months to think about it.

Meanwhile it's onwards and upwards with Doris (see previous post) who I am getting to grips with, honest. The same friend as mentioned earlier has loaned me (unrequested) another Doris book which seems to be about her cats. I looked at it far more eagerly than I did at The Golden Notebook but she said 'If you don't hate her already, you will when you read this!'.

OK. Thanks for that.

Another friend yesterday said she had seen Doris at the Edinburgh Book Festival a few years ago and that she was very impressed with her. She held the audience spellbound and saw off a heckler with no problem and a twinkle in her eye.

I don't hate Doris, I just wish she had used a few less words. However, I've never given up on a book group read yet and I won't give up on this one. My light relief (?) is continuing to learn the alto part of the Messiah - just over two weeks to go and I feel I'm making progress. I don't know if the neighbours agree though.

My turn

2008-08-27T07:08:00.002+02:00

Ste Monique

Ooh, I've had a right job coming up with a selection of books for one of my book groups. My brief was 'A recent publication' and I was told that it had to be recently published in paperback.

I decided that I would look for books published in the last 4 months, told myself to avoid the Richard and Judy list and look for two novels and two non-fiction books. The group will then decide which of the four they want to read.

I wanted something that will provoke a lively discussion so checked reviews in The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian on line - I could have used The Independent too but I didn't want to devote even more time to the task and, well, to be honest, I could have just sat and read book reviews all week and still not been able to select only four that I would like to read.

There are an awful lot of novels out there and I found that I had to avoid a) anything that was part of a series b) anything that was too similar to something we had already read as a group c)anything that was more than 400 pages.

Yes, the length of the book has become quite important to me recently as I try to read Doris Lessing's 'The Golden Notebook'. This is a novel of 576 pages, all of them in very small print and an old-fashioned typeface that isn't the easiest to read. I was delighted, therefore, to see that it is being dramatised on Radio 4 this week. I set myself to listen to part 2 last night and was sorely disappointed to discover that part 1 (which I missed) had only got as far as page 34! The end of part 2 took us to page 68. At this rate I may still be listening to the dramatisation in Janurary 2009! Still I will plough on. I'm already ahead of Radio 4, being on page 102 myself.

On my trawling through the book reviews I found an awful lot of books that are of similar formula. The most recent fashion seems to be for a novel relating to a 'traumatic' event in someone's childhood that has remained dormant in their memory for many years. Another event suddenly causes the main protagonist to delve into their past and they discover that they had been the catalyst for, or taken part in, some nastiness, usually involving the loss of a parent or sibling. I tried to avoid these too.

I found two novels I thought would be good to read and discuss with the group. 'Secrets of the Sea' by Nicholas Shakespeare and 'The Uncommon Reader' by Alan Bennett. I will say no more about them as you can look them up on Amazon should you be interested.

I turned to non-fiction, avoiding 'celebrity' biogs which all seem to be written by people who have been famous for about 15 minutes these days, and anything to do with travelling around or living in France, as all the members of the group are doing that right now. I finally came up with my choices, and there could have been so many more. Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare: The World as a Stage', which received many good reviews over recent months, and Alison Light's 'Mrs Woolf and the Servants' which has also been well-received by the critics.

The trouble is, I want to read all four, and my list of 'must reads' is getting longer and longer - I still have a lovely pile of books sent to me recently by a friend that I need to avoid until after I've seen off Ms Lessing and I still want to read all the Richard and Judy Summer Reads (bar one). I also have two more books for book groups sitting around and another several that I have wanted to read for months.

It almost makes me wish for those long dark nights of winter. But not quite. The sun has returned this week and the temperatures are soaring back up to 30 degrees. Me and Ms Lessing will be found in a corner of the garden later today. I will finish it before the BBC!

Red faced

2008-08-25T09:46:00.002+02:00

St Louis

Mostly the time change between here and the UK doesn't bother us at all, as long as I remember what time the kids get home from school back home and their parents get home from work I can call at the right time of day.

We don't watch a lot of TV but if we do, we are dined and cleared up by 9pm, 8pm in the UK and can catch the evening's viewing.

Last night we watched a wonderful promenade concert on BBC4 with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi choir and the English baroque soloists - a beautiful performance of Bach's St John Passion. Slightly too early to go to bed afterwards, we flipped through the channels and found a re-showing of Pretty Woman. We hadn't watched it for ages and decided to indulge (it's one we don't have on DVD). So at 1.30 we finally wandered off to bed.

Figaro asked to be let out as usual at 6.30 and I dozed for a while before deciding to leave Jon in bed asleep and wandered down to the kitchen for a cuppa.

I grabbed some jeans and a top as I wanted to nip outside and, even though we aren't overlooked, I don't like to wander round the garden in my nightie. I threw on the jeans and top in the kitchen as I waited for the kettle to boil and then opened the shutters to let Misty in for a snack.

I spotted one of the neighbour's cats and shooed it away (actually, I swore at it), and turned back indoors to make my tea.

As I looked up again, a man appeared at the back door, from the direction of the garden (?). He pointed to the electricity meter and mouthed to me throught the window that he had just read it.

When did he pass the kitchen? I'm worried it might have been as I was getting dressed.

Which would account for the funny look on his face!

Silence is golden - or is it?

2008-08-22T12:43:00.002+02:00

St Frabric

Firstly an apology for my rant the other night. I was feeling very sorry for the family who were stranded at Toulouse airport with no explanation. Now we know it was due to the Madrid air crash.

The house is very quiet, no little boys demanding food and drink, games and someone to swim with them. No music blaring, no screams and tantrums, no chicken pox spots to count, no baby to cuddle.

Yes, we are missing them.

Misty and Figaro, on the other hand are delighted to have their tranquility back. The neighbours cats who we had hoped would be terrorised into staying home but were persistently here while the family were, have disappeared at last and are no longer being a nuisance. We've spotted them but they aren't coming near - very odd.

Not long, though, for us until we see the boys again, at our daughter's wedding later in September, it will be a pleasure to see them again.

Meanwhile, there are more visitors arriving shortly, more beds to make (I feel like Su Pollard in Hi di hi), and more meals to plan and prepare. Then a few days quiet with just 'droppers-in' for the odd meal here and there.

And we MUST get back to work on the loft......

Sleazy Jet

2008-08-20T22:08:00.002+02:00

St Bernard

(Isn't that a dog?)

It's late.

Daughter no 3 has just called for the second time tonight from the airport. First time was to say that their flight had been delayed by an hour.

That's reasonably acceptable. Easyjet's last flight of the day is often late taking off.

Second call was to say that : a) they went to go through immigration and were told that there were only 4 boarding passes - baby had been accidentally left off (!) and b) the flight was now delayed by 1 hour 45 mins..

OK. Put yourself in their position. A six year old who is close to perfect but is getting very tired. A two-year-0ld getting over chicken pox who is over tired and hasn't been allowed to take his precious orange juice with him to the departure gate - the last drops will only get them through 5 minutes. And a baby of two months who left here 5 hours ago with lots of milk made up but who has been kept awake by strange movements and noises and now only has 1 small bottle of formula milk left. He is getting VERY HUNGRY and there is no milk left.

I am so ashamed for being grumpy on flights in the past where infants have been miserable and crying, stroppy and uncontrollable.

Now I understand how awful it must be for parents in this position.

Now I think it is time that ALL airports had a supply of FREE baby milk and kiddie drinks for such situations.

AND maybe a valium dispenser for the parents.

PS This house seems awful quiet tonight.

Getting organised

2008-08-19T08:05:00.000+02:00

Ste Mylène

I am a hoarder. I have hundreds, possibly thousands of recipes saved from various magazines over the years and they have to be dealt with. I can never find the one I want when I want it.

I did have a good clear out just before we moved here, and another one recently, but there are still many, many recipes I want to try out.

I've been looking for a way to organise them. I tried making a database but my memory has failed me and I can't remember how to make the queries work.

What I really, really want is to be able to feed in my recipes to a program and then when I can't think what to cook, tell the computer what ingredients I have and let it suggest recipes to me.

Surely that can't be too much to ask?

The only thing is, I don't want to have to pay for such a program (I'm a retired person you know), so I've been trawling the internet for a solution. I may have found one that isn't too irritating, not too many messages flashing up 'You could make your life so much easier if only you upgraded this program to GOLD!!'

Anyone out there got any ideas?

Hallelujah

2008-08-17T14:45:00.000+02:00

Ste Hyacinthe

The hills are alive round here.

We would like to make a public apology to any of our neighbours who may be able to hear us (hopefully none) as we dust off the vocal chords and begin rehearsals.

We are taking part in a one-off performance of Handel's Messiah (or Haendel's Messie as the French call it), in September.

My poor vocal chords haven't had a public airing for many years and the easy soprano I used to manage is struggling so I may have to downgrade (?) to sing the alto part, which needs to be learned. The trouble is that I have to decide which to sing now, before I send off the registration form, do I trust that the high notes will come back in around 6 weeks, or do I learn a completely new score?

It's a dilemma.

News from the nursery

2008-08-15T18:23:00.002+02:00

Ste Marie

The little darlings are having a good time despite the weather turning iffy this week. Just when it matters most - but then we wouldn't have wanted 35 degrees like last week with the tinies around.

It has rained very little for very short times but there is a cool wind which makes it imperative to wrap up little bodies (and big ones too) as soon as they get out of the pool.

Grandson #2 is currently on chicken pox alert as we noticed a couple of red spots this morning. It isn't unexpected as he had been in contact with it a couple of weeks ago, but we hope in a way that it is a mossie attack rather than the chicken pox - we'll be keeping an eye.

Grandson #1 has managed to swim lengths of the pool already, having had just a few days there - just like his big cousin back in May.

Grandson #3 is just adorable at 2 months old, except for the awful baby gunge at both ends and a rather spectacular water fall display when I changed him this afternoon. How a tiny thing like that managed to soak his Grandma and his little brother in four seconds I cannot understand (being a mother of three girls, these things are quite new to me!).

Well, I can't hang around here chatting, there's a card game to be seen to, followed by nursery tea then the bath and bed thing.

Then the adults can have a nice hot curry and a few glasses of something alcoholic. Bliss.

Look out - the rugrats have arrived!

2008-08-13T14:40:00.002+02:00

St Hippolyte

The cats have gone into hiding, the sweetie jar has been put out of sight, the valuables and breakables are nowhere to be seen.

This can only mean one thing. Jack, Leo and Riley with their parents in tow have arrived for a weeks visit.

Figgy has taken to his cat basket in our bedroom and hasn't come out all day (he never sleeps in a basket), Misty is under a hedge in the garden, or she was until Leo discovered her hiding place.

Only the neighbours cats seem sadly undisturbed by the heavy footed running, the football being kicked accidentally in their direction and Leo's attentive baby chatter in their faces all day long. Which is a shame really as we had hoped they would disappear when the boys arrived.

Poor Misty is even bothered by baby Riley's demands for milk and winding. She can't cope with the stress of motherhood.

We were going to have a birthday party for Figgy today, he's two years old. But we can't coax him, out of the bedroom, not even for a Whiskas cheesy treat!

Eating out

2008-08-12T08:16:00.000+02:00

Ste Clarisse

Our lovely new barbecue is earning its keep already. It's a super-duper sized one and serves as a big oven.

The other evening dinner was so simple: Place one chicken breast per person in a baking tin, sprinkle them with olive oil, basil and Harissa and stir to coat. (This would work equally well with salmon steaks or any firm white fish)

In another dish place blanched fennel, mixed with a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche and sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese. (Substitute any vegetable of your choice in place of fennel).

In a third dish, new potatoes tossed in olive oil and whole cumin seeds. Chuck the pans on the barbie, keep an eye on them from time to time and sit back with a nice chilled glass of rosé wine while they cook.

Delish!

Floored!

2008-08-11T07:29:00.003+02:00

Ste Claire

Two weeks ago we ordered the floorboards for the loft. We decided to pay the exorbitant delivery charge because a) we don't have the vehicle to collect them in and b) because they worked out the same price as if we had bought them locally and hired a van to collect them.

Delivery to your door in under one week it said.

Fat chance. This is France and this is August. August means nothing runs normally, whatever 'normal' might mean in this country. In August, more than in July, people take their holidays. In Paris it seems that people either have July or August holidays but anywhere else August seems to be preferred.

Therefore I was very surprised to receive a telephone call one week after placing the order.

'Bonjour Madame, this is XYZ delivery company from Paris. We have a shipment to deliver to you and we would like to do this next week. Either Wednesday or Thursday would be preferred for us, would you be available on either of those days?'

I said that, of course we would be available, not a problem. I was told that someone would telephone us on Tuesday morning to confirm the details, and was there any problem with getting a lorry to our door? No problem, I said.

Followers of this blog may recall that last year we had the chalet delivered along with a small shed, a shower unit and, several weeks later, the chalet floor. No problem for a large lorry.

We waited in on Tuesday morning for the telephone call. Nothing. I don't know why I was surprised and/or disappointed, after all, what should I have expected?

Nothing on Wednesday either, and I didn't have the details of the delivery company to contact them. I thought I would leave it until Thursday before contacting the supplier, but on Thursday afternoon the telephone rang.

'Bonjour Madame, we have a delivery for you, can we deliver it tomorrow morning? Can I have directions to your address? And is there any problem sending a large lorry?'

Friday morning arrived and we were up and alert waiting for the lorry.

Around ten o'clock the telephone rang.

'Madame Smeeet? I have a delivery for you, I'm outside the garage in your village, how do I find your house?'

He continued chatting to me as he was driving up the road, we could hear his crawling lorry and all the miserable cars behind him getting ready for the overtake as soon as they could.

'You have passed the turn, Monsieur.' I said. 'I can see your lorry, it is a white one. You will have to make a demi-tour and come back to me, there is a turning space on your left'.

'Madame? Will you please come and meet me at the entrance to your driveway, I don't know where you are talking about'

I duly jumped in the car, drove down the hill and waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually I could see a large lorry coming slowly down the hill followed by a trail of cars towing caravans. They were not best pleased.

Seeing the lorry driver signalling, I went back to my car waiting for him to follow me up the drive.

I had completely missed the point. This wasn't any ordinary large lorry, this was an articulated lorry. There was no way he could turn into our driveway.

He hooted. I got out of the car and went to talk to him. All the people in the cars behind with their caravans hooted. Some got out to see what was going on.

I agreed to follow the driver down into the village to discuss what would happen next, jumped in the car ignoring the abuse from the caravanners (serves them right anyway, now they know what it's like to be stuck behind a snail) and went to collect Jon.

Down in the village the net curtains were twitching trying to decide why a very large lorry had pulled up in the middle of the village and had been hooted and sworn at by several caravanners as they passed him. We ignored the twitchers and discussed the next move.

We suggested he turn round again and leave the floorboards outside our neighbours house at the bottom of the hill. We knew there was no problem with access as a haulage company have their yard just a few doors away.

No, this was not a good idea. The best thing would be to put all the floorboards in my little Peugeot 106 and take them home from the village.

There were 44 packets of them. 55 square metres in total.

We managed 9 packets in the first run, brought them home and then returned with both cars. Hoping that the driver was an honest man and would wait for us.

He did. It took 7 car loads (Millie Mehari can't take as many as the Pug) but we finally have our loft floor. It's in the garage where it will have to stay for a few weeks. The next job is treating the wood which we don't want to do just yet as we have the Munchkins arriving for a week and don't want to poison them. Then there are a couple more visitors before we can get back down to work in the loft.

Today's job is shopping and cooking. The beds are made up, the toy box unearthed and dusted off and the cats have been warned. Little boy alert! They arrive tomorrow morning and we can't wait!

Courgettes all over the place

2008-08-07T16:30:00.002+02:00

St Gaétan

Yes, it's that time of year again. Courgettes and tomatoes all over the place - add to that aubergines which were just too good a bargain to miss in the supermarket this week which were supplemented by my friend's surplus and I've been feeding the freezer.

I found my very, very old freezer book which contained a superb recipe for courgettes - and so simple - I'll share it with you - it's easy to adjust the quantities to however many courgettes you have, so I'm not being exact.

Slice courgettes, as many as you have, then fry them in a little butter just until they begin to soften. Take them out of the pan and put them into a freezable dish or tin foil container.

Sprinkle them with lemon juice, chopped fresh basil and grated cheese of your choice. Leave it all to cool. Top with breadcrumbs - I always have plenty in the freezer as the bread tends to go dry quickly here. Freeze and label.

When you want to use the dish, take it out of the freezer and pop it in a hot oven for 30 minutes or so until it is cooked through.

Enjoy!

Personally, I would serve this dish with a cheeky Chablis.

If I could afford it. Meanwhile any old white plonk, a green salad and a slab of fresh chunky bread to mop up the juices.

Book group lunch

2008-08-05T17:40:00.002+02:00

St Abel

It has been the hottest day yet - although tomorrow is forecast to be hotter - and we had a vey pleasant lunch with our book group at friends who live nearby.

I sometimes wonder whether it is the lunch or the books that keep us together but actually I'm sure it is a mixture of the two. The final two of our group have finally moved over here permanently and you could almost see the stress leaving them as they left their stressful jobs in England and realise that they can relax into the restful way of life we have here.

We are now a group of thirteen. An unlucky number you may say but we feel that we have grown as much as we would like to and have lively discussions about nearly all our book choices. Those under discussion today left the group, as ever, divided in opinion. One was too light perhaps, way too far fetched for some; the other was too ' American', the language too foul and gratuitous in places, or was it an easily read, hilarious in parts, poignant in others - the majority loved it but there was a sizeable group (mostly men, now I think about it) who didn't.

Today's hosts had excelled themselves in providing lunch and organising the timetable and we all parted looking forward to the next time. Which must be pretty scary for the person who has volunteered to host next time!

You know it really is a tough life out here, but someone has to live it.

Aiming to keep warm

2008-08-04T22:10:00.002+02:00

St Jean-Marie

Busy, busy days.

Our friend Mark came over today to organise Jon into sorting out our logs. Actually, he came over to offer a pair of hands for the day in return for some nice pieces of wood we had offered for wood carving. Mark had indulged in wood carving in the past as a hobby until his career got in the way (we all know about that one don't we?) and now he's retired he wanted to get back to it and to have a go at some large projects.

We were more than happy to give him some large chunks of tree trunk, as many as he wanted, but he insisted on giving us some of his time in return and drove for an hour in each direction towing his trailer laden with chain saw, neat tools and the jewel in his trailer - a wood splitter. Wow! Boys toys or what???

So a very busy day of moving, sawing and splitting was had by all.

Well, I say 'all'.

Actually, I did what any girl would do when the big boys toys come out and I went shopping.

Not very exciting actually. I went to the supermarket which was a very unpleasant experience as all the July tourists had been replaced by the August tourists over the weekend and they had all descended on the local supermarket en masse this morning.

I returned to prepare lunch and spent the afternoon once more not by the pool reading a good book but at the computers trying to sort out printers and print all the various pages of evidence needed for our 'application not to put in an application for planning permission' - many, many more pieces of information than required this time last year.

The upshot of the day is that we now have a beautiful wall of logs running across the garden and needing to be moved nearer to the house (Liz, are you reading this and will you tell your husband what his little holiday project might be next week?). Mark tells us that we may already have most of the winter's supply stocked up - and they haven't really scratched the surface of the wood supply yet.

Keeping warm as well as keeping cool!

Keeping it cool

2008-08-01T11:10:00.002+02:00

St Alphonse

Well, no it didn't all go horribly wrong but yesterday events overtook me rather.

The morning was shopping - not as early a start as I had planned but, hey, who cares? Then as it was book group day (one of them) I had to get supper prepared for the people who were coming back for the evening.

Everything takes so much longer in the heat, even though I had planned an easy meal: Gazpacho, salmon and rocket pasta bake with salad, cheese, shop-bought tarts. The chopping for the Gazpacho seemed to take forever and then, of course there is the clearing up. Meanwhile, shooing cats out of the kitchen - mostly those who aren't allowed in the house anyway (see previous posts), and walking back and forward from the two fridges collecting things I had forgotten.

Two fridges - very important. I find that vegetables go off so quickly that everything has to be kept in the fridge to extend its life. We try to shop only twice a week. One big shop and a top-up, but even so we find veggies and salads go off so quickly that meals are re-vamped at a moment's notice.

We do plan to get a larger fridge soon, our main, indoor, fridge is on it's last legs but we still believe that a second will be essential. The fridge in the garage is known as the drinks fridge and we try to only have it in play during the summer when it stores wine, beer and all manner of cold drinks but if we are expecting visitors we use it in the winter too. Then there is the freezer, usually full and with my future plan to 'buy when it is cheap' in bulk, we could really do with a second freezer too - and there's all those courgettes from the garden to freeze as well.

Once the shower unit, which has been taking up valuable garage space for 12 months now, is fitted, we will have space for a nice big chest freezer, but I'm sure it still won't be big enough. I have heard of people here with four chest freezers and three fridges, but I think we'll stick at the two of each.

Oh yes, last evening went very well, thank you. Our friends had a swim before supper and we ate outside in the cooling air, even though we were still overheated at 11pm!

No spam thank you

2008-07-30T15:58:00.002+02:00

Ste Juliette

Do excuse me for not blogging today. I am trying to sort out both computers which have been going far too slow for far too long.

It's a very nice 31 degrees outside but in here it is a lovelier cool, so it's the ideal afternoon to set to and sort out anti-virus software and spam blockers.

If I'm not back tomorrow you will know that it has all gone horribly wrong!

Cat burglars

2008-07-28T13:54:00.003+02:00

St Samson

It was a lovely day yesterday, we had a pre-lunch swim and a sit in the shade watching the numerous butterflies and swearing at the flies (a particularly nasty little thing around at the moment, looks like a nic lacy winged thing but is very persistent and ticklish when it lands on you). I wandered back indoors to throw some bread and cheese on to a couple of plates for lunch.

I entered through the cave door and into the kitchen and was surprised to find a packet of Whiskas kitten food in the middle of the kitchen floor.

'That's funny' I thought.

Then I noticed the Tupperware box of home made ginger biscuits was also on the floor.

'Very odd'

Then it dawned on me. The kitchen windows were wide open and the fly screen was up in its roller blind. We had been cat burgled.

It was pretty obvious when I saw the kitten (now fondly (?) named Big Balls for obvious reasons) looking at me from the sofa. He was almost smiling and looked very comfortable and content.

Figgy and Misty's food bowls were empty and someone had evidently taken a liking to Whiskas Temptations with chicken and cheese as the pot was half empty.

BB suddenly realised that maybe I wasn't as happy to see him as he was to be snuggled on the kitchen sofa and he made a break for it upstairs to the lounge where he decided to roll around the floor looking cute.

It didn't work and I chased him out.

There was no sign at all of his mother who is now known as Scruffy.

I called in the reinforcements and Jon eventually found her looking quite bewildered up in the attic as if she had just been beamed there from outer space.

'I have no idea how I got here', she seemed to say. 'Could you please show me the way out and I'll leave you in peace'.

She, too, was quickly shown the door.

These two 'little dears' seem to be with us almost all the time now but we are still resisting adopting them properly. A serving or two of biscuits a day has done them the world of good and they look much healthier, but we still refuse to let them in the house, hence the break-in. Still, they sit on the kitchen doorstep for hours a day hoping for us to relent (especially since BB found the cosy sofa). I wonder who will crack first.

I found BB this morning curled up in an old kitchen cauldron that we intend to paint up and use as a planter one day.
I've heard of eye of toad and wing of bat, but a whole cat?

Silent Sunday

2008-07-27T15:16:00.002+02:00

Ste Nathalie

Photo taken with great patience by our sister-in-law Shirley Smith

Copyright Shirley Smith, July 2008

Rain wanted

2008-07-26T17:14:00.003+02:00

Ste Anne

Happy Saint's Day, little Sister
Happy Birthday, Elaine in Oz

You won'e be surprised to hear me moaning about Mr Meteo again. He usually does get it wrong, but this time he's been frustrating us no end. He did it last weekend and he's done it again this weekend.

I check every day to see what the weather is going to do and if he says it is going to rain then for some strange reason, I tend to believe him. We were due rain on Thursday, then thunderstorms last night and rain all day today.

We had a mild sprinkling which, if I were on holiday I wouldn't have minded at all, but not the steady rain he promised me.

This means that I will need to go out and give the veggie plot a really good soaking tonight because I didn't do it last night on the understanding that we were to have thunderstorms, but not a rumble or grumble was heard - except from the courgettes and beans who really would have liked a good downpour!

Meanwhile, sheltering from the non-existant rain, I have spent the afternoon alternately between the loft, the garden and the kitchen table where I have finally ordered the floor for the loft, and started drawing up the numerous plans that need to be attached to the dreaded form 'application to be exempt from having to put in a planning application'.

Yes, OK, I know I said that we absolutely HAD to do this last month (or was it the month before?) but if you saw the 7 page form and its list of supporting evidence required all in a language that is not your first, then you'd be a bit daunted too. Anyway, at the last count they are requesting 9 separate pieces of supporting evidence by way of drawings (to scale, of course) and photographs and all for three small loft windows.

The 'simplified' form is different from last years in that it is also used if I should want to put in a request not to have planning permission for a campsite, leisure complex or boating lake.

On second thoughts, if I'm filling in the form already and we do have room for a campsite and/or boating lake .......?

Hey, Baby, I'm your telephone man

2008-07-24T18:27:00.004+02:00

(Meri Wilson 1977)

Ste Christine

My battles with France Telecom continue. We opened a new contract with them after various troubles with another company and we were promised that there would be no problems.

Of course, we didn't believe this for one minute.

Our contract is supposed to include unlimited calls to the UK (not mobiles) and to other European countries near to France.

The invoices from FT confirm this and then under that is a list of calls we have made and the cost of them - which is added to the invoice. No, they are not calls to mobiles in the UK.

So, having heard that they are quite good, and being totally fed up with spending all my time arguing with people over the phone in French, I thought I would try out the France Telecom English Speaking Helpline.

First of all you get a message saying that your call will be monitored. Fair enough, it might even help out later if they do record the call.

Then you get a lady saying 'Welcome to France Telecom English Speaking Helpline. Please wait, your request is being dealt with. For all technical questions please dail 3900'

'OK' you think 'my call isn't a technical one so I'll just hold on'

It's a bit like a Chinese water torture. She keeps repeating herself over and over again. The longest time I have had to hold on to speak to someone was 23 minutes 42 seconds. I lost count of the number of times she repeated herself and by the time I got through to a human being (a man called Ange - that's with a soft 'g' not like Angie in EastEnders) I was so numb I almost forgot why I had called.

I explained the problem

'You are invoicing me for calls that I shouldn't be invoiced for'

'No, the option is not set up on your account'

'Yes it is, I am being invoiced 7 euros per month for the option, I can see it on the invoice'

'Hold on, I'll have to look at your contract.'

Usually at this point I am cut off and have to go through the whole rigmarole again. Sometimes I am lucky.

'Hello? Yes, the option is set up on your account. What was your question?'

'I'm still being invoiced for calls to the UK'.

'Are they to UK mobiles?'

'No'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, but there is one call to a UK mobile and that is all'

'Hold on. I'll just look at your invoice'

If I haven't already been cut off before, it might happen now. Last time I was really lucky.

'Hello? Yes, I can see that you have been invoiced for calls that you should not be invoiced for. I'll have to write them a letter.'

Luckily he means an e-mail (or emu as my friend's mother calls them).

Finally he says he has written a letter and all will be OK next time.

Then I get the next invoice and it isn't OK next time. I have to go through the water torture, the brain numbness and the questioning all over again.

But, at least I have a telephone and the internet. A dear friend of ours is having trouble even getting connected and has to use the local library for the internet and another line for the phone. She is at her wits end. 'The lady at France Telecom tells me to reste tranquille and I hate her' she says.

I know just how she feels.

Pics & wood

2008-07-23T11:42:00.009+02:00

Ste Brigitte

More and more wood is being added to our pile. Jon has cut down some overhanging branches that were, frankly, encroaching far too close to the pool and blocking the sunlight. How rude!

We have been wandering around looking for more culprits and have identified a good dozen or so that will have to come down during the winter. Lovely, lovely logs for future years!

Here are a few photographs from our wanderings in Rocamadour at the weekend.

Spare tyres and woodpiles

2008-07-21T18:38:00.002+02:00

St Victor

Happy Saint's Day!

Busy, busy days recently with a spate of visitors. So, do please accept my apologies (Jim) for not blogging so much recently.

We have been blessed with good weather again and had a good weekend with friends from the UK staying. They seemed just as happy by the pool with a good book as they were pottering out to a couple of local shops, and on Sunday to Souillac where we sat in the sun and enjoyed three jazz bands playing in the streets. We were surprised that the town wasn't busier yesterday but we soon found the crowd of people outside the cathedral gathering for, who knows what.

Jon and Rob, our guest, spent Sunday afternoon and this morning moving huge piles of logs which had become buried in the hedgerow. We are delighted that we seem to have at least a winters' worth of wood now but it still needs to be moved from the middle of the field to nearer the house and we don't think the Mehari will be able to manage it all. A log splitter is on the shopping list but before we buy we have a friend coming in a couple of weeks from nearby with his own log splitter to give us a hand with the first batch. We can then test his machine and see if it will be suitable for us.

The catering department (me and him in turns) has been very busy for the last week with various dinner guests as well as our 'stayers' and I'm pleased that we can resort to light salads and snacks from my freezer stock for a couple of weeks - it may help us lose the extra pounds I'm sure we've gained from the more elaborate meals I like to feed to visitors, especially those who haven't been before or don't come here very often. It's one of the pleasures of life, feeding guests and sitting around relaxing with slow, many small-coursed meals and enjoying conversation and catching up on a year's news.

But it does nothing for the waistline!

Stairs and door

2008-07-17T09:53:00.004+02:00

Ste Charlotte

Here are the promised photos - late!

There is far too much socialising going on here this week. But it's great fun!

Whistling Jack Smith, remember him?

2008-07-15T12:17:00.002+02:00

St Donald

Happy Birthday, Mum xxxxxxxxxxx

As I am writing this there are strange sounds coming from upstairs. Clonking, banging, drills and screwdrivers and the odd jolly whistle.

My Dad was well known for his whistle. I remember him coming home from work once on his birthday with a 'saucy' birthday card and a present from his colleagues. It was a packet of budgie seed. I never did know for sure whether he was highly amused by this, or slightly miffed. I remember thinking that he must have been deeply upset to be teased, but then I was at a sensitive age when I hated being teased. I don't think I ever grew out of it actually.

Anyway, I only mentioned that story because it is St Donald's day.

The noises from upstairs are from the two rather good looking and very polite (before you start Lizzie - in the words of Lilo Lil in 'Bread' I am NOT a tart!) young men who are fitting our new front door and the staircase. They looked at the hole in the ceiling and asked if their boss had been and seen this.

Of course I answered that he had and had taken all the measurements.

A little later, of course after Jon had gone shopping, I was asked if I happened to have about my person a rafter, about 7 - 8 cm thick, 60cm long and approximately 22 cm wide.

I had to check very carefully of course that I didn't happen to have one in my handbag, or better still, my pocket, but of course didn't find one. I couldn't call Jon and ask him to pick one up in the DIY store as he hadn't taken the mobile phone with him on this occasion, but the polite young man said not to worry and he would just make a 2 hour round trip to go and buy one.

Nice young man.

He's just got back with it and now it is all systems go on the staircase, the front door is already installed.

Do come back tomorrow for the photos.

Weather and wildlife update

2008-07-11T18:05:00.003+02:00

St Benôit

It has been odd weather recently. We had a hot couple of weeks (during which I had a spell in a cooler UK), then two days of rain.

On Tuesday we were enjoying lunch in a friend's garden as the weather improved once again. Wednesday was warmer. Yesterday we were sweltering and the pool was very well used, it was lovely in the shade. Last night we had supper with friends some way south of here where we were enjoying the sunset but still sweltering.

We had coffee by their pool watching a very distant lightning show but the storm was obviously a long way south and moved on eastwards. The friends' dogs and cats were enjoying the garden wildlife; frogs were hopping along the side of the swimming pool, a stag beetle went for a swim and was hastily fished out in a net and left to dry off, and bats were whizzing through under their abri. We'd never come across bats getting quite so close to people before but as soon as we noticed one heading our way it was gone again and we lost sight of it.

On the way home, as I was distracted by more lightning, one of our friends noticed a barn owl sitting by the side of the road, we must have passed within feet of it and I was so sorry to have missed seeing it.

Today has been different once again. We had lunch with family who are staying in a nearby gite. The temperature has been fluctuating one minute to the next by up to 10 degrees and the sun has been fighting to come out and sadly lost the battle most of the time. We were hounded by flies all through lunch which was a real nuisance. We don't seem to have a problem down here but up on the hill at the gite there are hundreds of the blighters who, throughout lunch, were intent on eating not only our delicious trout, but also the tomatoes, cucumber and even the lettuce - they must be starving!

Eventually with the aid of a flyswat or two we managed to see most of them off and enjoyed our coffee in relative peace.

It does surprise us how we can travel just a few kilometres in any direction and find completely different flora. Up at the gite there are wild yellow brooms, wild thyme and orchids are still flowering. Down here we never see wild broom, only gorse and our orchids are long gone.

A couple of weeks ago we were plagued with nasty green-faced horseflies which give a very nasty bite. They would come swimming with us dive-bombing us all the time and at night would dive in on their own and eventually drown in the pool. They have all disappeared now but the waterboatmen who were around in April and hadn't been seen for a couple of months are back again, skimming over the top of the pool.

Trevor and Tina Toad haven't been seen for a month or so but we hope they have just moved on and have a new home.

Those who haven't moved on are the two little cats from next door but since I have been leaving biscuits out for them on a regular basis, they are looking much better and aren't hanging around the kitchen door quite so persistently as they were.

Organisation

2008-07-08T09:27:00.002+02:00

St Thibaud

I'm a great list maker. I have to be, it's the only way I find I can organise myself.

Back in my previous life I had lists of jobs to be completed by the end of each day, week, month or sometime, never. My stock phrase was, and still is 'It's on the list'.

These days the chore list is as long as both of mine and Jon's arms put together. The other day Jon tackled item #152: getting logs in from the edge of the field.

Now the hay has been cut it was a little easier for him and he decided on a slightly cooler day than we'd had of late to go and unearth a stack of logs we'd found hiding in the hedgerow. He came back 15 minutes later dripping blood from his arm all over the kitchen floor.

Yes, getting wood in is as easy as falling off a log. Literally.

Anyway, having unearthed them he took Millie Mehari down there to collect them and drove them up through the field closer to home.

Job # 387: Move logs into garden and stack them.

Another thing that is my lifeline is my little notebook where I keep track of meals we have shared with friends. As our circle of friends is fairly small, I need to keep track of recipes I have tried so that I don't give people the same menu twice! I can also make notes on whether dishes have worked or not, and if someone doesn't like, say, pineapple for instance, then that gets noted too.

It makes me sound awfully well organised doesn't it? Well, I'm not.

The trouble is that I have three little notebooks on the go besides my 'foodie' book. These three all contain bits and pieces of useful information - the telephone number for the English-speaking helpline of France telecom for when my French doesn't feel quite good enough for an argument - the make and model of various fridges we looked at some months ago which I now need again as the fridge is suffering from teminal rattle and over-frosting - website addresses that have been recommended.

Now, if only I could find each of these things when I really need them, I would be well organised but only one of these three little books appears at any one time and I can never find the one I really want.

Just which one did I chose to write the time of daughter's flights next month????

What's that wet stuff?

2008-07-06T06:54:00.002+02:00

Ste Mariette

We were woken in the night by a noise that sounded as if the new chimney cover was falling through the roof.

It's one of the problems of having the loft access open (still waiting for news on the delivery of the stairs) and the loft not yet insulated, everything sounds much louder. I was, in fact, thunder. This morning I am up early because the rain is hammering down on the roof.

We haven't seen rain for nearly three weeks now, not in any amount so I am up to keep an eye on what happens through the garden. Any new water features making themselves known? Will the veggie plot survive without my finding eighteen tomato plants, three cucumber plants, three melon plants and various beans, chillies, peppers and courgettes washed away into the field and beyond never to be seen again?

We should have expected rain today since we are expecting family down here for a fortnight. Murphy's law, Sod's law or whoever's law dictates that just when you have been lulled into a false sense of security and think that summer will last forever, the weather will let you down and you'll be looking for wet weather activities for everyone for the next six weeks.

Well let's just hope that it doesn't last. Mr Meteo seems to think it will be dry by this evening and no sign of rain for at least the next three days. Not that I ever believe him about anything any more.

On a brighter note, being up early this morning had its bonus. For the first time in weeks there was a deer having his breakfast in the field. We had wondered where they had all gone but this first sighting for a while is very welcome.

Happy Holidays

2008-07-04T17:22:00.003+02:00

St Florant

It doesn't seem possible that a whole week ago I was over in Brownland enjoying cuddles with Jack, Leo and Riley (just for the record and the uninitiated in particular, these are my three young grandsons - I am not a hussy!)

I had hoped that I would be able to get around a bit and see some more family but my son-in-law was quoted silly money to add me to his car insurance and we decided that it would be easier all round if I stayed local until I came home again.

The weekend passed all too quickly and I really don't believe that I have been home for nearly a week already.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Not for us personally as we will be battening down the hatches and staying firmly put. No, it is the first Saturday in July and the mass exodus from Paris and all places north will begin. In fact, as I am writing this at 5.30pm on Friday evening I can imagine households all over Paris being shuttered and emptied as 'les juillets' (those who take their holidays in July) pile into their cars and head for the south and west coasts of France.

French people rarely travel out of France for their summer holidays and why would they need to? There is plenty to see and do in this big (compared to the UK) country and the weather can generally be relied upon to bring enough sunshine and warmth to keep a family in a tent very happy for four weeks.

Unfortunately they do not seem to understand the concept of staggered journies, so every road out of Paris throughout the night and early tomorrow morning will be jammed with cursing French drivers and screaming kids. The motorway service areas will be full to bursting at the allotted eating hours and there will be queues at every péage.

Campsites will suddenly be cramped and noisy, supermarkets will put up their prices overnight (sceptic, moi?) and festivals, fireworks and frivolity will be the order of the day.

Then at the end of the month the whole thing will happen again in reverse as they all return back to Paris, but this time, it will be double trouble as 'Les aoûts' leave for their own holidays.

We are looking forward to our own little flurry of visitors over the next two months too and are thinking of all those not too 'touristy' places to recommend to them.

Bonnes vacances, tous le monde!

10 years on

2008-07-03T18:11:00.002+02:00

St Thomas

It was 10 years ago today that we finalised the purchase of this place.

We had taken an overnight crossing from Portsmouth to Le Havre (can't do that now) and we drove down on a very hot day to arrive at the estate agent's in time to get to the notaire before they closed for the weekend.

We had been unable to get a firm answer to our questions as to what furniture may be left in the property we had just bought. There may have been some or none. When we had last seen the house it was full of very old, heavy, dark French furniture. We remembered several large dressers (it was probably only one), at least three double beds in the two bedrooms, a kitchen full of tables, cupboards and an empty Grandfather clock (the house had been broken into and the workings of the clock stolen), and lots of knick-knacks including many crucifixes on the walls.

And so we had packed into our car everything we thought we could get by on if the house was completely empty. This included an inflatable double bed which we had used for camping - the camp cooker and the entire contents of a kitchen as we were pretty sure there would be nothing there - we had been buying plates and cutlery from charity shops and had gathered old bedding, cushions and a million other bits and pieces from home and from our families.

We were surprised on arrival at the estate agency to be told that 'our' agent was out with other clients and we had to go straight to the bank. We weren't told why and my French wasn't quite as good in those days as it is now (sometimes). However, we went across the road to the bank where we were told to wait until our advisor was available. As we were waiting 'our' agent, Madame A arrived and was able to explain all in English. We had to sign our insurance documents for the building and contents before we could sign the papers for the house purchase.

We went in to the advisor's office and passed a very cheerful half hour talking about this and that before the business was concluded. I had been carefully checking my watch as I knew we were expected at the notaire's office but obviously Madame A had sorted all the timings out in advance..... Perhaps.

She drove round the corner to the notaire's office with us following in our own car. There we met Monsieur M, the vendor and his grand-daughter, a perky little 7 year old girl. I wasn't quite sure why she was in on the purchase meeting, but then the French do things differently as we have discovered over the years.

The five of us squeezed into Maitre L's office, granddaughter perching on Monsieur M's lap. The notaire, a lady, then read the entire house deeds to us in French, pausing occasionally to throw in the odd word in English in case we needed it. 'Blah-di-blah-di-blah-di-blah. Ze 'ouse. Blah-di-blah-di-blah-di-blah zat ees your land'.

I did, actually understand most of what she was reading - well, the words, that is but not necessarily the exact meaning of all the jargon.

When we had signed everything necessary and paid over yet another huge cheque to the estate agent the meeting was concluded and everyone went outside for a chat. Notaire, Monsieur M and Madame A discussed Maitre L's forthcoming holiday - to begin in about 5 minutes time, how things had changed in each of the villages, what was going on in Gourdon over the summer....... Finally Monsieur M felt in his pockets and pulled out a huge bunch of keys which he handed over to Jon with great pride. He must have been so relieved to be shot of this house of his mother's which had, apparently, been on the market for 5 years.

We then returned in convoy in our three cars to the estate agency where we were soon joined by Madame M - she had been in the hairdressers all this time treating herself to a new look. Monsieur M was dismayed when the agent said that she would not be coming back to our house with us but was abandoning us to Monsieur M entirely.

We were surprised that he wanted to come back with us, this is not what one is used to in the UK. However, he obviously wanted to show us how to unlock the doors and how things worked. On the way down to our new home he stopped off at his own house and emerged triumphant with a set of curtain rings for the shower curtain explaining that they had just washed it that morning but forgot to return the rings with the curtain.

We finally pulled up at our 'home' four hours after arriving at the estate agent's office. Our heads were pounding and we were desperate for a cup of tea or at least a glass of water but Monsieur M insisted on showing us around. 'This is how the door unlocks, it can stick sometimes', 'Here is a bed that we have left you and there is some bedlinen in this cupboard for you to use this weekend until the shops open on Monday'.

Upstairs, they had only left us a bed.

And the shower curtain!

Downstairs we were led into the kitchen where we were pleased to see a table and chairs and two cookers (yes two). We were advised not to use the electric one as electricity is very, very expensive, Madame.

With an imagined fanfare of trumpets Monsieur M then threw open the kitchen cupboard doors and proudly indicated the contents of the cupboard - just about anything anyone could ever need in a kitchen and a few other things besides. Plates, bowls, several coffee makers, espresso cups and all manner of pots and pans were crammed inside and we didn't dare mention the contents of the back of our car.

Outside we were shown that the garage had not yet been emptied but Monsieur M had arranged for the Red Cross to come and collect it all on Monday, he hoped this wouldn't disturb us too much. Not at all. If we wanted to keep anything we saw in the garage then all we need do is put it to one side and he would prevent the Red Cross from taking it away.

Finally he pointed out to us that he had arranged for someone to cut the grass that morning and was pleased to see that the garden looked reasonably tidy and he went on his way.

At last, five hours now from arriving, we were alone in our 'place in France'. It was three months since we had first and last seen it, and we were relieved to find that it was just as we had imagined all those months.

We really can't believe that all this was 10 years ago, even though we have only been living here for 17 months full time. Occasionally we wander round and remember what the walls were like, what ghastly wallpaper was on the stairs and the sitting room walls, how the place smelled damp after being empty for so long and how long the grass was.

Now it feels like a home. Well, OK sometimes a building site but even so, a home.

I wonder what it will look like 10 years from now. Very different I suspect.

Where was I?

2008-07-02T14:52:00.003+02:00

St Martinien

I just had to read my own blog to see where I had got to!

So..... I went to England for a few days to see the new baby grandson. Jon stayed behind, since he had been to England recently for about 24 hours and we didn't want to put the cats in the cattery again. They take a while to settle back down and had only just relocated the mouse supply so it seemed unfair to upset them once more.

I'm not particularly confident when travelling alone since I had my bag and all identity stolen on a trip to Paris some years ago. I am continually checking my passport, tickets, money, bank cards, driving licence, clean knickers. Then five minutes later I check it all again.

I got in the car, checking for the five hundredth time that day: passport, boarding card, English money, Euros, driving licence, clean knickers. Eventually I was happy and headed off to Bergerac Airport.

How lucky are we that the route to this tiny airfield is traffic free, back lane through woods, over hills with wonderful views, back into lanes lined with walls of cut logs and so on. I was thoroughly enjoying my drive and then my mobile phone rang.

I pulled over and hunted for the phone, which I found eventually and picked up. I saw that it was a call from me to me - which meant that Jon was calling me from the French mobile to the English mobile phone.

'Oh God' I cried, 'What have I forgotten or what haven't I done?'

I couldn't think of anything myself but there must be some dreadful reason for him calling me when I was half way to Bergerac.

'No, no problem, just to let you know that the fire fitters have returned'.

The two guys were back, unannounced having told us that they may not be back for another two weeks after their van broke down and blocked our lane. They had a hire van and were eager to finish the job, bees or no bees.

Fortunately, it was no bees.

'What if they want paying?' said Jon.

We agreed that they could take a cheque with them and I would transfer the money from one account to the other over the internet before they even got back to the office.

I set off again for Bergerac. I only took one wrong turn, having elected to try a new route and get to the airfield from a tiny track which I could see existed from the map.

At the airport I queued to drive into the car park. The barrier was broken so a very nice man came and let us all go in without taking a ticket - which is all very well until we returned and tried to get out again without a ticket. I decided to worry about that bit later on.

The departure lounge, which is only slightly bigger than our sitting room, was packed and the plane was delayed. I wanted some water but the drinks machine was fresh out and only offered nasty sugary drinks so I went without until I got on the plane.

Having never travelled with the Irish line before, and having had not so pleasant experiences with Sleazyjet, I wasn't looking forward to the flight. However I was pleasantly surprised, I had a seat by the emergency exit which gave me a little more leg room and the flight wasn't full. The flight time was shorter than Toulouse to Gatwick and we arrived only slightly later than we should have, the crew making up good time during the flight.

I then took the train from Stansted to London - the train was almost empty and I was almost lulled into a sense that everything was going to go really well.

Until we got to Euston station on the Victoria Line. Everyone in London seemed to have decided to work late that night and all got on the underground at the same time.

At Victoria, they all decided to get off again, as did I and we shuffled our way to the mainline station, where we all waited shoulder to shoulder for news of a platform for the next train to Dorking via Sutton.

Southern Rail let us down here as they only had two carriages available on a six carriage train, and the entire working population of London clambered in.

It was the most uncomfortable journey I have ever had in a train. I remembered exactly why I hated commuting to London all those (30?) years ago and decided to only work locally to where we lived.

Luckily I was met at Sutton by a very nice lady who took me home with her and immediately planted a very refreshing G&T in my hand. She then fed me and looked after me until the next morning when she deposited me with my daughter and her lovely sons for a couple of days.

Thanks Mum.

Oh, by the way, yes, the wood burner is fitted and the bill was posted to us.

More tomorrow.

Not funny, honey

2008-06-24T17:03:00.004+02:00

St Jean-Baptiste

This is our new log burning fire. Lovely isn't it?

Unfortunately it remains disconnected. (Heaves heavy sigh and prepares to reveal all).

The day started badly with The Little Bar Steward asking to go out and play at 4am. We're used to him wanting to go out at first light, but that isn't until 5am so I was particularly displeased this morning. Misty wasn't at all sure that it was a good idea to start the day so early but she was 'persuaded' to go out at the same time and I crept back to bed.

But.

We were expecting workmen and once I was back in bed I just couldn't sleep properly in case I overslept.

Of course it would be a good idea to set an alarm clock, or even to have a clock in the bedroom but that isn't the idea of retirement at all.

So I tossed and turned until I decided that it really must be getting late and I should get up.

It was 6.30.

At 9.45 the workmen turned up. They were in ill-humour.

'Madame', said one, 'Do not speak to me of Cahors today'.

I remembered something I read the other day in the local newspaper.

'Ah, there is a strike by local artisans, n'est ce pas?'

'They have completely blocked the town with their manifestation' he said with a Gallic shrug that says so much (not).

They continued unloading their van and I went back to my bill-paying activities and my on-line argument with France Telecom.

A little while later one of the men appeared again. Does Madame have a bombe because the chimney has a wasp's nest in it and the wasps must be removed before they can insert the chimney liner? Of course Madame would have a bombe somewhere but exactly where had she seen it last?

The bombe was found and insecticide sprayed liberally down the chimney from above.

No good.

'Madame? Where is Monsieur?'

Monsieur had gone out to get some bread and milk but was expected back shortly. Could Madame please call him on his portable because surely he must have one with him (never mind the awful reception in these parts) and he should immediately go and find a stronger bombe because the one she had given the men was foreign (English) and wasn't up to the job.

Jon returned a while later with two new bombes which were inspected, found to be of the type recommended by the pompiers so it must be good and therefore the contents were also liberally sprayed down the chimney.

The honey bees, for that is what they are, remained buzzing around the chimney until the workmen decided that they would go for lunch and search the shops (as soon as they were open) for an even stronger bombe.

Now, we should state at this point that we are not happy about the murdering of defenceless bees and had thought that a bee-keeper might have been found who would want to take them away. However, the damage was done and over lunch we checked from time to time for further bee activity around the chimney and also in the salon where the some bees were escaping. All seemed quiet.

Some hours later, the droning and rattling of an old white van, worn out with carrying cast iron wood burning stoves around the French countryside was heard climbing the lane.

It stopped just short of the driveway. It clunked. Men got out, shouted at each other, banged doors, started the engine again. More clunking, more shouting, and an odd sort of grinding noise .... Then the mobile phone came out.

The other chap came to explain. The van had broken down. The gear box wasn't working suddenly. We weren't surprised, that was the clunking sound we had heard.

The van lay abandoned in the middle of the lane, nothing could get round it and we hoped that both sets of neighbours were out because the breakdown truck couldn't arrive for another 90 minutes.

Meanwhile back up the chimney more bombes were unloaded and chimney emptying activity continued.

Bucket loads of soot and other general debris came down for inspection.

Ugh. Finally the breakdown truck arrived. There was a frenzied activity as the workmen packed up their tools and loaded them into their van on the back of the breakdown truck.

They were very sorry Madame, but they were leaving now as they had to go with the breakdown vehicle. Unfortunately as all work is planned in advance they may not be able to return to complete the work for another 2 weeks. But anyway, hopefully the hot weather would warm up and release all the honey that is stuck to the chimney like superglue because it will have to be removed before they can insert the chimney liner.

Two very fed up looking young men left the area.

On a positive note, it is 30 degrees outside and we really have no need to light a wood fire just at the moment.

Just as well, really.

Anyone fancy some sooty honey on their toast tomorrow morning?

Hot, hot, hot

2008-06-23T16:19:00.004+02:00

Ste Audrey

Just to wind up all you workers and shirkers out there in Brownland. It's 32 degrees again today and sun, sun, sun.

The pool is so inviting when the weather is like this and it makes up for all those weeks of rain, floods and garden water features that we seem to have only just got over.

It has given me the chance to sit and catch up quietly on paperwork; tax forms of various types and paying a few bills (ugh). I've also put in some heavy reading time and finished The Virgin Blue by Tracey Chevalier (not the most brilliant book I've read recently) and Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann; this book didn't do anything for me to start with but I'm so glad I read it to the end where finally I understood the way it was written and found it very moving - especially the epilogue. I do recommend this book and if you, like me, find it difficult to start with, do stick with it, it is truly worth the effort.

The Virgin Blue is one of my reading group books for June and Random Acts was purely for relaxation. I'm hunting for a new book now, so many on our shelves that I haven't read yet.... Do I turn to the Sebastian Faulkes book that I've been putting off, or maybe go for one of the 'I moved to France and wrote a book about it' books that are not quite as alluring as they were, except to compare notes. I could have another go at Bill Bryson's 'Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid' which Jon laughed aloud at the other day when he was reading it, but I didn't find quite so amusing, or the gentle 'Trowel and Error', Alan Titchmarsh's autobiography.

On the other hand, I have a year's worth of foodie magazines that really need culling, scissors in hand to cut out the best of the recipes. Or maybe I will return to my embroidery or knitting or mending that has also piled up.

Nah.

It's the pool for me. Splash!

Happy Birthday, Blog

2008-06-22T11:18:00.002+02:00

St Alban

It is one year today that I made my first post on this blog. Such a lot has happened and it was really interesting to read back over it and see what was going on this time last year. No new windows, no pool, no kitchen, no chalet.

We heard yesterday that the wood burning fire will be fitted on Tuesday and the stairs and new front door should be along the following week.

We re-established contact with our English friend who has worked out here as an electician and plumber for nearly 20 years and went 'missing' from our contacts for nearly 12 months. He has agreed to come over and fit the shower unit (which has been languishing in the garage since last August) and also do the electrics for us in the loft. He rewired the house completely 3 years ago, so we know he will do a really good job. Unfortunately he is about to go on holiday for 3 weeks so the shower will have to wait a while longer.

The sun is finally shining, the temperature has soared to over 30 degrees and farmers all around us are making hay. The hum of tractors and hay wagons has been continual now for three days and, as I write, Monsieur D is whisking our hay once again before he comes back later today, or tomorrow morning to gather it into huge rolls.

The potager is coming along nicely. I feared I would lose all my tomato plants to blight again but I treated them a few weeks ago and they seem to have recovered nicely. There are courgettes sprouting all over the place, bean plants are flowering and the three cucumber plants I put in very late seem to be establishing themselves nicely, as do the melon plants I bought on a whim and thought I'd try this year. Unfortunately I have lost one 'Charentais -type' melon but the other two are looking good and the watermelon equally so. The blueberry bush I feared would be washed away the other week in the latest stream/floooding incident is standing firm and has plenty of fruit waiting to ripen.

Both apple trees look as though they are very sparse this year, one is fairly new and in the wrong place so I suspect it will either be transplanted or removed this autumn, the other is very old but does give some lovely shade in the garden so it will be staying.

On a beautiful Sunday like today, there is only one thing to do. Find a good book, go and sit in the shade near the pool with a refreshing long drink and enjoy the weather.

Cheers, everyone.

Baby news

2008-06-17T18:17:00.003+02:00

St Hervé

Once upon a time, some years ago, I was given a new name. Our first grandchild, Alice, called me 'Pomme' for a while until she decided that I was her 'Grandma' instead. The reason should be clear. My name is Smith and I became a Granny. (No I am NOT green!)

An ex-colleague, witty chap (you know who you are!) used to find this very amusing and I would find apple labels stuck on my chair, my computer and even, occasionally on my back. (I'll get you back one day Clarkey).

And so, a very, very brief visit to the UK last weekend was hopefully to be timed with the arrival of our latest grandson. Unfortunately he wasn't interested in meeting his grandparents over the weekend and only just put in an appearance today, two days after we returned to France.

Baby Riley was born this morning at 7.20am, the phone call to say that our daughter was about to go to the hospital came at 4am and we tried to go back to sleep, but just dozed. They have both been kept in unexpectedly for 24 hours but we hope that all will be well in the morning and they can return home.

The quick visit was to attend a 30th wedding anniversary party for some friends and it was a long-standing promise we had given before we left the UK in early 2007.

What a fantastic weekend we had, lots of laughs, a brilliant party in a wonderful hotel in the Surrey Hills and catching up with some people we hadn't seen for many years. The highlight of the weekend was a ceilidh/barn dance - again something we haven't done for a very, very long time. Jon amazed me by always wanting to be the first on the dance floor and even my protestations about having a bone in my leg and a sore toe didn't deter the man from dosy doe-ing, swinging his partner and promenading all night long.

Honestly, I was knackered!!!

And that was before we had a 'last drink before bed' and finally crawled to our rooms at around 2.30 am. Sunday dawned clear and sunny and we headed to our friends' house to help them move chairs around the garden and put out a buffet lunch. As she was their godchild Youngest Daughter, Son-In-Law, two sons and bump came along to lunch too. Many suggestions being bandied around as to how to persuade the bump to enter the world but we already knew we would be on the plane soon and wouldn't get to meet him even if he did start heading world-direction.

We don't know which of these brilliant ideas she tried out yesterday but obviously one of them must have worked.

We, in the meantime, have been back to work. Admin today, trying to save the garden tomorrow - finally we have a weather forecast that says it will be sunny until the weekend and no rain. We'll believe it when we see it, but it is a nice thought and we can plan to rescue the tomatoes and beans that are beginning to slide down the bank into the field. Happy Days!

Thank you so much friends for a wonderful weekend. May you have another 30 very happy years of marriage. Much love from us both.

And love too to baby and his family xxxxxxx

High days and a few days off

2008-06-12T14:53:00.002+02:00

St Guy

Too much to do, too little time to do it in.

We're going away for a couple of days so the cats have just gone on their holidays. Figgy complained and swore for a while, Misty cried all the way there 'Are we nearly there yet?'.

The cattery is lovely though - the people there are very kind. It's an English-run cattery and very popular so we have to ensure we get booked up early for busy times, which this isn't. Apparently they are already fully booked for Christmas and have been for weeks.

There is little we can do for the neighbour's cats but we will leave them a little food tucked away here and hope that they will find it and make it last until Sunday evening when we get back. We are very suspicious that the little tortie is pregnant but hope that she will be OK and that her owners will look after her when the time comes.

Speaking of which, today is the day our youngest daughter's baby is due - no signs yet, and when ever has a baby been born on time? It would be lovely if she can have it soon though as her last two were both two weeks late and she really doesn't want that.

I'm off to clean the pool, plant my replacement tomato plants (the first lot got blight again) and pack.

Back next week.

Cat Chat

2008-06-09T17:21:00.003+02:00

Ste Diane

We have a couple of problems.

This ......

and this ......

They are quite sweet really but they aren't ours.

The tortie is a female and the tabby is a male kitten (unneutered). They started calling by a few weeks ago and gradually they are spending more and more time here. We started by refusing to have anything to do with them, in fact we actively chased them away but that had no effect and the tortie obviously enjoyed the attention because she was here more and more often.

Last week we took a better look at her. She is obviously under-nourished so we gave in and started to feed her. Now she has been joined by the boy who we think is her son. He is nothing but fur and bones but such a beautiful cat with a really loud purr.

We are fairly sure they belong to the neighbours, who are tenants, as the cats appeared around the same time as the tenants moved in. They don't seem to be being fed though, just last week the neighbours weren't seen for four days and the cats were here all the time. They do seem to disappear when the neighbours are home but they always return after a short while.

Misty and Figgy strangely take no notice at all of these two. Figgy, who has been seen chasing off other cats in the past, was even seen licking the boy in a grooming way yesterday and quite often allows him to follow him on his mouse hunting rounds.

We've not allowed them in the house, we just give them a few biscuits now and then. The dilemma facing us is how far we go with caring for them. If they aren't being fed then they surely won't have been vaccinated - the little boy should be neutered soon too. We're going to be away for two days soon and can't do anything for them. We'll have to review the situation when we get home and see what happens. Meanwhile, we hope they start putting on a bit of weight - I wonder if their owners will notice?

Silent Sunday

2008-06-08T14:32:00.003+02:00

St Médard

Neighbours

M. Cazard's sheep

Musical interlude

2008-06-07T16:16:00.002+02:00

St Gilbert

We have, for some time, been intending to attend one of the Saturday morning concerts given in Cahors Cathedral. They are usually organ recitals and are just 30 minutes long.

The Cathedral is surrounded by the market square, the recitals are free and advertised as the Market Concerts.

We arrived in good time and had a few spare minutes to shuffle through the market before the recital began. I say shuffle because the population of the Lot has probably doubled in the last few weeks as the summer migrants (yes, just like birds) have begun to arrive in their droves. Car number plates are the give away as here in France, currently but probably not for much longer, the last two digits of the number plate denote which département you come from. Ours is 46 so any French vehicle showing a final 06, 96 or, the most disliked by the locals, 75 (Paris) is a holiday-maker or a summer migrant. Add to these the English, Dutch, Belgian and German vehicles and we locals will soon be in the minority.

So, the market was, to coin a phrase 'heaving' and every other voice (and I'm ashamed to say the loudest) was English. Friends all over were greeting each other with a cheery

'How was your winter?' or,

'Have you opened the house for summer?'

Added to these were the transient holiday makers excited by the choice of fresh (and very local) vegetables, fruits and cheeses. The stall holders themselves had multiplied too from a couple of weeks ago and there were peripheral stalls selling clothing, jewellery, handbags and other non-food items. One colourful stall was selling brightly coloured African gowns and I can't for the life of me think who would buy one and wear it in this fairly conservative area where jeans and a sweater are the norm for winter and jeans and a tee-shirt for summer (amongst the French anyway).

We made our way slowly, avoiding tripping over the many brightly coloured wheeled shopping bags which are the latest fashion accessory but a health and safety nightmare for the unsuspecting and finally entered the cathedral.

Today's concert was performed by trumpet students from the city's music school. They were tuning up as we entered. The youngest was around 8 and the oldest probably in his thirties, but the majority were teenagers. There were about 10 in total and they performed various pieces in groups, duos or solo accompanied occasionally by the organ. The standard varied but they all had a good go at their pieces which were sometimes conducted or prompted by their musical director a smartly dressed gent who chewed gum all the way through the recital. The organist had a two foot long beard was wearing grubby jeans and tee-shirt and wafted an odour of eau de unwashed. The students were all casually dressed.

Throughout the recital people came and went, some just popping in for a look around the cathedral were attracted by the music and stayed for a performance or two before moving on. People chatted during the students' playing and it was all very informal.

We couldn't help commenting to each other how, if in England, the concert would have been attended by parents, family and friends, all in their smart clothes; the students would have probably been told to wear a uniform black trousers or skirt and white shirt, and the musical director would certainly not have been wandering around chewing gum! Vive la différence and all that.

Lunch bunch

2008-06-06T15:54:00.002+02:00

St Norbert

The weather is iffy. Luckily the rain held off yesterday although what had been a beautiful morning (complete with bright, golden haze on the meadow and corn as high as an elephant's eye) turned into a rather grey lunch time.

We still held the book group lunch in the garden as it was fairly warm and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Jon and I were a little frazzled round the edges as, as usual, everything took longer to prepare than we had expected and we were still mixing salad dressings at midday when our first guests arrived.

We had poached salmon, two types of quiche and many salads. Then cheese, followed by poached peaches and nectarines with marscapone cream. Almost all the dishes were empty by the end of lunch and everyone complimented us on not only the lunch but also the chocolate brownie squares I served with coffee.

Luckily for us, there was just enough poached salmon left for us to have some salmon fishcakes for supper, served with a nice lime mayonnaise and a few chips (extra naughty, naughty but we had earned them).

It was a satisfied group then, who discussed our previous two months' books and selected books for July, August and September. We find it easier to select three months at a time so that anyone visiting the UK can pick up books there, or we can save on postage by buying them all from Amazon. The books we selected are quite a mix. Jonathan Tropper's new novel 'How to Talk to A Widower' for July, Andrea Camilleri's 'The Shape of Water' (the first in his series about a Sicilian detective and his very amusing colleagues), and Doris Lessing's 'The Golden Notebook'. I must add them to my Amazon wish list and ensure we get them before the next meeting.

Rain, rain, rain

2008-06-03T13:51:00.002+02:00

St Kévin

Happy Birthday to Alice, with lots and lots of love xxxxxxx

The last three days have been wet, wetter and wettest. We haven't uncovered the pool since Sunday morning and the garden water features have been coming and going. No sooner does the rain ease off and the streams disappear than the rain gets heavier and they start up again.

On a positive note, it is bright and dry now, if not brilliant sunshine and the forecast for the next two days is sunny.

Which is just as well as mother is coming to stay. She arrives tomorrow morning. On Thursday it is our turn to host the book group lunch and twelve people would be prove a very cosy affair in the kitchen so we hope that the forecast is correct and we can lunch in the sunshine.

Jon and I have been browsing Amazon.co.uk to see what books we can find to suggest for the coming months. The last two we have read were A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, a riveting novel about two women in Afghanistan, and What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn. What Was Lost is published by a small publishing house called Tindall Street Press, based in Birmingham. They publish what they label as 'contemporary regional fiction' and have an impressive list of works. What Was Lost won the Costa First Novel Award and Ms O'Flynn appeared recently at Hay on Wye book festival. It was an intriguing book. I think I may well read it again sometime.

My other book groups have given me Eric Newby's The Last Grain Race and my surprise postal book this month is Unweaving the Thread by Monica Tracey. Newby I know from his other works but I had never heard of Monica Tracey and when I saw it was 'another' Irish novel, my heart sank - however, I started reading the first chapter and I am really enjoying it - don't like to put it down. With this postal group we each make notes in a little notebook that travels on with the novel, I took a sneak preview at what other group members had thought of this one and they all seem to be of the same opinion.

In between my book group books, as I had caught up and had some spare time, I read Jilly Cooper's Wicked!, which I picked up in a charity shop on my last trip to the UK.

I used to like Jilly Cooper, lots of innuendo, puns, nothing too challenging, but this time I found the book a bit of a chore - maybe all the new novelists and the challenging books the groups are giving me have changed my tastes!

Mermaid

2008-05-28T16:56:00.003+02:00

St Germain

We're feeling very proud today. Alice came to stay having had a few swimming lessons. She was full of confidence in the water floating, jumping in, getting herself under water but she couldn't quite manage a full length without stopping half way down for a breath.

We've worked hard all week to show her how to breathe at the same time as swimming and to keep her legs going to get a full length of the pool and today she has managed two full lengths to resounding cheers from Mum and Grandma on the sidelines.

What a good buy that pool was!

Rainy days and Mondays

2008-05-26T07:30:00.000+02:00

St Bérenger

Mr Meteo has been being economic with the truth again. For weeks he was telling me that we were going to have really bad weather. Day after day he was the prophet of doom but we were right on the cusp of a weather front and managed to stay safe from the rain and storms.

Until now. Now when we have daughter #1 and granddaughter to stay for a week. The first time daughter #1 has been able to get down here for several years.

It started on Saturday evening when we were due to collect them from Toulouse airport. As they were arriving very late, we decided to pop in on friends who live south of here on the way and then moved on with one of our friends to a local auberge. We had a fun evening there and some very nice food.

As we were leaving we noticed a nice light display in the distance. Then we realised that it was lightning and was heading our way. Fifteen minutes later the heavens opened and it was as though someone was throwing heavy buckets of water out of the sky over us. The lightning was spectacular but we couldn’t hear the thunder over the sound of the rain on the car roof. Jon had to slow down to a crawl so that he could see where we were going. This continued for 40 minutes until we reached the airport and a further 10 minutes while we sat in the car waiting for it to ease a little so that we could get into the terminal building without drowning on the way.

Needless to say the plane was delayed by 45 minutes anyway so we hung around in the terminal waiting for them to land.

The rain continued for the 90 minute drive home but finally eased off just after we got back.

After a cup of tea and cocoa to revive their flagging spirits, we escorted our guests to the pool house to the accompaniment of a babbling brook singing away behind us. The garden stream was back.

Sunday morning seemed brighter. At least the clouds were thick white ones instead of thick grey ones. The stream had passed through down to the river and, although the garden was soggy, it was warm and granddaughter and I had a swim in the warm pool (it was warmer than the outside air).

Sadly the brightness didn’t last and it drizzled on and off all day yesterday. This morning is dark but not yet raining. I'm sure it will though.

We don’t plan days out for guests these days. Most of our visitors have been to the region before and know the sites well, but it would be nice to have some sunshine so that we could go for a drive and look at some views, or stroll around a market without getting wet, or sit on a restaurant terrace overlooking a river valley and enjoy the peace of a French lunchtime. Mr Meteo is forecasting a miserable few days and I just wish he would be proved wrong this time as well but it doesn’t look very promising. We will make the most of the dry times and will so enjoy having the girls here with us this week. Now I’m off to the loft to find those board games, packs of cards and jigsaws we put away ‘for a rainy day’ as I think it may have already arrived.

Some pictures

2008-05-22T17:55:00.004+02:00

St Emile

Just a few photos today of our work in the garden. I say 'our' but really it is down to Jon.

I think it looks fantastic. There's a long way to go but this is probably as far as we will get this year because now we have to concentrate on the loft.

Toad Hall

2008-05-20T19:24:00.002+02:00

St Bernardin

He was there again today as he is every morning when we roll back the pool cover. However, today he was actually in the pool and I must have disturbed him taking his morning exercise.

He is a very chunky toad. I've never seen one that size before so I thought I'd look him up in my wildlife book.

What a disappointment. Nothing unusual or rare. He is a common toad.

Now I'm expecting him to croak in Estuary English.

Flowers, flowers everywhere

2008-05-18T18:05:00.005+02:00

St Eric

There was an old lady of Lot
Her garden a boring green plot

She went to the fete
'Cos she couldn't wait
And colourful flowers she got

There's a funny little hamlet near here called l'Abbeye Nouvelle. It has a ruined 13th century abbey and a few houses. Nothing much

However, every May it opens up to a flower fete and all the local producers attend. There were many and varied producers. Specialist iris producers, rose growers and exotic spice plant growers were there along with garden centres.

We were there early today. We had been warned by friends who have been before that if we weren't there by 10 there wouldn't be anywhere to park. It was good advice as when we left at 11 there wasn't a space to be had and cars were littering the local highways and byways. Tempers were fraying and cars were just being abandoned all over the place.

We spent a very pleasant hour wandering around the stalls and tripping over 'flower children' - the local children were offering to help people back to their cars with wheelbarrows full of plants in return for a donation.

There are plenty of plants to put in the, as yet, un-dug beds!

Yesterday evening we dined with friends. Last time we had been there I listed what we saw on the way home. This time there was less but more dramatic. Three cars, one hare, one rabbit, one nightingale and a wild boar - the first we have seen in the flesh. I was glad I had spotted it as it was snuffling in the undergrowth right beside the road. Of course I slowed down so as not to frighten it into running across the road.

They are amazing beasts and quite stunning to see but they cause so much damage to the farms, especially in the Lot Valley that the hunting season was extended twice this year to try and keep the numbers down. They are safe now until September when the hunting season restarts. We can totally understand the anxiety because we have seen first hand the damage they can do.

Busy week ahead again. More garden work and getting ready for our first visitors of the summer. I really must get a list together and see if we can complete it this time!

New toys

2008-05-15T16:56:00.004+02:00

Ste Denise

After a couple of days hard labour, we decided that today we could have a day off for good behaviour. The path is now laid across the garden to the pool house with a couple of little areas for seats and tables should we want them.

We shouldn't be, but are, suprised just how much glare and heat the stones give off and how much lighter and sunnier the garden seems with the new layout.

We went shopping this morning and bought a couple of long polystyrene tubes which are all the rage here. They are floats for the pool. We spent a few minutes testing them out and they are lovely for resting your head on when just floating around in the water - what a brilliant idea and so cheap! We also bought a couple of little sleeves for them which means we can join them up to each other or make into rounds. We are sure the grandchildren are going to have great fun with these when they come to stay.

We also tried to make our tax declaration for 2007 today. We went to the local tax office to collect the forms only to be told that we would have to come back after 2 June when they will make an appointment and register us properly. This is the first time I have heard of this being done. The official date for getting your forms in is 31 May every year and I questioned whether it would be OK for us to submit late for 2007. 'No worries' I was told, it is our problem that we can't see you until June, so there won't be a problem.

It isn't that we will have to pay any tax over here anyway as my pension is too small to be considered for tax and Jon's being a government pension has to be taxed in the UK, but we did want to get ourselves 'legally' registered over here for tax purposes and especially to claim our tax 'credit' against the replacement windows we had fitted last year. So it will all have to wait until June.

Ever wondered?

2008-05-13T16:59:00.005+02:00

Ste Rolande

This is what 15 tonnes of calcaire looks like. We had wondered.

It arrived at 10.15 this morning. We set to work and.....

... this is what the parking area which had previously resembled a mud bath looked like at 12.15

This is what the garden path and sitting out area looked like at 2pm

... and this is it at 4pm

There is still about a third of the pile left for us to lay tomorrow. We wondered what we might be doing .....

I think an early night is called for tonight.

Silent weekend

2008-05-11T18:01:00.003+02:00

Ste Estelle

Happy Birthday (for yesterday) to Amanda

Happy Birthday (for yesterday) to Bonita

Upsalla, Sweden.

Woodpiles and courgettes

2008-05-09T17:19:00.003+02:00

St Pacôme

Another busy day today. Starting with a trip to the shops which were so busy that there was a queue on the roundabout outside the supermarket as we came out. This is partly due to the aforementioned bridging of the weekend bank holidays, and partly because the population of the Lot has increased over the last week. Summer migrants have arrived; these are the people who live here 'part time'. I think of them as 'les hirondelles' they come with the swallows and leave with them too. Added to these are the fortnighters and the short-breakers, who will swell the population continually now until around the end of September. The population of this little department will treble in July and August when we residents will be doing our shopping earlier to avoid crowds, and rarely go to the markets where English and Dutch voices outnumber French.

After the shops, Jon returned to his woodpiles clearing and stacking and I dealt with the pool before getting lunch. After that Jon continued with the logs and I planted the courgettes, dahlias and mint, and moved the tomatoes over to the potager to keep them company. I also planted some of the new shrubs (vibernum and buddleia) and placed the lavenders ready for planting in the 'pool' shrubbery.

We spent another hour stacking logs before tidying up and coming indoors.

I took a look at the list I posted on Tuesday - we haven't done too badly but neither have we done too well.

1. Done - delivery Tuesday morning next week - praying for dry cool days next week as we have to move them - 15 tonnes arriving!
2. Partly done (see above) - still need to dig the other rows for 4 dozen bean plants and the chillies.
3. Nope
4. Nope
5. Yes
6. Are you kidding?
7. Do every day.
8, 9, 10, Well, it HAS only been three days - can I have until next Tuesday please (probably still won't do it though!)

See comment on Tuesday's post - it's nearly cork-popping time...

Let down by Aunty Beeb

2008-05-08T17:47:00.001+02:00

Ste Désiré

Another public holiday here in France, and there's to be another next Monday too.

Jon has finally managed to get some of the rubbish burned from the tree cutting and scrub clearing sessions he has been busy at. Meanwhile I was being very boring and doing the housework.

We have crossed a few items off this weeks' list but with the holiday today all public offices were closed - usually French people will 'bridge' by taking tomorrow off as well, so everywhere will be understaffed. It makes a nice long weekend for people over here but frustrating if you want to get anything done.

We've been watching the BBC Young Musician of the Year this week. Whatever happened to that? The format this year is appalling. We don't want to know how these kids have got to know each other and whether or not they are chatting on Facebook or MySpace - we want to know wether they can play their instruments and how well. Apparently we can see their full performances for the semi-finals on the internet - but setting up a decent sound quality isn't easy.

It's enough to make me want to write to Points of View.

Why, oh, why BBC?

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails

2008-05-07T17:59:00.002+02:00

Ste Gisèle

The wildlife count has gone up recently and today has been especially busy.

It started when Jon got up this morning to make some tea and found a lizard in the living room. He went to pick it up and as I was saying 'It's tail will come off!' it ran under the cupboard and hasn't been seen since. We don't know how it got in, except that my theory is that it came in through the roof and ended up in the living room - bearing in mind the fact that the loft roof isn't insulated and is open to all sorts of creatures climbing under the tiles at the moment.

The house fly and bluebottle population is high at the moment. Luckily our new fly screens, fitted last September and never really put to the test, are keeping most of them out. Those that we do find indoors we also suspect of getting in through the roof. It's a good job those bees are still in the chimney and don't find their way down through the roof too.

When I pulled back the pool cover this morning I found the largest frog I've seen around these parts on the margelles. It hid its face from me in the manner of 'I can't see you, therefore you can't see me' and crawled into the grass. I called Jon over to see him, keeping a close eye on The Little Bar Steward who was mouse hunting close by and he put him safely into longer undergrowth.

Speaking of the Little Bar Steward, we were very upset the other day when he brought home a red squirrel in his jaws. Whether he found it or caught it I wouldn't like to say but I suspect the latter. He was suitably scolded and deprived of his prey which we disposed of in a neighbour's field (Sorry!).

Finally, Martin from the pool company discovered our well the other day and went down the little steps to investigate. He tells us that the water must be just perfect down there as there are several salamanders living there.

Hmmmm.

Setting targets

2008-05-06T17:10:00.002+02:00

Ste Prudence

Setting targets. Lord, that sounds far too much like being back at work but we need to get certain things organised before our round of visitors begins. We are really looking forward to having No 1 daughter and grand-daughter over for a week, followed by my mother, followed by friends, more friends, and so on. But things need doing first so:

Lay the garden paths
Sublist - order the castines (limestone chippings) then dread the delivery of 15 tonnes of the stuff which will have to be shifted by wheelbarrow!
Dig and plant the potager - veggie garden
Sublist - buy compost, dig, dig again and keep digging until the soil resembles soil and not mud clumps.
Then - plant courgettes which are already looking too big for their pots, peppers, beans and scatter them with marigolds to keep away the bugs
Get tax forms and fill in - must be returned by the end of May
Sublist - find out how to claim back the credit for having new windows fitted last year.
Get French driving licence forms completed and down to the prefecture - it's about time you got legal!
Go to vets for new supply of Frontine for the cats – nasty ticks around again
Do the filing, it’s taking over the house!
Check the pool daily for chlorine and pH levels. Clean it too.
Make fly screen door for the pool house.
Re-make steps for the pool house, the pool guys gave them a hard time when they were here.
Make curtains for the pool house – it faces east and our guests (or ourselves) won’t want to be woken that early. Hang on, I’m already woken at dawn every day by the Little Bar Steward knocking on the door to be let out. Maybe I should move into the pool house permanently and leave him indoors with the guests. Well, it’s a thought!
Remember, you are retired so don’t get stressed. Ha!!

Trying to buy 'stuff'

2008-05-05T18:18:00.004+02:00

St Judith

After a glorious weekend, the weather has been ghastly today so we went shopping this morning to buy the rest of the edging for the garden paths. We are inundated every Tuesday or Wednesday with leaflets from the local supermarkets and hypermarkets letting us know what their special offers are for this week. The garden and agricultural shops let us know once a month and we were pleased to see that one of them was doing a special offer on the edging we have been using.

The offer started on 1 May so Jon jumped at the opportunity and went on Friday (shops being closed on 1 May for the public holiday), to collect as many as he could find. Unfortunately they had none. Whether they had just not yet stocked up, or whether they were ignoring what was advertised in their leaflet we just don't know.

There's another branch of the same shop in Cahors so we decided to pop down there this morning to collect what they might have in stock. Unfortunately this branch has the smallest parking area and it was not only full but four cars were trying to shuffle themselves to and fro into the tiniest spaces they could find.

We gave it a miss and pottered along to the nearest DIY (with a large car park) just to see if, on the off chance they were stocking the same thing. They were, so we piled 26 rolls of log edging onto a trolley. Of course some of them fell off but we managed to retrieve them without causing ourselves too much embarassement. While we were there we checked the stock of the floorboards we want for the loft. They have almost sold out and filled the space with something else, so we guess we won't be able to get the boards there and it will mean us going further afield.

Once again we are faced with a familiar frustration - if you don't buy what you see when you first see it, it won't be available when you go back. Unfortuantely we can't buy them when we see them as 55 square metres of floor boards will not fit into one Peugeot 106. So we want to plan a date when we can hire a van to make a trip specially for them.

Now we will have to do another recce to another DIY store to see if they have what we require and then organise the van quickly and go back for them the next day.

We've decided to forget about the loft for a week or so and concentrate on the garden paths instead. Naturally, whoever is against us has forseen this and it is now pouring with rain AGAIN, the garden is once more full of mud and we can't get on with any tidying up.

AND I won't be able to swim today!!!!

Weekend

2008-05-04T18:28:00.002+02:00

St Silvain

Sorry you didn't get a 'silent Saturday' this week we were far tooo preoccupied using the pool for the first time.

It heated up nicely on Saturday and we spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening around the pool and pool house. We were especially impressed with the pool light which makes it a beautiful colour after dark.

So we sat and admired, listening to a little smooth jazz on the CD player, sitting on the pool house veranda watching the distant lights of the metropolis that is our village (population 293).

Today we have been busy doing nothing - catching up on our rather late reading for April and getting ahead with May, cleaning the pool (an excuse for an hour in the sun in the morning) and generally pottering about (Jon actually was being pretty energetic this morning chopping more wood from the trees we've taken down but I soon put a stop to that sort of activity).

We have a very busy week ahead of us, we have to collect the forms for our first tax return, sort out our French driving licences, see the chimney people again about the fitting, and progress further on our hunt for the loft floor.

Now, where's that glass of wine?

In at the deep end

2008-05-02T17:50:00.002+02:00

St Boris

Coo, look at that. St Boris's Day - anyone living in the UK and more especially, London, will be watching the results of the Mayoral elections today with interest.

Good luck, Londoners, whatever happens.

I did complain this morning about the heater not working and the fact that we just seem to be throwing money at EDF for no heat. J-J came round to take a look, stopped the heater, started it, stopped it again, restarted and declared that he believed it was working.

At that point an extremely good looking young man came round to measure my chimney (no euphamism intended). He noticed the bees in the chimney, which I had 'accidentally' forgotten about, and said that they will clean the chimney when they come to fit the log burner. They will also cap the chimney for us and he looks forward to seeing me again soon. Me too. (Jon was out this morning while I was surrounded by these nice French chaps!).

By the time I had finished having my chimney measured, J-J had left and I was under instruction to call the office at 3pm if nothing had changed. However, Andy and Chris, the company bosses called at midday to say that they would come over to look at the heater.

Jon and I stood anxiously watching and wondering if we had done something wrong (like buying the heater in the first place) but Andy, with infinite patience, adjusted the flow of water into the heater and we saw immediately that there was a difference in the heat in and the heat out, which continued to rise another degree.

We've watched all afternoon and it has gone up another 2 degrees.

Woo hoo! We might get that swim by the end of the weekend.

While I was cleaning again (still not managed to get all the sand out), Jon decided to clamber in the pool and have a rub at the walls - he declined to immerse himself completely but was up to his waist in rather chilly water.

Sorry. No photo!

Clearing, tidying and sorting

2008-05-01T18:44:00.002+02:00

St Jean-Lou

It's a public holiday here in France - workers unite.

Not here. We've been busy trying to sort the garden. We thought we'd get a head start before the rain - well, it is a holiday. Unfortunately for us, it didn't rain, so we've had a busy day.

Jon has been busy laying the edging for the parking area and starting work on the garden paths. I began digging my potager as my courgettes are far to big for their pots and I have to get them in the ground as soon as possible. I've dug in some manure, compost and the clods of mud are such hard work I dread that they will ever become proper garden soil. We're going to try anyway.

I had another go at cleaning the pool - another pleasant hour in the sun pretending to be busy - I like this sort of work. I didn't feel I could eke it out much longer than an hour though. There is still a lot of muck and sand to come out but every time I clean it stirs up and I have to leave it another 24 hours to settle ready for the next clean (it's a long brush on a hose that plugs into the filter and sucks up the muck, Lizzie).

We aren't convinced the heater is working. The temperature has only gone up by 2 degrees in 30 hours of heating so I'll be complaining on the phone again tomorrow morning. One day, maybe, we'll be running properly!