St Quentin
Yesterday's weather: cloudy, mild, sunny afternoon
DIY doesn't come easy after all these years but Jon has been doing terrific work on the kitchen, the chalet and the next plan is a hard standing for the car. Yesterday's rain was the first for many weeks but our only access to the 'daily use' car is across the grass. We've put down some wooden 'stepping stones' but they aren't that satisfactory so we have to organise something else now.
The idea is to have edging blocks bordering an area of limestone chippings. We thought about gravel but this might be too tempting to cats who are used to litter trays, so something more uncomfortable for their feet is required.
Because the shops and builders' yards are so far we try to do as much research as we can on the internet before we go out. Jon found the edging stones but we haven't yet discovered whether our local merchants will do the limestone as well. It seems to me that the French haven't really caught on to the internet in the same way as we were used to in the UK. It is certainly a lot better than a year or so ago, but we find that many sites are just like showroom windows with little information and often no prices. There are some companies who have on-line ordering facilities but here in France most transactions take place face-to-face.
We are gradually getting used to this but it is all to do with the transition from working full time and arranging as much as possible over the internet so that you don't spend every lunch hour and every weekend doing the shopping. I believe that part of the reason for the French being a little slower to embrace the internet is to do with the Minitel.
The Minitel was a little terminal provided by the French telephone service on which you could make certain purchases, order train tickets and even communicate by e-mail. The French thought that this was a brilliant idea and would rival the world wide web but unfortunately they forgot that France is actually quite a small country in the great scheme of things and the www overtook Minitel by being embraced by the rest of the world. However, it did mean that many French people were ahead of a lot of us 'others' in making on-line transactions.
I believe that some supermarket chains here are beginning to do trials with on-line grocery shopping and delivery, but after all our problems with the shed delivery, we might just let them get on with it for a few years before we even attempt it. I don't relish the idea of the substitutions they may make whenever an item is unavailable.
I'll never forget the time I ordered some expensive, good-quality smoked salmon pâté from a supermarket in England. Unfortunately it wasn't available that day and they delivered me a jar of fish paste in its place!
Wednesday 31 October 2007
Tuesday 30 October 2007
Busy, busy, busy
St Bienvenue
Yesterday's weather: nice morning, wet afternoon
EDIT:
How rude, Anne (see comment)! I've been a very busy girl today. Breakfast followed by shopping. Lunch followed by ironing. Jon's been measuring out for a hardstanding area for the car, footpath across to the chalet and proposed pool area.... I can't just sit around blogging you know. Must go, there's a game of scrabble on Facebook that I have to fit in too........
Yesterday's weather: nice morning, wet afternoon
EDIT:
How rude, Anne (see comment)! I've been a very busy girl today. Breakfast followed by shopping. Lunch followed by ironing. Jon's been measuring out for a hardstanding area for the car, footpath across to the chalet and proposed pool area.... I can't just sit around blogging you know. Must go, there's a game of scrabble on Facebook that I have to fit in too........
Monday 29 October 2007
I know my place
Ste Narcisse
Yesterday's weather: lovely, sunny. Glass of wine in the garden at lunchtime!
Misty really doesn't like the change in the seasons. She just can't decide between in and out, sofa or garden, high level or low level, but mostly in or out. She spends most of her time sitting at the kitchen door, still confused as to why she can't just walk through it and get her food, blanket or toy Bagpuss that she is so fond of. If we open the door she wanders once round the kitchen and back to the door waiting to go out, so a lot of the time we just ignore her requests.
She will either wander away for all of 30 seconds or mouth a little 'mew'. If that fails she will put her paw on the door thinking that we might notice and let her in. If that fails she will stand on her hind legs to see if she can push the door open with her front paws and if that fails she will jump onto the kitchen window ledge and call to us from there:
'Oi! You in there! Didn't you see me at the door? I just want to come in and walk round the kitchen once and ask you to let me out again.'
We have a little plaque by the back door - just in case we should forget
Chore list:
Let cat in .... Let cat out
Let cat in .... Let cat out
Sunday 28 October 2007
Past neighbours and woolly hats
St Jude
Yesterday's weather: Lovely and sunny, cool again! Where's that lovely mild autumn people promised me????
Yesterday's weather: Lovely and sunny, cool again! Where's that lovely mild autumn people promised me????
St Jude, eh? Would that be anything to do with the lovely Jude Law? No, surely not.
He was, by the way, my neighbour during the filming of 'The Holiday'.
OK, well actually, the entire film crew set up camp in the field next to our house, they took over our village with fake snow, fake shops and even a fake house. I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but the village of Shere in 'The Holiday' was a huge exaggeration of the true village. Parts of Godalming also became Shere including Godalming Station where they changed the station signs to read 'Shere' which was extremely disconcerting for all the commuters who intended to get off the train, saw that it wasn't Godalming and got back on again! Oh, and because we were at work all day, we never did see him, or Kate Winslet, or Cameron Diaz.
- - - -
Congratulations to my two girlie cousins in Brisbane who bravely had their heads shaved in aid of Cancer Research this week. As I was delving for my woolly hat yesterday morning I was feeling quite sorry for them until I realised that of course short hair is just the thing for the summer months in Oz! Well done E and D x x x
Saturday 27 October 2007
A series of unfortunate events
Ste Emeline
Yesterday's weather: cool, cloudy, some sun
Some years ago we heard a lovely story regarding our house. We returned from lunch with some friends and found, to our surprise, a middle aged couple and an elderly woman hovering outside. They had, it transpired, come to see if the previous occupant of a neighbouring house was still here as the elderly woman had lost touch with him some years ago. As she admitted to being 92 we were hardly surprised, but had to give her the sad news that her old friend had died just a couple of years earlier.
The car they were travelling in had come off the side of the road and was hanging precariously over the side of the hill facing into our garden, so while they were waiting for some breakdown assistance to appear, we offered a seat and some water to the two ladies. The seat was accepted for the elderly lady but they refused water and a more comfortable seat in our garden and sat by the side of the lane.
The elderly lady told us that she had been brought up in our village and had moved away after her marriage, to a village just 10 kilometers from here but rarely returned. She knew very well the gentleman in the neighbouring house and had even had her very first flirt in our own house - this was a subject about which she offered no more information.
She did, however, mention that the water in the well on the lane was supposed to be of excellent quality and that we should have it tested. We have only see it as very rusty water that comes from the broken pump and have to take her word for it's quality. It does seem to come straight off the limestone hill and continue in an underground stream across our land which can be heard burbling away when we have particularly heavy rain.
Unfortunately for this family, the breakdown truck then arrived and as the driver of the car assisted pushing it back up the hill, he fell and broke his foot and his wife carted him off to hospital with his mother sitting in the back of the car shaking her head as if to say 'Well, I've seen it all before, life, death, accidents...' but I do like to think that she had fond memories of her little teenage flirt in our little home.
Yesterday's weather: cool, cloudy, some sun
Some years ago we heard a lovely story regarding our house. We returned from lunch with some friends and found, to our surprise, a middle aged couple and an elderly woman hovering outside. They had, it transpired, come to see if the previous occupant of a neighbouring house was still here as the elderly woman had lost touch with him some years ago. As she admitted to being 92 we were hardly surprised, but had to give her the sad news that her old friend had died just a couple of years earlier.
The car they were travelling in had come off the side of the road and was hanging precariously over the side of the hill facing into our garden, so while they were waiting for some breakdown assistance to appear, we offered a seat and some water to the two ladies. The seat was accepted for the elderly lady but they refused water and a more comfortable seat in our garden and sat by the side of the lane.
The elderly lady told us that she had been brought up in our village and had moved away after her marriage, to a village just 10 kilometers from here but rarely returned. She knew very well the gentleman in the neighbouring house and had even had her very first flirt in our own house - this was a subject about which she offered no more information.
She did, however, mention that the water in the well on the lane was supposed to be of excellent quality and that we should have it tested. We have only see it as very rusty water that comes from the broken pump and have to take her word for it's quality. It does seem to come straight off the limestone hill and continue in an underground stream across our land which can be heard burbling away when we have particularly heavy rain.
Unfortunately for this family, the breakdown truck then arrived and as the driver of the car assisted pushing it back up the hill, he fell and broke his foot and his wife carted him off to hospital with his mother sitting in the back of the car shaking her head as if to say 'Well, I've seen it all before, life, death, accidents...' but I do like to think that she had fond memories of her little teenage flirt in our little home.
Friday 26 October 2007
No news
St Dimitri
Yesterday's weather: cold, mostly sunny.
A friend called at lunch time today to say that they had seen a strange cat near to them and it might be Jazz. They live just over the hills from us and it was quite possible that she had wandered there. Unfortunately the cat he had seen was no longer there but we hung around for a while until we saw a black and white cat eyeing us from a nearby fallen tree trunk.
We've been for a long walk on the hill this afternoon calling and rattling her biscuit box but there is still no sign of her. We haven't given up hope and both of us feel in our bones that she hasn't come to any harm but is around somewhere and will return in her own good time. We have told a few people that she is missing but as she has done this before, even though it wasn't for so long, we don't want to put up notices locally as I feel that every unrecognised cat for miles around will produce a phone call for us building up our hopes - and then when she turns up on the doorstep and goes off again in a few weeks time we would have to do it all over again.
We have to accept that this is part of Jazz's nature and we won't be able to stop her if this is what comes naturally to her. It was a risk we took when we brought her to France and allowed her outside, we are very lucky that neither Misty nor Figaro (aka the Little Bar Steward) want to roam very far at all and always come to greet us when we return home.
Thanks to everyone for their concern over Jazz. I will certainly keep you informed when (I nearly said 'if' and corrected myself), when she appears.
Yesterday's weather: cold, mostly sunny.
A friend called at lunch time today to say that they had seen a strange cat near to them and it might be Jazz. They live just over the hills from us and it was quite possible that she had wandered there. Unfortunately the cat he had seen was no longer there but we hung around for a while until we saw a black and white cat eyeing us from a nearby fallen tree trunk.
We've been for a long walk on the hill this afternoon calling and rattling her biscuit box but there is still no sign of her. We haven't given up hope and both of us feel in our bones that she hasn't come to any harm but is around somewhere and will return in her own good time. We have told a few people that she is missing but as she has done this before, even though it wasn't for so long, we don't want to put up notices locally as I feel that every unrecognised cat for miles around will produce a phone call for us building up our hopes - and then when she turns up on the doorstep and goes off again in a few weeks time we would have to do it all over again.
We have to accept that this is part of Jazz's nature and we won't be able to stop her if this is what comes naturally to her. It was a risk we took when we brought her to France and allowed her outside, we are very lucky that neither Misty nor Figaro (aka the Little Bar Steward) want to roam very far at all and always come to greet us when we return home.
Thanks to everyone for their concern over Jazz. I will certainly keep you informed when (I nearly said 'if' and corrected myself), when she appears.
Thursday 25 October 2007
We Wish You a Merry....
St Crépin
Yesterday's weather: lovely once again
I don't suppose you knew it was Christmas Day yesterday, did you? Our friend who, you will shortly understand (and I'm sure won't mind my telling you), is as mad as a hatter, decided that, since we weren't going to see each other over Christmas, we would celebrate a virtual Christmas Day complete with virtual Christmas Tree, lights, and virtual presents. You will therefore be surprised to learn that we are extremely tired this morning (our friends had to leave before light to catch their flight back to the horror that is South East England) and our sides are aching from laughing so much.
Jon was very pleased to have received a virtual RSJ so that he can virtually knock our two rooms into one. I was given a virtual Toblerone which I was happy to share around. Our friends received a hamster exercise ball (which I think will be too small for their Jack Russell - who is real by the way) and some jewellery - received by the person whose idea it was - I think she was hinting to her husband what should be on her list this Christmas.
What pleased Jon most was that he was able to avoid having to play Christmas Carols on the piano and I managed to conveniently lose the Christmas CDs. We played virtual charades and a rather surreal game of I-Spy.
I think it's rather good that we don't see these friends too often. At my age I don't think I can take the pace of 2.30am bedtimes and riotous laughter for more than a day or so at a time.
Thanks so much for coming. We had a wonderful time with you and look forward to a return match of I-Spy very soon.
Yesterday's weather: lovely once again
I don't suppose you knew it was Christmas Day yesterday, did you? Our friend who, you will shortly understand (and I'm sure won't mind my telling you), is as mad as a hatter, decided that, since we weren't going to see each other over Christmas, we would celebrate a virtual Christmas Day complete with virtual Christmas Tree, lights, and virtual presents. You will therefore be surprised to learn that we are extremely tired this morning (our friends had to leave before light to catch their flight back to the horror that is South East England) and our sides are aching from laughing so much.
Jon was very pleased to have received a virtual RSJ so that he can virtually knock our two rooms into one. I was given a virtual Toblerone which I was happy to share around. Our friends received a hamster exercise ball (which I think will be too small for their Jack Russell - who is real by the way) and some jewellery - received by the person whose idea it was - I think she was hinting to her husband what should be on her list this Christmas.
What pleased Jon most was that he was able to avoid having to play Christmas Carols on the piano and I managed to conveniently lose the Christmas CDs. We played virtual charades and a rather surreal game of I-Spy.
I think it's rather good that we don't see these friends too often. At my age I don't think I can take the pace of 2.30am bedtimes and riotous laughter for more than a day or so at a time.
Thanks so much for coming. We had a wonderful time with you and look forward to a return match of I-Spy very soon.
Wednesday 24 October 2007
Terminator
St Florentin
Yesterday's weather: Lovely but chilly.
Sorry. Computer problems prevent me from blogging today but in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger ' I'll be back'
Yesterday's weather: Lovely but chilly.
Sorry. Computer problems prevent me from blogging today but in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger ' I'll be back'
Tuesday 23 October 2007
How tickled I am
St Arnauld
Yesterday's weather: Lovely, mild, sunny
My chuckle muscles are getting a work out. Ken Dodd would be pleased. Our friends have arrived from England and we are having such a laugh, we had forgotten what a good tonic that is. A very late night last night means a slow start this morning but it is time to get the croissants in the oven (a rare treat for us) and a coffee pot on the stove.
Then we'll be back out calling for Jazz who still isn't home. It isn't quite the longest she's been away but still worrying. This must be the cat with the worst sense of direction.
Next thing, do we go out today or not? It's a beautiful day again and tempting to potter here in the garden and have a leisurely lunch but the views are just wonderful out and around when the weather is this good.
Yesterday's weather: Lovely, mild, sunny
My chuckle muscles are getting a work out. Ken Dodd would be pleased. Our friends have arrived from England and we are having such a laugh, we had forgotten what a good tonic that is. A very late night last night means a slow start this morning but it is time to get the croissants in the oven (a rare treat for us) and a coffee pot on the stove.
Then we'll be back out calling for Jazz who still isn't home. It isn't quite the longest she's been away but still worrying. This must be the cat with the worst sense of direction.
Next thing, do we go out today or not? It's a beautiful day again and tempting to potter here in the garden and have a leisurely lunch but the views are just wonderful out and around when the weather is this good.
Monday 22 October 2007
Brrrrr.....
Ste Elodie
Yesterday's weather: Lovely and sunny. Freezing cold!!!
Still, Jon managed to get the grass cut. I wonder if it will be the last time this year?
Yesterday's weather: Lovely and sunny. Freezing cold!!!
Still, Jon managed to get the grass cut. I wonder if it will be the last time this year?
Sunday 21 October 2007
Cat searching
Ste Céline
Yesterday's weather: very chilly but beautiful (see crane photo from yesterday for blue sky)
The cold snap continues but the loveliest thing is that it has brought with it amazing blue skies and incredible night skies. The weather is set to stay nice for the next week, mostly sunny. That is excellent news for the visitors s long as they bring their fleeces and warm PJs with them!
We took a trip out this morning to see a cat that needs rehoming. He's another Maine Coon and his owners have to return to the UK early next year. They feel tht he would be happier rehomed in France than taken to busy SE England. He's a lovely cat, even though he has a very silly name, but he is extremely timid and is also diabetic which means he would need to be fed seperately from our own moggies. Unfortunately we feel we will have to refuse him even though we would be happy to have him because we don't feel that HE would be happy with us and especially with our household of three somewhat boss cats.
Jazz has gone walkabout again since Thursday afternoon. We are confident that she will be back in her own good time but it doesn't stop us from worrying about her. I'll keep you posted.
Yesterday's weather: very chilly but beautiful (see crane photo from yesterday for blue sky)
The cold snap continues but the loveliest thing is that it has brought with it amazing blue skies and incredible night skies. The weather is set to stay nice for the next week, mostly sunny. That is excellent news for the visitors s long as they bring their fleeces and warm PJs with them!
We took a trip out this morning to see a cat that needs rehoming. He's another Maine Coon and his owners have to return to the UK early next year. They feel tht he would be happier rehomed in France than taken to busy SE England. He's a lovely cat, even though he has a very silly name, but he is extremely timid and is also diabetic which means he would need to be fed seperately from our own moggies. Unfortunately we feel we will have to refuse him even though we would be happy to have him because we don't feel that HE would be happy with us and especially with our household of three somewhat boss cats.
Jazz has gone walkabout again since Thursday afternoon. We are confident that she will be back in her own good time but it doesn't stop us from worrying about her. I'll keep you posted.
Saturday 20 October 2007
Who said that?
Ste Adeline
Yesterday's weather: Still lovely despite being chilly!
It must be the UK half term holidays. Suddenly today the DIY store and supermarket were full of British cars and English voices again this morning. There are dozens of camper vans with north France registration plates heading south, so the French must be on holiday too.
Funny, we don't think about it most of the time but when the local town suddenly fills up after several weeks it comes back to us. After this week they will all disappear again until around Easter. Many people seem to live here only in the summer and they return on 1 March, the second wave usually arrive around 1 April and then from Whitsun onwards the population is around five times higher than in winter.
Rather like migrating birds, I suppose. Which is very strange since I just heard a noise outside. Hundreds of cranes are migrating south for the winter! If you look very carefully, you can see them.
Yesterday's weather: Still lovely despite being chilly!
It must be the UK half term holidays. Suddenly today the DIY store and supermarket were full of British cars and English voices again this morning. There are dozens of camper vans with north France registration plates heading south, so the French must be on holiday too.
Funny, we don't think about it most of the time but when the local town suddenly fills up after several weeks it comes back to us. After this week they will all disappear again until around Easter. Many people seem to live here only in the summer and they return on 1 March, the second wave usually arrive around 1 April and then from Whitsun onwards the population is around five times higher than in winter.
Rather like migrating birds, I suppose. Which is very strange since I just heard a noise outside. Hundreds of cranes are migrating south for the winter! If you look very carefully, you can see them.
Friday 19 October 2007
Eek!
St René
Yesterday's weather: Beautiful. We went out and the views were wonderful, looking down on the Dordogne valley which was still misty - looked very romantic.
We had a nasty shock today. The temperature is -4 degrees outside and we've had our first frost. It is clearing quickly and didn't get as far as our patio so the plants are all safe, but it has given us a reminder to put all the more sensitive plants into sheltered areas.
I went out late last night to call the cats in and the sky was magnificent. There were hundreds of stars and the air was still warm so I expected a fog this morning rather than a frost. Before the sun came up this morning the stars were shining brilliantly through the bedroom window, until I realised, I thought the sun was coming up. Apparently we have both Venus and Saturn visible this month and next week (21st) there will be a further meteor shower visible so that should be worth getting cold for!
It's the second biggest rugby match tonight - France vs Argentina. I wonder if it will be as popular as it would have been in France were playing in the final? I hope that the Paris transport system has managed to get itself up and running again in time for everyone to make it to the match, today and tomorrow. I'm sure that if the workers were inclined to strike on a Saturday (heaven forbid, since that won't create nearly as much chaos as a weekday) they would be delighted to strike tomorrow and get their own back on all the English fans!
Yesterday's weather: Beautiful. We went out and the views were wonderful, looking down on the Dordogne valley which was still misty - looked very romantic.
We had a nasty shock today. The temperature is -4 degrees outside and we've had our first frost. It is clearing quickly and didn't get as far as our patio so the plants are all safe, but it has given us a reminder to put all the more sensitive plants into sheltered areas.
I went out late last night to call the cats in and the sky was magnificent. There were hundreds of stars and the air was still warm so I expected a fog this morning rather than a frost. Before the sun came up this morning the stars were shining brilliantly through the bedroom window, until I realised, I thought the sun was coming up. Apparently we have both Venus and Saturn visible this month and next week (21st) there will be a further meteor shower visible so that should be worth getting cold for!
It's the second biggest rugby match tonight - France vs Argentina. I wonder if it will be as popular as it would have been in France were playing in the final? I hope that the Paris transport system has managed to get itself up and running again in time for everyone to make it to the match, today and tomorrow. I'm sure that if the workers were inclined to strike on a Saturday (heaven forbid, since that won't create nearly as much chaos as a weekday) they would be delighted to strike tomorrow and get their own back on all the English fans!
Thursday 18 October 2007
Nothing to say
St Luc
Yesterday's weather : very nice
Nothing to say today. The weather is lovely. We've been out shopping and exploring again and now we're back home to unpack and re-organise the kitchen storage.
Until tomorrow. Au revoir
Yesterday's weather : very nice
Nothing to say today. The weather is lovely. We've been out shopping and exploring again and now we're back home to unpack and re-organise the kitchen storage.
Until tomorrow. Au revoir
Wednesday 17 October 2007
Here we go gathering
St Baudoin
Yesterday's weather: sun, warmth.....
I've got lumpy legs again. I hobbled over to collect up the last of the walnuts yesterday and some nasty biting things managed to get up the legs of my jeans and have a nice feast.
As I was scratching away this morning I thought to myself how they must have been rubbing their hands with glee as they saw me making my way gingerly through the ankle-deep horse chestnut leaves which are like a minefield to a person who has recently had seven stitches in the underside of her toe - those nasty conker shells are vicious little buggers just lying in wait for an unsuspecting foot or paw. I had wandered across the garden followed by Misty who took an age to get through horse chestnut hell and, unfortunately for her, by the time she caught up with me I realised that I would need a big basket so headed back to the house to collect it and back to the tree again. Misty got fed up at this point and took a detour to look for some mice or something.
I mentioned the other day that we have noticed lots of people under their walnut trees day after day collecting their crops. Most of the people we saw were not in the first, or even second, flush of youth and it is back-breaking work. Many of them must have been doing this every autumn since they were children since the majority of land is passed on down through families, and some must be well into their 70s or even 80s.
As I reflect on this I resolve not to complain about my back next time I go collecting for half and hour or so.
Yesterday's weather: sun, warmth.....
I've got lumpy legs again. I hobbled over to collect up the last of the walnuts yesterday and some nasty biting things managed to get up the legs of my jeans and have a nice feast.
As I was scratching away this morning I thought to myself how they must have been rubbing their hands with glee as they saw me making my way gingerly through the ankle-deep horse chestnut leaves which are like a minefield to a person who has recently had seven stitches in the underside of her toe - those nasty conker shells are vicious little buggers just lying in wait for an unsuspecting foot or paw. I had wandered across the garden followed by Misty who took an age to get through horse chestnut hell and, unfortunately for her, by the time she caught up with me I realised that I would need a big basket so headed back to the house to collect it and back to the tree again. Misty got fed up at this point and took a detour to look for some mice or something.
I mentioned the other day that we have noticed lots of people under their walnut trees day after day collecting their crops. Most of the people we saw were not in the first, or even second, flush of youth and it is back-breaking work. Many of them must have been doing this every autumn since they were children since the majority of land is passed on down through families, and some must be well into their 70s or even 80s.
As I reflect on this I resolve not to complain about my back next time I go collecting for half and hour or so.
Tuesday 16 October 2007
Trust me to open my mouth
Ste Edwige (no, I don't make them up!)
Yesterday's weather: Still lovely. Lunch in the garden every day for a week now, how good is that?
As I wandered through the supermarket past the clothing rail that said 'Coupe Mondiale - 50% reduction’, I thought it looked rather sad, especially as many of the reduced rugby shirts were pale blue Argentinian colours.
I finished my shopping and headed to the checkout offering the usual cheeful 'Bonjour, Madame' to the checkout assistant. She just glared at me and nodded.
Call it short term memory loss but too late I had remembered that I was supposed to stay silent if venturing out for the next fortnight. The checkout lady (they call them checkout 'hostesses' here - this one wasn't the hostess with the mostess), scanned my items and tossed them to one side.
A friend came along. 'Ça va ?' she said cheerfully.
'Non' was the answer.
'Why? What's wrong?' her friend asked.
'Les Bleus' she groaned - obviously this lady was economical with words.
Her friend laughed and made a joke. I apologised to her for the English team's inconsiderate victory on Saturday last. 'Je suis vraiement desolée’ I explained.
'There you are' her friend said 'Madame regrets that the English won the rugby match'
The hostess looked at me with doleful eyes. 'C'est pas vrai, Madame. Vous êtes heureuse que votre équipe a gagné'.
She looked so miserable that I couldn't think of anything to say to that.
Yesterday's weather: Still lovely. Lunch in the garden every day for a week now, how good is that?
As I wandered through the supermarket past the clothing rail that said 'Coupe Mondiale - 50% reduction’, I thought it looked rather sad, especially as many of the reduced rugby shirts were pale blue Argentinian colours.
I finished my shopping and headed to the checkout offering the usual cheeful 'Bonjour, Madame' to the checkout assistant. She just glared at me and nodded.
Call it short term memory loss but too late I had remembered that I was supposed to stay silent if venturing out for the next fortnight. The checkout lady (they call them checkout 'hostesses' here - this one wasn't the hostess with the mostess), scanned my items and tossed them to one side.
A friend came along. 'Ça va ?' she said cheerfully.
'Non' was the answer.
'Why? What's wrong?' her friend asked.
'Les Bleus' she groaned - obviously this lady was economical with words.
Her friend laughed and made a joke. I apologised to her for the English team's inconsiderate victory on Saturday last. 'Je suis vraiement desolée’ I explained.
'There you are' her friend said 'Madame regrets that the English won the rugby match'
The hostess looked at me with doleful eyes. 'C'est pas vrai, Madame. Vous êtes heureuse que votre équipe a gagné'.
She looked so miserable that I couldn't think of anything to say to that.
Monday 15 October 2007
Jonny the Conquerer?
Ste Aurélie
Yesterday's weather: sun, sun, sun
England's victory over France is not being celebrated in the Dordogne today. There are glum faces all over France after their humiliating defeat by the English.
No, not the Rugby World Cup, sacré bleu, as if that wasn't bad enough but no, this time it was Ady Hurrell's victory in the World Conker Championships.
Mr Hurrell beat the French representative Mr John Ingram at Ashton in .......
Wait. Hang on bit there...... Mr JOHN INGRAM??????? That doesn't sound very French now, does it?
Let's investigate a bit further.....
Ah. It says here that Mr Ingram is a Dordogne antiquesdealer..... Read on, read on....
He admits that he comes from Leighton Buzzard. Now as I recall Leighton Buzzard doesn't have a French postcode..... Oh, but that's OK because he says that he does a lot of business in France.
Now, in my book I don't think that 'doing business in France' would qualify someone for representing France in a world championship anything. Imagine if Jonny Wilkinson suddenly decided that, since he buys copious amounts of beer at Cité Europ once a year (this is purely hypothetical, you understand, I am in no way suggesting that he would) he therefore does lots of business in France and that qualfies him to represent France in the Rugby World Cup.
Now, that would be an interesting prospect.
Yesterday's weather: sun, sun, sun
England's victory over France is not being celebrated in the Dordogne today. There are glum faces all over France after their humiliating defeat by the English.
No, not the Rugby World Cup, sacré bleu, as if that wasn't bad enough but no, this time it was Ady Hurrell's victory in the World Conker Championships.
Mr Hurrell beat the French representative Mr John Ingram at Ashton in .......
Wait. Hang on bit there...... Mr JOHN INGRAM??????? That doesn't sound very French now, does it?
Let's investigate a bit further.....
Ah. It says here that Mr Ingram is a Dordogne antiquesdealer..... Read on, read on....
He admits that he comes from Leighton Buzzard. Now as I recall Leighton Buzzard doesn't have a French postcode..... Oh, but that's OK because he says that he does a lot of business in France.
Now, in my book I don't think that 'doing business in France' would qualify someone for representing France in a world championship anything. Imagine if Jonny Wilkinson suddenly decided that, since he buys copious amounts of beer at Cité Europ once a year (this is purely hypothetical, you understand, I am in no way suggesting that he would) he therefore does lots of business in France and that qualfies him to represent France in the Rugby World Cup.
Now, that would be an interesting prospect.
Sunday 14 October 2007
Zut, alors!
St Just
Yesterday's weather: perfect
Oh dear. I have a feeling that it is all going to go horribly wrong. Depending, of course, on who wins the Rugby World Cup semi-final later today. Argentina haven't made it this far in a World Cup before so they should be the underdogs. If South Africa win this evening then England will have once again to face up to their humiliating 36-0 defeat of just a few weeks ago.
Oh yes. Of course I was supporting England to win yesterday. (Ahem)
There's a hush across the valley today and no way are we going into the village for a couple of days at least. If we do we will remain silent and if anyone speaks to us we will do that wonderful Gallic shrug and pout and pretend we have no idea about anything.
'Beh, oui, alors.' one says, shaking the head looking downwards and walking away. At least that is how we are trying to perfect blending in with the natives. They have this wonderful shrug, pout, shake and move thing to perfection and long ago I realised that if you throw in an 'Alors ...' with it and throw your hands in the air, they think you have understood and just don't wish to comment. They respect your silence.
This week I think silence may be the best option.
Yesterday's weather: perfect
Oh dear. I have a feeling that it is all going to go horribly wrong. Depending, of course, on who wins the Rugby World Cup semi-final later today. Argentina haven't made it this far in a World Cup before so they should be the underdogs. If South Africa win this evening then England will have once again to face up to their humiliating 36-0 defeat of just a few weeks ago.
Oh yes. Of course I was supporting England to win yesterday. (Ahem)
There's a hush across the valley today and no way are we going into the village for a couple of days at least. If we do we will remain silent and if anyone speaks to us we will do that wonderful Gallic shrug and pout and pretend we have no idea about anything.
'Beh, oui, alors.' one says, shaking the head looking downwards and walking away. At least that is how we are trying to perfect blending in with the natives. They have this wonderful shrug, pout, shake and move thing to perfection and long ago I realised that if you throw in an 'Alors ...' with it and throw your hands in the air, they think you have understood and just don't wish to comment. They respect your silence.
This week I think silence may be the best option.
Saturday 13 October 2007
What a life!
St Géraud
Yesterday's weather: lovely and sunny (until I wanted to sit in the garden with a book when it became quite cloudy!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PETER, MY LITTLE BROTHER!
I wish you could share with you the peace and quiet here. broken by friendly sounds. The birds are singing away, the tourists are long gone which means the road (never particularly busy) has only the occasional car on it. I can hear the distant howling of hunters' dogs but they are very distant and all is well with the world.
The sun is shining, the butterflies are having a late surge and the garden looks lovely. We went to Gourdon this morning just to buy some paint and the early morning mist was hovering low in places with the sun burning it away. The trees are slowly changing colour and we spotted here and there, cars parked up in odd places; the owners of these cars were always spotted under the nearest group of walnut trees, bent double collecting their crops.
Later this afternoon we will hear the distant hum of chain saws as everyone is trying to get well stocked for the coming winter. The forecast for the next few days is sun, sun and more sun.
Do we miss England, work and the M25? Not a bit of it!
Yesterday's weather: lovely and sunny (until I wanted to sit in the garden with a book when it became quite cloudy!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PETER, MY LITTLE BROTHER!
I wish you could share with you the peace and quiet here. broken by friendly sounds. The birds are singing away, the tourists are long gone which means the road (never particularly busy) has only the occasional car on it. I can hear the distant howling of hunters' dogs but they are very distant and all is well with the world.
The sun is shining, the butterflies are having a late surge and the garden looks lovely. We went to Gourdon this morning just to buy some paint and the early morning mist was hovering low in places with the sun burning it away. The trees are slowly changing colour and we spotted here and there, cars parked up in odd places; the owners of these cars were always spotted under the nearest group of walnut trees, bent double collecting their crops.
Later this afternoon we will hear the distant hum of chain saws as everyone is trying to get well stocked for the coming winter. The forecast for the next few days is sun, sun and more sun.
Do we miss England, work and the M25? Not a bit of it!
Friday 12 October 2007
Walloon balloon
St Wilifried
Yesterday's weather: Glorious, 18 degrees and sunny
Yesterday we had lunch out in one of our favourite tourist spots, Domme. You can find out more about Domme by clicking on the word - (I do not advise you to Google the word 'Domme' on its own unless you have a broad mind!). Domme is a bastide town which sits overlooking the Dordogne river with magnificent peaceful views over the countryside.
It is one of our favourite places as, despite its popularity with tourists it is still very much a residential village and we see the same people chatting on a street corner, baguette tucked under the arm while they shake hands or exchange kisses. The restaurants are nowhere near as touristy as, for example, Rocamadour where the quality of food can sometimes be sacrificed for the sheer number of 'bums on seats'.
Yesterday, we sat in the square enjoying a lovely warm, sunny autumn day and a delicious meal. At the table next to us were two Belgian couples who were chatting (yes, my ears were well and truly flapping) a complete mixture of French and Flemish. On occasion I even detected the odd German word thrown in. All three languages are 'official' languages of Belgium and our neighbours switched from one to the other mid conversation over and over again. It was the first time I had heard four people changing language in quite such a fashion and so automatically, as if without thinking about it at all.
Poor Belgium is in a state of flux at the moment, as you may well know. If you don't know, then I will tell you about it; it is quite fascinating.
The elections in Belgium in June 2007 did not produce a government and there is a state of political stalemate there. The country is, in effect, two in one. The Flanders region, closer to the Netherlands and the Walloon region bordering France - Brussels is, in fact a French speaking 'island' in the Flanders region and there is a small German-speaking community on east of Wallonia.
The lack of government has raised a huge debate in Belgium as to whether the country should in fact split in two. This, whilst the majority of Flemish people want it, would cause an interesting geographical problem, aside from the political problems it could cause the EU. The Belgian king is a Walloon and speaks very little Flemish which makes him very unpopular with the Flemish 58% of the population. Brussels, as I mentioned, is in the middle of the Flemish area but the population speak French.
So, what could happen? It would appear that some Flemish would want to reunify with the Netherlands eventually. The Walloons could join France or Luxembourg but what would happen to Brussels which is, after all the Belgian capital? And then there is the problem of the French speaking King.
Belgium has always been the butt of French jokes in the same way that the English joke about the Irish and the Irish joke about the Kerrymen. 'Name me one famous Belgian' is often the question. Well this small country has been home to: Audrey Hepburn (actress) , Django Reinhardt (jazz musician), Jacques Brel (singer), Cesar Auguste Franck (composer and organist), Georges Simenon (author), Eddy Merckx (cyclist), Jacky Ickx (Formula 1 racing driver), the artists Magritte, Rubens and Heironymous Bosch. Don't forget fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Maigret.
And one of Belgium's most famous exports, Plastic Bertrand and that amazing song !
Don't get rid of Belgium. Ça plane pour moi.
Yesterday's weather: Glorious, 18 degrees and sunny
Yesterday we had lunch out in one of our favourite tourist spots, Domme. You can find out more about Domme by clicking on the word - (I do not advise you to Google the word 'Domme' on its own unless you have a broad mind!). Domme is a bastide town which sits overlooking the Dordogne river with magnificent peaceful views over the countryside.
It is one of our favourite places as, despite its popularity with tourists it is still very much a residential village and we see the same people chatting on a street corner, baguette tucked under the arm while they shake hands or exchange kisses. The restaurants are nowhere near as touristy as, for example, Rocamadour where the quality of food can sometimes be sacrificed for the sheer number of 'bums on seats'.
Yesterday, we sat in the square enjoying a lovely warm, sunny autumn day and a delicious meal. At the table next to us were two Belgian couples who were chatting (yes, my ears were well and truly flapping) a complete mixture of French and Flemish. On occasion I even detected the odd German word thrown in. All three languages are 'official' languages of Belgium and our neighbours switched from one to the other mid conversation over and over again. It was the first time I had heard four people changing language in quite such a fashion and so automatically, as if without thinking about it at all.
Poor Belgium is in a state of flux at the moment, as you may well know. If you don't know, then I will tell you about it; it is quite fascinating.
The elections in Belgium in June 2007 did not produce a government and there is a state of political stalemate there. The country is, in effect, two in one. The Flanders region, closer to the Netherlands and the Walloon region bordering France - Brussels is, in fact a French speaking 'island' in the Flanders region and there is a small German-speaking community on east of Wallonia.
The lack of government has raised a huge debate in Belgium as to whether the country should in fact split in two. This, whilst the majority of Flemish people want it, would cause an interesting geographical problem, aside from the political problems it could cause the EU. The Belgian king is a Walloon and speaks very little Flemish which makes him very unpopular with the Flemish 58% of the population. Brussels, as I mentioned, is in the middle of the Flemish area but the population speak French.
So, what could happen? It would appear that some Flemish would want to reunify with the Netherlands eventually. The Walloons could join France or Luxembourg but what would happen to Brussels which is, after all the Belgian capital? And then there is the problem of the French speaking King.
Belgium has always been the butt of French jokes in the same way that the English joke about the Irish and the Irish joke about the Kerrymen. 'Name me one famous Belgian' is often the question. Well this small country has been home to: Audrey Hepburn (actress) , Django Reinhardt (jazz musician), Jacques Brel (singer), Cesar Auguste Franck (composer and organist), Georges Simenon (author), Eddy Merckx (cyclist), Jacky Ickx (Formula 1 racing driver), the artists Magritte, Rubens and Heironymous Bosch. Don't forget fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Maigret.
And one of Belgium's most famous exports, Plastic Bertrand and that amazing song !
Don't get rid of Belgium. Ça plane pour moi.
Thursday 11 October 2007
Feathered friends and furry ones
St Firmin
Yesterday's weather: Lots of rain!
As an addendum to yesterday's blog Jon has asked me to add that other things that go screech in the night are owls, and there were plenty of them screeching the other night when he was out investigating the cat fight.
Which leads neatly on to one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time - Alan Titchmarsh's programme on BBC 1 last night: The Nature of Britain. The programme was fascinating, well constructed and the photography was just amazing. No, my amusement wasn't caused by the Titchmarsh who has come a long way since Ground Force where he did little other than wind up Tommy Walsh and tease Charlie about, well, her Charlies; I just giggled at the sight of three cats looking all over the house for the birds.
Misty's ears were like radars listening for aircraft, they almost turned a full 360 degrees trying to work out where the noise was coming from. Figaro sat up and looked at the TV but couldn't quite work out whether those flickering images really were birds or not and even Jazz opened an eye to see if there was a snack in view. Not that birds are their favourite snack, they are much to much like hard work to catch when there are dozens of furry creatures and you just have to sit and wait for them to pop out of their holes in the ground.
They may have been more confused because the birds they were listening to were skuas who were busy bombarding the Titchmarsh who had dared to get close and look at one of their babies. It was amusing TV but more amusing cat-watching. They have certainly never come close to hearing anything like a skua but they obviously knew what that noise meant.
Interestingly, when we were seeing images of 7 million screaming starlings doing their incredible evening ballet before diving into their reed-bed beds for the night they didn't bat an eyelid. They obviously realised that they would be severely outnumbered!
Whilst on the subject of birds, I hear on the grapevine that the cranes we saw migrating north at the beginning of March are now heading south again. They don't chatter in the same way when they are heading south so we will have to keep our eyes peeled skyward today. Luckily it is a beautiful clear sky so I hope we may be able to spot them.
Yesterday's weather: Lots of rain!
As an addendum to yesterday's blog Jon has asked me to add that other things that go screech in the night are owls, and there were plenty of them screeching the other night when he was out investigating the cat fight.
Which leads neatly on to one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time - Alan Titchmarsh's programme on BBC 1 last night: The Nature of Britain. The programme was fascinating, well constructed and the photography was just amazing. No, my amusement wasn't caused by the Titchmarsh who has come a long way since Ground Force where he did little other than wind up Tommy Walsh and tease Charlie about, well, her Charlies; I just giggled at the sight of three cats looking all over the house for the birds.
Misty's ears were like radars listening for aircraft, they almost turned a full 360 degrees trying to work out where the noise was coming from. Figaro sat up and looked at the TV but couldn't quite work out whether those flickering images really were birds or not and even Jazz opened an eye to see if there was a snack in view. Not that birds are their favourite snack, they are much to much like hard work to catch when there are dozens of furry creatures and you just have to sit and wait for them to pop out of their holes in the ground.
They may have been more confused because the birds they were listening to were skuas who were busy bombarding the Titchmarsh who had dared to get close and look at one of their babies. It was amusing TV but more amusing cat-watching. They have certainly never come close to hearing anything like a skua but they obviously knew what that noise meant.
Interestingly, when we were seeing images of 7 million screaming starlings doing their incredible evening ballet before diving into their reed-bed beds for the night they didn't bat an eyelid. They obviously realised that they would be severely outnumbered!
Whilst on the subject of birds, I hear on the grapevine that the cranes we saw migrating north at the beginning of March are now heading south again. They don't chatter in the same way when they are heading south so we will have to keep our eyes peeled skyward today. Luckily it is a beautiful clear sky so I hope we may be able to spot them.
Wednesday 10 October 2007
Things that go screech in the night
St Ghislain
Yesterday's weather: mild, sunny spells. About 17 degrees.
Cats can be very frustrating. Last night Figaro was in nice and early and we refused to let him out again which he was less than happy about. The other two refused point blank to come in and couldn't be seen or heard anywhere. Usually one of us (actually, Jon) will go and find her and bring her in, she's never far away, but last night he had to give in and we went to bed with Figaro as a hot water bottle.
No-one. They still refused to come anywhere near so he bravely went for a walk in his dressing gown to try and find out what was going on.
Figaro settled down to sleep on the window ledge just waiting for us to switch the light off so that he could sneak back on to the bed when he thought we wouldn't notice. I waited. Eventually there was a knock at the front door (which was locked), I opened it and Jon unceremoniously deposited a wriggling Misty into the lounge. She went immediately downstairs for a snack. Well, you know, it was at least 5 hours since she last ate and she is fading away (not).
Yesterday's weather: mild, sunny spells. About 17 degrees.
Cats can be very frustrating. Last night Figaro was in nice and early and we refused to let him out again which he was less than happy about. The other two refused point blank to come in and couldn't be seen or heard anywhere. Usually one of us (actually, Jon) will go and find her and bring her in, she's never far away, but last night he had to give in and we went to bed with Figaro as a hot water bottle.
At 1.15am there was the most almighty screech from outside. Figaro was on the window ledge looking out before I could open my eyes and I leapt out of bed ready to go and rescue whichever of our babies was being brutally murdered (as from the noise I could tell that this was, indeed, the case). I limped to the top of the stairs, at which point Jon beat me to it and went down to see who he could find.
No-one. They still refused to come anywhere near so he bravely went for a walk in his dressing gown to try and find out what was going on.
Figaro settled down to sleep on the window ledge just waiting for us to switch the light off so that he could sneak back on to the bed when he thought we wouldn't notice. I waited. Eventually there was a knock at the front door (which was locked), I opened it and Jon unceremoniously deposited a wriggling Misty into the lounge. She went immediately downstairs for a snack. Well, you know, it was at least 5 hours since she last ate and she is fading away (not).
There was still no sign of Jazz who we assume was the screeching one (she can be very vocal when required) so we gave up and went back to bed, having first put Misty and Figaro in the kitchen for the rest of the night. Figaro was initially unimpressed with this arrangement but I gave him some Whiskas kitten food and he agreed to stay put.
This morning it is pouring with rain. A very wet Jazz was waiting patiently outside the door to be let in and the other two refused to go out. Figaro in fact did leave the house but came back in like a shot and went straight to his litter tray. He then tried to dry Jazz off by licking her and, just to show that he still feels the same way about her, he jumped on her back when she was looking the other way.
Jazz doesn't seem to be injured, I think that screeching is her way of seeing off any unwanted intruders, but I expect she could put up a good fight if required.
Who needs a guard dog?
Tuesday 9 October 2007
Minimalism
St Denis
Yesterday's weather: warm, mixed (still)
The kitchen walls are stripped bare of shelves and I just love it. It makes the room look spacious and light. I wish I could keep it that way but I know what will happen.
We'll start off saying 'Let's not put anything on the walls'. Then the clock will go up, followed by the glass shelf over the sink where we keep pots of herbs, or, I should rather say, where we try to keep pots of herbs as we aren't very successful at keeping them for very long.
Next will be a little shelf for the tea and coffee jars. Maybe we should put the microwave on a shelf out of the way and why not put the stereo on a shelf so that we can use the top of the buffet for a couple of fruit bowls?
A few pictures over there would look nice and a shelf just there for a lamp.....
It'll go on and evolve for months but one thing is pretty certain, my longed-for minimalist look will gradually give way to 'homely' and practical (that is jargon for a bit of a mess but everything to hand).
Yesterday's weather: warm, mixed (still)
The kitchen walls are stripped bare of shelves and I just love it. It makes the room look spacious and light. I wish I could keep it that way but I know what will happen.
We'll start off saying 'Let's not put anything on the walls'. Then the clock will go up, followed by the glass shelf over the sink where we keep pots of herbs, or, I should rather say, where we try to keep pots of herbs as we aren't very successful at keeping them for very long.
Next will be a little shelf for the tea and coffee jars. Maybe we should put the microwave on a shelf out of the way and why not put the stereo on a shelf so that we can use the top of the buffet for a couple of fruit bowls?
A few pictures over there would look nice and a shelf just there for a lamp.....
It'll go on and evolve for months but one thing is pretty certain, my longed-for minimalist look will gradually give way to 'homely' and practical (that is jargon for a bit of a mess but everything to hand).
Monday 8 October 2007
Now where did I put ...?
Ste Pélagie
Yesterday's weather: Mild, warm, occasional sunny spell.
I'm feeling helpless this morning. Jon is starting work on the kitchen and because of my blasted toe I can't help him. It's very frustrating feeling generally fit but knowing that if I try to stand or walk for more than a few minutes I'll pay for it for the next few days, so at this stage it's better to keep out of things.
Jon is going to strip down the kitchen shelves and cupboards as much as possible and put everything into the cave before he starts rubbing down the walls one at a time and filling. The next job will be to put saltpetre protection on the lower half of the walls as we suffer from both condensation and 'leakage' through the back of the house when we have heavy rain (the back wall of the kitchen is the rocky hillside). It will be at least a week before I can start helping with the painting so I'm looking for something to do that will make me feel useful.
I've been designated breakfast and lunch chef as I can just about manage that. By the evening my foot has usually swollen up again so I can't cook dinner. I've got some sewing to do and some filing and paperwork but I don't think these things will keep me busy for long. I may weed out those items from the kitchen which we haven't used and see if we can lose them. Usually if I am doing this I put things in a box and out of sight always intending to dispose of them after a respectable few weeks or reinstate them should they suddenly prove to be vital to the smooth running of the household. Unfortunately they usually need to be reinstated and a new home found.
We are missing things that we know we had in the UK and all our packing boxes have been emptied. We remember being reasonably ruthless when packing up the old house but there are some things that we are certain we would have kept and still haven't found. Sometimes we wonder if, after all, there is a box that hasn't yet come to light but if so it will contain items from lots of different rooms so it is highly unlikely. On the other hand sometimes we'll come across some totally useless gadget bought from Lakeland Plastics in a moment of weakness and wonder why on earth we kept hold of it. Such items will be relegated to the 'probably don't need this' box until we discover that we can't possibly live without it again, by which time it will have been disposed of and we'll have to go and buy a new one.
Yesterday's weather: Mild, warm, occasional sunny spell.
I'm feeling helpless this morning. Jon is starting work on the kitchen and because of my blasted toe I can't help him. It's very frustrating feeling generally fit but knowing that if I try to stand or walk for more than a few minutes I'll pay for it for the next few days, so at this stage it's better to keep out of things.
Jon is going to strip down the kitchen shelves and cupboards as much as possible and put everything into the cave before he starts rubbing down the walls one at a time and filling. The next job will be to put saltpetre protection on the lower half of the walls as we suffer from both condensation and 'leakage' through the back of the house when we have heavy rain (the back wall of the kitchen is the rocky hillside). It will be at least a week before I can start helping with the painting so I'm looking for something to do that will make me feel useful.
I've been designated breakfast and lunch chef as I can just about manage that. By the evening my foot has usually swollen up again so I can't cook dinner. I've got some sewing to do and some filing and paperwork but I don't think these things will keep me busy for long. I may weed out those items from the kitchen which we haven't used and see if we can lose them. Usually if I am doing this I put things in a box and out of sight always intending to dispose of them after a respectable few weeks or reinstate them should they suddenly prove to be vital to the smooth running of the household. Unfortunately they usually need to be reinstated and a new home found.
We are missing things that we know we had in the UK and all our packing boxes have been emptied. We remember being reasonably ruthless when packing up the old house but there are some things that we are certain we would have kept and still haven't found. Sometimes we wonder if, after all, there is a box that hasn't yet come to light but if so it will contain items from lots of different rooms so it is highly unlikely. On the other hand sometimes we'll come across some totally useless gadget bought from Lakeland Plastics in a moment of weakness and wonder why on earth we kept hold of it. Such items will be relegated to the 'probably don't need this' box until we discover that we can't possibly live without it again, by which time it will have been disposed of and we'll have to go and buy a new one.
Sunday 7 October 2007
Damned if you do and .........
St Serge
Yesterday's weather: dull with sunny spells. Warm.
So Johnny Wilkinson has found his form again and is the hero of yesterday's rugby match. That result was a surprise. Maybe not as much as last night's result which apparently resulted in roars of approval which didn't quite reach our ears being tucked away in the Lot countryside.
This creates something of a dilemma for us; what colours should we wear next Saturday (shame it's the 13th, doesn't bode well really, does it?). I suppose the good thing is that after the event we can say that we supported our birth/adopted country (delete as required) and we'll have been on the winning side. If the French win we will cheer with them. If England win we will stay indoors for a couple of week.
Or pretend to be Irish or Australian.
Yesterday's weather: dull with sunny spells. Warm.
So Johnny Wilkinson has found his form again and is the hero of yesterday's rugby match. That result was a surprise. Maybe not as much as last night's result which apparently resulted in roars of approval which didn't quite reach our ears being tucked away in the Lot countryside.
This creates something of a dilemma for us; what colours should we wear next Saturday (shame it's the 13th, doesn't bode well really, does it?). I suppose the good thing is that after the event we can say that we supported our birth/adopted country (delete as required) and we'll have been on the winning side. If the French win we will cheer with them. If England win we will stay indoors for a couple of week.
Or pretend to be Irish or Australian.
Saturday 6 October 2007
The paper mountain
St Bruno
Yesterday's weather: mild, mixed, warm
Such excitement. Our IKEA delivery expected after mid-October and ordered in June arrived yesterday. All the 18 packages were off-loaded into the garage where they are still sitting this morning. The lorry arrived at exactly the same time as our lunch guests so we have delayed unpacking until today.
The first job will be to put together the two glass fronted bookcases which will mean unloading the many book cases we have already and selecting the 'specials' to go in the new ones. Apart from the obvious curse-ridden air that is normal when putting together flat packs, there will be other emotions in the air today, mostly nostalgia from finding old friends amongst the books. We have for many years collected pre-WW2 guide books to France and it will be difficult not to flick through them delicately admiring the writing, maps and photographs. There are many books of writings on France and the French dating throughout the 20th century which I can't bear to part with. Favourite authors and auto-biographies that I know I will read again one day - when I have the time. Add to this the piles of reference books, DIY references in French and English, home decorating, storage, knitting projects, sewing projects, gardening books and so the list goes on.
There will be a lot of regret too as we decide which books have to go. We can't possibly keep all the books we have and many will be packaged up to be taken back to the UK where we will pass them on to friends and family and any left over will go to charity shops or to be sold on Amazon on our behalf.
Then I will discover the dozens of books that I've just not got round to reading yet. Lots of auto-biographies, history books and still more novels. We can't possibly part with those, yet.
And of course the main reason for the cull is to lessen the guilt when I buy another pile of books from Amazon or Waterstones or charity shops when we make a trip back to the UK later this year. But I haven't told Jon that yet.
Ooops. I think I just did!
Yesterday's weather: mild, mixed, warm
Such excitement. Our IKEA delivery expected after mid-October and ordered in June arrived yesterday. All the 18 packages were off-loaded into the garage where they are still sitting this morning. The lorry arrived at exactly the same time as our lunch guests so we have delayed unpacking until today.
The first job will be to put together the two glass fronted bookcases which will mean unloading the many book cases we have already and selecting the 'specials' to go in the new ones. Apart from the obvious curse-ridden air that is normal when putting together flat packs, there will be other emotions in the air today, mostly nostalgia from finding old friends amongst the books. We have for many years collected pre-WW2 guide books to France and it will be difficult not to flick through them delicately admiring the writing, maps and photographs. There are many books of writings on France and the French dating throughout the 20th century which I can't bear to part with. Favourite authors and auto-biographies that I know I will read again one day - when I have the time. Add to this the piles of reference books, DIY references in French and English, home decorating, storage, knitting projects, sewing projects, gardening books and so the list goes on.
There will be a lot of regret too as we decide which books have to go. We can't possibly keep all the books we have and many will be packaged up to be taken back to the UK where we will pass them on to friends and family and any left over will go to charity shops or to be sold on Amazon on our behalf.
Then I will discover the dozens of books that I've just not got round to reading yet. Lots of auto-biographies, history books and still more novels. We can't possibly part with those, yet.
And of course the main reason for the cull is to lessen the guilt when I buy another pile of books from Amazon or Waterstones or charity shops when we make a trip back to the UK later this year. But I haven't told Jon that yet.
Ooops. I think I just did!
Friday 5 October 2007
Caught in the middle?
Ste Fleur
Yesterday's weather: warm, dull, dry.
Our neighbour Monsieur C seems to be a dour creature. I say seems to be because he has never stopped to speak to us. He lives way over the hill and is rarely home. His family are sheep farmers and the majority of the farmland is in neighbouring villages. He goes off to work with his brothers and returns home briefly a couple of times a day and late at night. He never smiles but does wave a curt 'Bonjour' if we happen to be walking along the lane.
He rarely has the same vehicle twice in one day. There are two of the obligatory white vans, a blue van of the same type, and extremely old Citroen BX with a duff exhaust which splutters up and down the hill, a 2CV occasionally and, oddly, an elderly red Porsche. We can't see which vehicle is driving up the lane until it is adjacent with our house and we have come to recognise the different engine sounds but the way we always know it is him is because he always coughs.
This cough must be pretty bad, or it is triggered by a bump in the road or something, because he always seems to cough at the same place. Because he has never stopped and is so rarely home we have only ever seen him either from a distance or through the car windscreen. The other day we were at the village service station filling up the car and he was there. He totally ignored us but we did get a good look at his face for the first time. So, that puts about 10 years on the age I thought he was but the tell tale packet of cigarettes and 5 litre flagon of wine he had just bought from the garage may well account for that. Actually, all he needed was the beret and a string of onions round his neck and you would be able to picture him as he is, a real French country chap.
We think that the reason Monsieur C doesn't talk to us is because we are friendly with Monsieur D the cattle farmer. Some years ago Monsieur C and Monsieur D fell out over some land and they haven't spoken since.
'C’est totalement gaché’ Mr D told us with some finality making cutting movements with his hands in case we hadn't understood. 'And in addition, I won a place on the village council and he was voted out'.
The local elections take place again next spring. I would imagine the campaigning will be fairly colourful but luckily for us we won't be eligible to vote so we won't get caught up in the local feud. We hope.
Yesterday's weather: warm, dull, dry.
Our neighbour Monsieur C seems to be a dour creature. I say seems to be because he has never stopped to speak to us. He lives way over the hill and is rarely home. His family are sheep farmers and the majority of the farmland is in neighbouring villages. He goes off to work with his brothers and returns home briefly a couple of times a day and late at night. He never smiles but does wave a curt 'Bonjour' if we happen to be walking along the lane.
He rarely has the same vehicle twice in one day. There are two of the obligatory white vans, a blue van of the same type, and extremely old Citroen BX with a duff exhaust which splutters up and down the hill, a 2CV occasionally and, oddly, an elderly red Porsche. We can't see which vehicle is driving up the lane until it is adjacent with our house and we have come to recognise the different engine sounds but the way we always know it is him is because he always coughs.
This cough must be pretty bad, or it is triggered by a bump in the road or something, because he always seems to cough at the same place. Because he has never stopped and is so rarely home we have only ever seen him either from a distance or through the car windscreen. The other day we were at the village service station filling up the car and he was there. He totally ignored us but we did get a good look at his face for the first time. So, that puts about 10 years on the age I thought he was but the tell tale packet of cigarettes and 5 litre flagon of wine he had just bought from the garage may well account for that. Actually, all he needed was the beret and a string of onions round his neck and you would be able to picture him as he is, a real French country chap.
We think that the reason Monsieur C doesn't talk to us is because we are friendly with Monsieur D the cattle farmer. Some years ago Monsieur C and Monsieur D fell out over some land and they haven't spoken since.
'C’est totalement gaché’ Mr D told us with some finality making cutting movements with his hands in case we hadn't understood. 'And in addition, I won a place on the village council and he was voted out'.
The local elections take place again next spring. I would imagine the campaigning will be fairly colourful but luckily for us we won't be eligible to vote so we won't get caught up in the local feud. We hope.
Thursday 4 October 2007
Parma Violet, anyone?
St. François
Yesterday's weather: warm, mild.
Along with the figs and walnuts (and the cherry tomatoes that keep coming), the other big harvest we have just had is lavender.
I love it but there are only so many lavender bags a person can use/give away in a year so I've been looking for alternative uses for the dried heads. I asked the question of my virtual friends and someone kindly found a web page telling me how to make essential oil. Lavender oil is useful for so many things (see here) and I've even found recipes for lavender shortbread and lavender ice cream about which I first thought 'Ugh', then I remembered Parma Violets, those little flowery sweets that were available in the 1960s (ooops, my age is showing again).
You can still buy Parma Violets, and a whole host of other lovely childhood memories too (if you are of a certain age). Black Jacks and Fruit Salads, Flying Saucers, Shrimps and Bananas. Oh to be six years old again.
But actually, not.
Yesterday's weather: warm, mild.
Along with the figs and walnuts (and the cherry tomatoes that keep coming), the other big harvest we have just had is lavender.
I love it but there are only so many lavender bags a person can use/give away in a year so I've been looking for alternative uses for the dried heads. I asked the question of my virtual friends and someone kindly found a web page telling me how to make essential oil. Lavender oil is useful for so many things (see here) and I've even found recipes for lavender shortbread and lavender ice cream about which I first thought 'Ugh', then I remembered Parma Violets, those little flowery sweets that were available in the 1960s (ooops, my age is showing again).
You can still buy Parma Violets, and a whole host of other lovely childhood memories too (if you are of a certain age). Black Jacks and Fruit Salads, Flying Saucers, Shrimps and Bananas. Oh to be six years old again.
But actually, not.
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Coming and going
St Gérard
Yesterday's weather: Sunny 26 degrees
We have friends who spend part of their time here and part in the UK. There are quite a number of Brits who do this for various reasons but it sounds very complex to us. These friends tell us that when they get back to the UK they spend the first couple of weeks catching up with their children and grandchildren, then there is all the correspondence to see to, bills to pay, garden to tidy and general house maintenance to see too. They have to be sure their travel insurance is OK, the car is up to the journey, the dog's vaccinations are up to date, book hotels for the journey, and so on, and so on. It sounds all rather stressful to us.
When they return to France they completely relax, visit friends, a bit of DIY, a bit of gardening, swimming, cycling.... Yet they wouldn't change their way of life for the world.
When they are here in France we try to meet up for lunch every couple of weeks or so, depending on whether either of us have guests staying. This week it is our turn to act as hosts.
I do try to keep a note of meals we have prepared for friends and have a little notebook going back to the early 1990s. There are gaps because I couldn't always find the little notebook at the time I needed it but now I am trying to keep it up to date again. It's just as well I didn't write in what we had intended to feed these people three weeks ago (see previous post regarding the accident concerning a tiramisu and some stone steps). Needless to say, tiramisu won't be on the menu this week, I'm not risking life and limb to save one of those again!
As I am still not able to stand around cooking, we've tried to come up with a menu that will be easy for us to prepare in advance and that I can do a lot of whilst sitting down - lots of chopping and blending! This week we have decided to go for a Middle Eastern flavour. I hope I have planned the shopping list with precision as we are going to our favourite foodie shop this morning (well, Jon is, I'm just going along for the ride and to keep him company in the car). Tomorrow's weather forecast is warm but rain, so we will have the day to prepare lots of lovely mezze and dips for hors d'oeuvres and to make the main course, which improves in keeping overnight and reheating, and also the dessert. That will just leave the rice to be cooked on Friday morning.
It sounds as though we should have a fairly relaxed morning on Friday before our guests come. That'll be a first!
Yesterday's weather: Sunny 26 degrees
We have friends who spend part of their time here and part in the UK. There are quite a number of Brits who do this for various reasons but it sounds very complex to us. These friends tell us that when they get back to the UK they spend the first couple of weeks catching up with their children and grandchildren, then there is all the correspondence to see to, bills to pay, garden to tidy and general house maintenance to see too. They have to be sure their travel insurance is OK, the car is up to the journey, the dog's vaccinations are up to date, book hotels for the journey, and so on, and so on. It sounds all rather stressful to us.
When they return to France they completely relax, visit friends, a bit of DIY, a bit of gardening, swimming, cycling.... Yet they wouldn't change their way of life for the world.
When they are here in France we try to meet up for lunch every couple of weeks or so, depending on whether either of us have guests staying. This week it is our turn to act as hosts.
I do try to keep a note of meals we have prepared for friends and have a little notebook going back to the early 1990s. There are gaps because I couldn't always find the little notebook at the time I needed it but now I am trying to keep it up to date again. It's just as well I didn't write in what we had intended to feed these people three weeks ago (see previous post regarding the accident concerning a tiramisu and some stone steps). Needless to say, tiramisu won't be on the menu this week, I'm not risking life and limb to save one of those again!
As I am still not able to stand around cooking, we've tried to come up with a menu that will be easy for us to prepare in advance and that I can do a lot of whilst sitting down - lots of chopping and blending! This week we have decided to go for a Middle Eastern flavour. I hope I have planned the shopping list with precision as we are going to our favourite foodie shop this morning (well, Jon is, I'm just going along for the ride and to keep him company in the car). Tomorrow's weather forecast is warm but rain, so we will have the day to prepare lots of lovely mezze and dips for hors d'oeuvres and to make the main course, which improves in keeping overnight and reheating, and also the dessert. That will just leave the rice to be cooked on Friday morning.
It sounds as though we should have a fairly relaxed morning on Friday before our guests come. That'll be a first!
Tuesday 2 October 2007
Side by Side no longer
St Léger
Yesterday's weather: beautiful again 25 degrees
In days gone by (this is another confession), we used to 'take' The Telegraph (it's a newspaper that is incredibly British - for my non-British readers). Why does one 'take' the Telegraph but 'buy' the Mirror?
After I scanned it and read the main news stories since I never had time to read the whole thing, I would do the crossword and scan the obituraries in case I had missed the passing of someone interesting. Obituaries are usually and of necessity very dry, dull pieces and after checking that the Prime Minister of the day wasn't in there I would move on to the back page (crossword).
Today's Telegraph on line has the obituary of a British institution and I hope he will enjoy being remembered as such. Ned Sherrin died yesterday from throat cancer. His obituary (read here if you are interested) is one of the nicest I have read.
His life in radio and television began the year in which I was born and the obituary is full of references to programmes I have listened to, films I have watched and people I had forgotten about. Names of well-loved actors and comedians I remember so well from growing up in a home where the radio and television were a source of entertainment and education. Marty Feldman, Frankie Howerd, Sir Michael Hordern and Dinsdale Landen, the names bring to my mind images and the sound of their voices, laughter and drama. From 'That Was the Week That Was' (TW3, as it was known) to 'Loose Ends', his voice seemed to pop up somewhere.
Hopefully we will be enjoying a week or so of interesting repeats.
Yesterday's weather: beautiful again 25 degrees
In days gone by (this is another confession), we used to 'take' The Telegraph (it's a newspaper that is incredibly British - for my non-British readers). Why does one 'take' the Telegraph but 'buy' the Mirror?
After I scanned it and read the main news stories since I never had time to read the whole thing, I would do the crossword and scan the obituraries in case I had missed the passing of someone interesting. Obituaries are usually and of necessity very dry, dull pieces and after checking that the Prime Minister of the day wasn't in there I would move on to the back page (crossword).
Today's Telegraph on line has the obituary of a British institution and I hope he will enjoy being remembered as such. Ned Sherrin died yesterday from throat cancer. His obituary (read here if you are interested) is one of the nicest I have read.
His life in radio and television began the year in which I was born and the obituary is full of references to programmes I have listened to, films I have watched and people I had forgotten about. Names of well-loved actors and comedians I remember so well from growing up in a home where the radio and television were a source of entertainment and education. Marty Feldman, Frankie Howerd, Sir Michael Hordern and Dinsdale Landen, the names bring to my mind images and the sound of their voices, laughter and drama. From 'That Was the Week That Was' (TW3, as it was known) to 'Loose Ends', his voice seemed to pop up somewhere.
Hopefully we will be enjoying a week or so of interesting repeats.
Monday 1 October 2007
Help wanted
St Louis-Marie
Yesterday's weather: Lovely, sunny and warm
We have been looking at the possibility of a trip back to the UK before Christmas. The main purpose of which is to visit family and friends in a flying visit which will pack in as many people as possible in as few days as possible. In order to do this we are looking for a cattery or cat sitter.
I probably should put a notice in the local paper: 'Staff wanted'. All they really want is someone to open and close the door for them all day long and feed them on demand. Their time is their own and they spend most of the day in the garden or off hunting in the copse, popping back now and then for a light snack of chrunchy biscuits flavoured with heaven-knows-what and added vitamins. All summer long the kitchen door has sat open for them except in the most extreme heat (rare this year) and howling gale when they are more than likely to bt tucked up in a cosy corner inside.
Now we have hit the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness it is becoming chilly in the kitchen in the late afternoon and we tend to close the door earlier than the cats would like. Hence we spend a good couple of hours letting them in and out, one after the other. It is a trait of the Maine Coon that they are snackers and will eat several small meals in one day rather than one or two larger meals as most of our previous moggies did. Ours even take their snacks in small portions and will snack over fifteen minutes or more popping outside to check that the garden is secure from some invisible threat between nibbles. This can mean a lot of opening and closing doors.
They have different ways of dealing with the closed door which is glass from top to bottom. Jazz will sit outside and fix me with a hard stare, knowing that I can't resist letting her in as she can be a rare visitor home sometimes. Misty approaches the door and looks bewildered.
'I know there's a way through here, but I can't work out what it is.' She seems to be thinking. Occasionally she will pat the door with her paw as if she can't believe that there is glass in the way or is it some kind of invisible force field like in Star Trek? Eventually she will give a half mew which is impossible to resist and miraculously the door is opened for her.
Figaro knows exactly what he needs to do. He will stride right up to the door and if it is shut he will attack it with both front paws, as if trying to run up it until we let him in. Sometimes if we are busy we don't react immediately and he will try the same tactic from the kitchen window ledge insisting that if the door doesn't open then surely the window will. If that doesn't work he will try a mixture of shouting to us and trying to run up the window or door at the same time. Which usually produces the required result.
He will then stroll into the kitchen, look us up and down as if to say:
'You just can't get the staff these days'.
If you know of anyone who would like to spend a few days as unpaid doorman to three delightful cats once in a while do let me know. Otherwise we will be saying (with apologies to Shakespeare) 'Get thee to a cattery'.
Yesterday's weather: Lovely, sunny and warm
We have been looking at the possibility of a trip back to the UK before Christmas. The main purpose of which is to visit family and friends in a flying visit which will pack in as many people as possible in as few days as possible. In order to do this we are looking for a cattery or cat sitter.
I probably should put a notice in the local paper: 'Staff wanted'. All they really want is someone to open and close the door for them all day long and feed them on demand. Their time is their own and they spend most of the day in the garden or off hunting in the copse, popping back now and then for a light snack of chrunchy biscuits flavoured with heaven-knows-what and added vitamins. All summer long the kitchen door has sat open for them except in the most extreme heat (rare this year) and howling gale when they are more than likely to bt tucked up in a cosy corner inside.
Now we have hit the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness it is becoming chilly in the kitchen in the late afternoon and we tend to close the door earlier than the cats would like. Hence we spend a good couple of hours letting them in and out, one after the other. It is a trait of the Maine Coon that they are snackers and will eat several small meals in one day rather than one or two larger meals as most of our previous moggies did. Ours even take their snacks in small portions and will snack over fifteen minutes or more popping outside to check that the garden is secure from some invisible threat between nibbles. This can mean a lot of opening and closing doors.
They have different ways of dealing with the closed door which is glass from top to bottom. Jazz will sit outside and fix me with a hard stare, knowing that I can't resist letting her in as she can be a rare visitor home sometimes. Misty approaches the door and looks bewildered.
'I know there's a way through here, but I can't work out what it is.' She seems to be thinking. Occasionally she will pat the door with her paw as if she can't believe that there is glass in the way or is it some kind of invisible force field like in Star Trek? Eventually she will give a half mew which is impossible to resist and miraculously the door is opened for her.
Figaro knows exactly what he needs to do. He will stride right up to the door and if it is shut he will attack it with both front paws, as if trying to run up it until we let him in. Sometimes if we are busy we don't react immediately and he will try the same tactic from the kitchen window ledge insisting that if the door doesn't open then surely the window will. If that doesn't work he will try a mixture of shouting to us and trying to run up the window or door at the same time. Which usually produces the required result.
He will then stroll into the kitchen, look us up and down as if to say:
'You just can't get the staff these days'.
If you know of anyone who would like to spend a few days as unpaid doorman to three delightful cats once in a while do let me know. Otherwise we will be saying (with apologies to Shakespeare) 'Get thee to a cattery'.
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