Mermaid

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

Ste Estelle

Happy Birthday (for yesterday) to Amanda

Happy Birthday (for yesterday) to Bonita

Upsalla, Sweden.

Copyright Jonathan Smith, July 2005

Woodpiles and courgettes

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

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

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

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:

1. 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!
2. 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
3. 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.
4. Get French driving licence forms completed and down to the prefecture - it's about time you got legal!
5. Go to vets for new supply of Frontine for the cats – nasty ticks around again
6. Do the filing, it’s taking over the house!
7. Check the pool daily for chlorine and pH levels. Clean it too.
8. Make fly screen door for the pool house.
9. Re-make steps for the pool house, the pool guys gave them a hard time when they were here.
10. 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!
    
    
11. Remember, you are retired so don’t get stressed. Ha!!

Trying to buy 'stuff'

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

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

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

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!