Ste Sabine
I duly took my book selections along to the group yesterday evening and they selected one of the books I don't already have (of course), Alison Light's 'Mrs Woolf and the Servants'. We'll be discussing this one at the end of October, so I'm quite looking forward to reading it and seeing what the others think.
I was asked by a friend yesterday why I don't say much at these book groups, which set me thinking a bit. I never have any trouble chatting away inanely with friends but in a large group I tend to shut up (did I hear a distant cheer?). I think it's because someone has usually already voiced my thoughts and I can't be bothered to either repeat them or to find something else to say. So, I suppose that just makes me lazy? However, when it comes to talking about Mrs Woolf I will have to lead the discussion and think of all sorts of intelligent things to say. Ho hum. At least I have a couple of months to think about it.
Meanwhile it's onwards and upwards with Doris (see previous post) who I am getting to grips with, honest. The same friend as mentioned earlier has loaned me (unrequested) another Doris book which seems to be about her cats. I looked at it far more eagerly than I did at The Golden Notebook but she said 'If you don't hate her already, you will when you read this!'.
OK. Thanks for that.
Another friend yesterday said she had seen Doris at the Edinburgh Book Festival a few years ago and that she was very impressed with her. She held the audience spellbound and saw off a heckler with no problem and a twinkle in her eye.
I don't hate Doris, I just wish she had used a few less words. However, I've never given up on a book group read yet and I won't give up on this one. My light relief (?) is continuing to learn the alto part of the Messiah - just over two weeks to go and I feel I'm making progress. I don't know if the neighbours agree though.
Friday 29 August 2008
Wednesday 27 August 2008
My turn
Ste Monique
Ooh, I've had a right job coming up with a selection of books for one of my book groups. My brief was 'A recent publication' and I was told that it had to be recently published in paperback.
I decided that I would look for books published in the last 4 months, told myself to avoid the Richard and Judy list and look for two novels and two non-fiction books. The group will then decide which of the four they want to read.
I wanted something that will provoke a lively discussion so checked reviews in The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian on line - I could have used The Independent too but I didn't want to devote even more time to the task and, well, to be honest, I could have just sat and read book reviews all week and still not been able to select only four that I would like to read.
There are an awful lot of novels out there and I found that I had to avoid a) anything that was part of a series b) anything that was too similar to something we had already read as a group c)anything that was more than 400 pages.
Yes, the length of the book has become quite important to me recently as I try to read Doris Lessing's 'The Golden Notebook'. This is a novel of 576 pages, all of them in very small print and an old-fashioned typeface that isn't the easiest to read. I was delighted, therefore, to see that it is being dramatised on Radio 4 this week. I set myself to listen to part 2 last night and was sorely disappointed to discover that part 1 (which I missed) had only got as far as page 34! The end of part 2 took us to page 68. At this rate I may still be listening to the dramatisation in Janurary 2009! Still I will plough on. I'm already ahead of Radio 4, being on page 102 myself.
On my trawling through the book reviews I found an awful lot of books that are of similar formula. The most recent fashion seems to be for a novel relating to a 'traumatic' event in someone's childhood that has remained dormant in their memory for many years. Another event suddenly causes the main protagonist to delve into their past and they discover that they had been the catalyst for, or taken part in, some nastiness, usually involving the loss of a parent or sibling. I tried to avoid these too.
I found two novels I thought would be good to read and discuss with the group. 'Secrets of the Sea' by Nicholas Shakespeare and 'The Uncommon Reader' by Alan Bennett. I will say no more about them as you can look them up on Amazon should you be interested.
I turned to non-fiction, avoiding 'celebrity' biogs which all seem to be written by people who have been famous for about 15 minutes these days, and anything to do with travelling around or living in France, as all the members of the group are doing that right now. I finally came up with my choices, and there could have been so many more. Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare: The World as a Stage', which received many good reviews over recent months, and Alison Light's 'Mrs Woolf and the Servants' which has also been well-received by the critics.
The trouble is, I want to read all four, and my list of 'must reads' is getting longer and longer - I still have a lovely pile of books sent to me recently by a friend that I need to avoid until after I've seen off Ms Lessing and I still want to read all the Richard and Judy Summer Reads (bar one). I also have two more books for book groups sitting around and another several that I have wanted to read for months.
It almost makes me wish for those long dark nights of winter. But not quite. The sun has returned this week and the temperatures are soaring back up to 30 degrees. Me and Ms Lessing will be found in a corner of the garden later today. I will finish it before the BBC!
Ooh, I've had a right job coming up with a selection of books for one of my book groups. My brief was 'A recent publication' and I was told that it had to be recently published in paperback.
I decided that I would look for books published in the last 4 months, told myself to avoid the Richard and Judy list and look for two novels and two non-fiction books. The group will then decide which of the four they want to read.
I wanted something that will provoke a lively discussion so checked reviews in The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian on line - I could have used The Independent too but I didn't want to devote even more time to the task and, well, to be honest, I could have just sat and read book reviews all week and still not been able to select only four that I would like to read.
There are an awful lot of novels out there and I found that I had to avoid a) anything that was part of a series b) anything that was too similar to something we had already read as a group c)anything that was more than 400 pages.
Yes, the length of the book has become quite important to me recently as I try to read Doris Lessing's 'The Golden Notebook'. This is a novel of 576 pages, all of them in very small print and an old-fashioned typeface that isn't the easiest to read. I was delighted, therefore, to see that it is being dramatised on Radio 4 this week. I set myself to listen to part 2 last night and was sorely disappointed to discover that part 1 (which I missed) had only got as far as page 34! The end of part 2 took us to page 68. At this rate I may still be listening to the dramatisation in Janurary 2009! Still I will plough on. I'm already ahead of Radio 4, being on page 102 myself.
On my trawling through the book reviews I found an awful lot of books that are of similar formula. The most recent fashion seems to be for a novel relating to a 'traumatic' event in someone's childhood that has remained dormant in their memory for many years. Another event suddenly causes the main protagonist to delve into their past and they discover that they had been the catalyst for, or taken part in, some nastiness, usually involving the loss of a parent or sibling. I tried to avoid these too.
I found two novels I thought would be good to read and discuss with the group. 'Secrets of the Sea' by Nicholas Shakespeare and 'The Uncommon Reader' by Alan Bennett. I will say no more about them as you can look them up on Amazon should you be interested.
I turned to non-fiction, avoiding 'celebrity' biogs which all seem to be written by people who have been famous for about 15 minutes these days, and anything to do with travelling around or living in France, as all the members of the group are doing that right now. I finally came up with my choices, and there could have been so many more. Bill Bryson's 'Shakespeare: The World as a Stage', which received many good reviews over recent months, and Alison Light's 'Mrs Woolf and the Servants' which has also been well-received by the critics.
The trouble is, I want to read all four, and my list of 'must reads' is getting longer and longer - I still have a lovely pile of books sent to me recently by a friend that I need to avoid until after I've seen off Ms Lessing and I still want to read all the Richard and Judy Summer Reads (bar one). I also have two more books for book groups sitting around and another several that I have wanted to read for months.
It almost makes me wish for those long dark nights of winter. But not quite. The sun has returned this week and the temperatures are soaring back up to 30 degrees. Me and Ms Lessing will be found in a corner of the garden later today. I will finish it before the BBC!
Monday 25 August 2008
Red faced
St Louis
Mostly the time change between here and the UK doesn't bother us at all, as long as I remember what time the kids get home from school back home and their parents get home from work I can call at the right time of day.
We don't watch a lot of TV but if we do, we are dined and cleared up by 9pm, 8pm in the UK and can catch the evening's viewing.
Last night we watched a wonderful promenade concert on BBC4 with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi choir and the English baroque soloists - a beautiful performance of Bach's St John Passion. Slightly too early to go to bed afterwards, we flipped through the channels and found a re-showing of Pretty Woman. We hadn't watched it for ages and decided to indulge (it's one we don't have on DVD). So at 1.30 we finally wandered off to bed.
Figaro asked to be let out as usual at 6.30 and I dozed for a while before deciding to leave Jon in bed asleep and wandered down to the kitchen for a cuppa.
I grabbed some jeans and a top as I wanted to nip outside and, even though we aren't overlooked, I don't like to wander round the garden in my nightie. I threw on the jeans and top in the kitchen as I waited for the kettle to boil and then opened the shutters to let Misty in for a snack.
I spotted one of the neighbour's cats and shooed it away (actually, I swore at it), and turned back indoors to make my tea.
As I looked up again, a man appeared at the back door, from the direction of the garden (?). He pointed to the electricity meter and mouthed to me throught the window that he had just read it.
When did he pass the kitchen? I'm worried it might have been as I was getting dressed.
Which would account for the funny look on his face!
Mostly the time change between here and the UK doesn't bother us at all, as long as I remember what time the kids get home from school back home and their parents get home from work I can call at the right time of day.
We don't watch a lot of TV but if we do, we are dined and cleared up by 9pm, 8pm in the UK and can catch the evening's viewing.
Last night we watched a wonderful promenade concert on BBC4 with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi choir and the English baroque soloists - a beautiful performance of Bach's St John Passion. Slightly too early to go to bed afterwards, we flipped through the channels and found a re-showing of Pretty Woman. We hadn't watched it for ages and decided to indulge (it's one we don't have on DVD). So at 1.30 we finally wandered off to bed.
Figaro asked to be let out as usual at 6.30 and I dozed for a while before deciding to leave Jon in bed asleep and wandered down to the kitchen for a cuppa.
I grabbed some jeans and a top as I wanted to nip outside and, even though we aren't overlooked, I don't like to wander round the garden in my nightie. I threw on the jeans and top in the kitchen as I waited for the kettle to boil and then opened the shutters to let Misty in for a snack.
I spotted one of the neighbour's cats and shooed it away (actually, I swore at it), and turned back indoors to make my tea.
As I looked up again, a man appeared at the back door, from the direction of the garden (?). He pointed to the electricity meter and mouthed to me throught the window that he had just read it.
When did he pass the kitchen? I'm worried it might have been as I was getting dressed.
Which would account for the funny look on his face!
Friday 22 August 2008
Silence is golden - or is it?
St Frabric
Firstly an apology for my rant the other night. I was feeling very sorry for the family who were stranded at Toulouse airport with no explanation. Now we know it was due to the Madrid air crash.
The house is very quiet, no little boys demanding food and drink, games and someone to swim with them. No music blaring, no screams and tantrums, no chicken pox spots to count, no baby to cuddle.
Yes, we are missing them.
Misty and Figaro, on the other hand are delighted to have their tranquility back. The neighbours cats who we had hoped would be terrorised into staying home but were persistently here while the family were, have disappeared at last and are no longer being a nuisance. We've spotted them but they aren't coming near - very odd.
Not long, though, for us until we see the boys again, at our daughter's wedding later in September, it will be a pleasure to see them again.
Meanwhile, there are more visitors arriving shortly, more beds to make (I feel like Su Pollard in Hi di hi), and more meals to plan and prepare. Then a few days quiet with just 'droppers-in' for the odd meal here and there.
And we MUST get back to work on the loft......
Firstly an apology for my rant the other night. I was feeling very sorry for the family who were stranded at Toulouse airport with no explanation. Now we know it was due to the Madrid air crash.
The house is very quiet, no little boys demanding food and drink, games and someone to swim with them. No music blaring, no screams and tantrums, no chicken pox spots to count, no baby to cuddle.
Yes, we are missing them.
Misty and Figaro, on the other hand are delighted to have their tranquility back. The neighbours cats who we had hoped would be terrorised into staying home but were persistently here while the family were, have disappeared at last and are no longer being a nuisance. We've spotted them but they aren't coming near - very odd.
Not long, though, for us until we see the boys again, at our daughter's wedding later in September, it will be a pleasure to see them again.
Meanwhile, there are more visitors arriving shortly, more beds to make (I feel like Su Pollard in Hi di hi), and more meals to plan and prepare. Then a few days quiet with just 'droppers-in' for the odd meal here and there.
And we MUST get back to work on the loft......
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Sleazy Jet
St Bernard
(Isn't that a dog?)
It's late.
Daughter no 3 has just called for the second time tonight from the airport. First time was to say that their flight had been delayed by an hour.
That's reasonably acceptable. Easyjet's last flight of the day is often late taking off.
Second call was to say that : a) they went to go through immigration and were told that there were only 4 boarding passes - baby had been accidentally left off (!) and b) the flight was now delayed by 1 hour 45 mins..
OK. Put yourself in their position. A six year old who is close to perfect but is getting very tired. A two-year-0ld getting over chicken pox who is over tired and hasn't been allowed to take his precious orange juice with him to the departure gate - the last drops will only get them through 5 minutes. And a baby of two months who left here 5 hours ago with lots of milk made up but who has been kept awake by strange movements and noises and now only has 1 small bottle of formula milk left. He is getting VERY HUNGRY and there is no milk left.
I am so ashamed for being grumpy on flights in the past where infants have been miserable and crying, stroppy and uncontrollable.
Now I understand how awful it must be for parents in this position.
Now I think it is time that ALL airports had a supply of FREE baby milk and kiddie drinks for such situations.
AND maybe a valium dispenser for the parents.
PS This house seems awful quiet tonight.
(Isn't that a dog?)
It's late.
Daughter no 3 has just called for the second time tonight from the airport. First time was to say that their flight had been delayed by an hour.
That's reasonably acceptable. Easyjet's last flight of the day is often late taking off.
Second call was to say that : a) they went to go through immigration and were told that there were only 4 boarding passes - baby had been accidentally left off (!) and b) the flight was now delayed by 1 hour 45 mins..
OK. Put yourself in their position. A six year old who is close to perfect but is getting very tired. A two-year-0ld getting over chicken pox who is over tired and hasn't been allowed to take his precious orange juice with him to the departure gate - the last drops will only get them through 5 minutes. And a baby of two months who left here 5 hours ago with lots of milk made up but who has been kept awake by strange movements and noises and now only has 1 small bottle of formula milk left. He is getting VERY HUNGRY and there is no milk left.
I am so ashamed for being grumpy on flights in the past where infants have been miserable and crying, stroppy and uncontrollable.
Now I understand how awful it must be for parents in this position.
Now I think it is time that ALL airports had a supply of FREE baby milk and kiddie drinks for such situations.
AND maybe a valium dispenser for the parents.
PS This house seems awful quiet tonight.
Tuesday 19 August 2008
Getting organised
Ste Mylène
I did have a good clear out just before we moved here, and another one recently, but there are still many, many recipes I want to try out.
I've been looking for a way to organise them. I tried making a database but my memory has failed me and I can't remember how to make the queries work.
What I really, really want is to be able to feed in my recipes to a program and then when I can't think what to cook, tell the computer what ingredients I have and let it suggest recipes to me.
Surely that can't be too much to ask?
The only thing is, I don't want to have to pay for such a program (I'm a retired person you know), so I've been trawling the internet for a solution. I may have found one that isn't too irritating, not too many messages flashing up 'You could make your life so much easier if only you upgraded this program to GOLD!!'
Anyone out there got any ideas?
Sunday 17 August 2008
Hallelujah
Ste Hyacinthe
The hills are alive round here.
We would like to make a public apology to any of our neighbours who may be able to hear us (hopefully none) as we dust off the vocal chords and begin rehearsals.
We are taking part in a one-off performance of Handel's Messiah (or Haendel's Messie as the French call it), in September.
My poor vocal chords haven't had a public airing for many years and the easy soprano I used to manage is struggling so I may have to downgrade (?) to sing the alto part, which needs to be learned. The trouble is that I have to decide which to sing now, before I send off the registration form, do I trust that the high notes will come back in around 6 weeks, or do I learn a completely new score?
It's a dilemma.
The hills are alive round here.
We would like to make a public apology to any of our neighbours who may be able to hear us (hopefully none) as we dust off the vocal chords and begin rehearsals.
We are taking part in a one-off performance of Handel's Messiah (or Haendel's Messie as the French call it), in September.
My poor vocal chords haven't had a public airing for many years and the easy soprano I used to manage is struggling so I may have to downgrade (?) to sing the alto part, which needs to be learned. The trouble is that I have to decide which to sing now, before I send off the registration form, do I trust that the high notes will come back in around 6 weeks, or do I learn a completely new score?
It's a dilemma.
Friday 15 August 2008
News from the nursery
Ste Marie
The little darlings are having a good time despite the weather turning iffy this week. Just when it matters most - but then we wouldn't have wanted 35 degrees like last week with the tinies around.
It has rained very little for very short times but there is a cool wind which makes it imperative to wrap up little bodies (and big ones too) as soon as they get out of the pool.
Grandson #2 is currently on chicken pox alert as we noticed a couple of red spots this morning. It isn't unexpected as he had been in contact with it a couple of weeks ago, but we hope in a way that it is a mossie attack rather than the chicken pox - we'll be keeping an eye.
Grandson #1 has managed to swim lengths of the pool already, having had just a few days there - just like his big cousin back in May.
Grandson #3 is just adorable at 2 months old, except for the awful baby gunge at both ends and a rather spectacular water fall display when I changed him this afternoon. How a tiny thing like that managed to soak his Grandma and his little brother in four seconds I cannot understand (being a mother of three girls, these things are quite new to me!).
Well, I can't hang around here chatting, there's a card game to be seen to, followed by nursery tea then the bath and bed thing.
Then the adults can have a nice hot curry and a few glasses of something alcoholic. Bliss.
The little darlings are having a good time despite the weather turning iffy this week. Just when it matters most - but then we wouldn't have wanted 35 degrees like last week with the tinies around.
It has rained very little for very short times but there is a cool wind which makes it imperative to wrap up little bodies (and big ones too) as soon as they get out of the pool.
Grandson #2 is currently on chicken pox alert as we noticed a couple of red spots this morning. It isn't unexpected as he had been in contact with it a couple of weeks ago, but we hope in a way that it is a mossie attack rather than the chicken pox - we'll be keeping an eye.
Grandson #1 has managed to swim lengths of the pool already, having had just a few days there - just like his big cousin back in May.
Grandson #3 is just adorable at 2 months old, except for the awful baby gunge at both ends and a rather spectacular water fall display when I changed him this afternoon. How a tiny thing like that managed to soak his Grandma and his little brother in four seconds I cannot understand (being a mother of three girls, these things are quite new to me!).
Well, I can't hang around here chatting, there's a card game to be seen to, followed by nursery tea then the bath and bed thing.
Then the adults can have a nice hot curry and a few glasses of something alcoholic. Bliss.
Wednesday 13 August 2008
Look out - the rugrats have arrived!
St Hippolyte
The cats have gone into hiding, the sweetie jar has been put out of sight, the valuables and breakables are nowhere to be seen.
This can only mean one thing. Jack, Leo and Riley with their parents in tow have arrived for a weeks visit.
Figgy has taken to his cat basket in our bedroom and hasn't come out all day (he never sleeps in a basket), Misty is under a hedge in the garden, or she was until Leo discovered her hiding place.
Only the neighbours cats seem sadly undisturbed by the heavy footed running, the football being kicked accidentally in their direction and Leo's attentive baby chatter in their faces all day long. Which is a shame really as we had hoped they would disappear when the boys arrived.
Poor Misty is even bothered by baby Riley's demands for milk and winding. She can't cope with the stress of motherhood.
We were going to have a birthday party for Figgy today, he's two years old. But we can't coax him, out of the bedroom, not even for a Whiskas cheesy treat!
The cats have gone into hiding, the sweetie jar has been put out of sight, the valuables and breakables are nowhere to be seen.
This can only mean one thing. Jack, Leo and Riley with their parents in tow have arrived for a weeks visit.
Figgy has taken to his cat basket in our bedroom and hasn't come out all day (he never sleeps in a basket), Misty is under a hedge in the garden, or she was until Leo discovered her hiding place.
Only the neighbours cats seem sadly undisturbed by the heavy footed running, the football being kicked accidentally in their direction and Leo's attentive baby chatter in their faces all day long. Which is a shame really as we had hoped they would disappear when the boys arrived.
Poor Misty is even bothered by baby Riley's demands for milk and winding. She can't cope with the stress of motherhood.
We were going to have a birthday party for Figgy today, he's two years old. But we can't coax him, out of the bedroom, not even for a Whiskas cheesy treat!
Tuesday 12 August 2008
Eating out
Ste Clarisse
Our lovely new barbecue is earning its keep already. It's a super-duper sized one and serves as a big oven.
The other evening dinner was so simple: Place one chicken breast per person in a baking tin, sprinkle them with olive oil, basil and Harissa and stir to coat. (This would work equally well with salmon steaks or any firm white fish)
In another dish place blanched fennel, mixed with a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche
In a third dish, new potatoes tossed in olive oil and whole cumin seeds. Chuck the pans on the barbie, keep an eye on them from time to time and sit back with a nice chilled glass of rosé
Delish!
Our lovely new barbecue is earning its keep already. It's a super-duper sized one and serves as a big oven.
The other evening dinner was so simple: Place one chicken breast per person in a baking tin, sprinkle them with olive oil, basil and Harissa and stir to coat. (This would work equally well with salmon steaks or any firm white fish)
In another dish place blanched fennel, mixed with a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche
In a third dish, new potatoes tossed in olive oil and whole cumin seeds. Chuck the pans on the barbie, keep an eye on them from time to time and sit back with a nice chilled glass of rosé
Delish!
Monday 11 August 2008
Floored!
Ste Claire
Two weeks ago we ordered the floorboards for the loft. We decided to pay the exorbitant delivery charge because a) we don't have the vehicle to collect them in and b) because they worked out the same price as if we had bought them locally and hired a van to collect them.
Delivery to your door in under one week it said.
Fat chance. This is France and this is August. August means nothing runs normally, whatever 'normal' might mean in this country. In August, more than in July, people take their holidays. In Paris it seems that people either have July or August holidays but anywhere else August seems to be preferred.
Therefore I was very surprised to receive a telephone call one week after placing the order.
'Bonjour Madame, this is XYZ delivery company from Paris. We have a shipment to deliver to you and we would like to do this next week. Either Wednesday or Thursday would be preferred for us, would you be available on either of those days?'
I said that, of course we would be available, not a problem. I was told that someone would telephone us on Tuesday morning to confirm the details, and was there any problem with getting a lorry to our door? No problem, I said.
Followers of this blog may recall that last year we had the chalet delivered along with a small shed, a shower unit and, several weeks later, the chalet floor. No problem for a large lorry.
We waited in on Tuesday morning for the telephone call. Nothing. I don't know why I was surprised and/or disappointed, after all, what should I have expected?
Nothing on Wednesday either, and I didn't have the details of the delivery company to contact them. I thought I would leave it until Thursday before contacting the supplier, but on Thursday afternoon the telephone rang.
'Bonjour Madame, we have a delivery for you, can we deliver it tomorrow morning? Can I have directions to your address? And is there any problem sending a large lorry?'
Friday morning arrived and we were up and alert waiting for the lorry.
Around ten o'clock the telephone rang.
'Madame Smeeet? I have a delivery for you, I'm outside the garage in your village, how do I find your house?'
He continued chatting to me as he was driving up the road, we could hear his crawling lorry and all the miserable cars behind him getting ready for the overtake as soon as they could.
'You have passed the turn, Monsieur.' I said. 'I can see your lorry, it is a white one. You will have to make a demi-tour and come back to me, there is a turning space on your left'.
'Madame? Will you please come and meet me at the entrance to your driveway, I don't know where you are talking about'
I duly jumped in the car, drove down the hill and waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually I could see a large lorry coming slowly down the hill followed by a trail of cars towing caravans. They were not best pleased.
Seeing the lorry driver signalling, I went back to my car waiting for him to follow me up the drive.
I had completely missed the point. This wasn't any ordinary large lorry, this was an articulated lorry. There was no way he could turn into our driveway.
He hooted. I got out of the car and went to talk to him. All the people in the cars behind with their caravans hooted. Some got out to see what was going on.
I agreed to follow the driver down into the village to discuss what would happen next, jumped in the car ignoring the abuse from the caravanners (serves them right anyway, now they know what it's like to be stuck behind a snail) and went to collect Jon.
Down in the village the net curtains were twitching trying to decide why a very large lorry had pulled up in the middle of the village and had been hooted and sworn at by several caravanners as they passed him. We ignored the twitchers and discussed the next move.
We suggested he turn round again and leave the floorboards outside our neighbours house at the bottom of the hill. We knew there was no problem with access as a haulage company have their yard just a few doors away.
No, this was not a good idea. The best thing would be to put all the floorboards in my little Peugeot 106 and take them home from the village.
There were 44 packets of them. 55 square metres in total.
We managed 9 packets in the first run, brought them home and then returned with both cars. Hoping that the driver was an honest man and would wait for us.
He did. It took 7 car loads (Millie Mehari can't take as many as the Pug) but we finally have our loft floor. It's in the garage where it will have to stay for a few weeks. The next job is treating the wood which we don't want to do just yet as we have the Munchkins arriving for a week and don't want to poison them. Then there are a couple more visitors before we can get back down to work in the loft.
Today's job is shopping and cooking. The beds are made up, the toy box unearthed and dusted off and the cats have been warned. Little boy alert! They arrive tomorrow morning and we can't wait!
Two weeks ago we ordered the floorboards for the loft. We decided to pay the exorbitant delivery charge because a) we don't have the vehicle to collect them in and b) because they worked out the same price as if we had bought them locally and hired a van to collect them.
Delivery to your door in under one week it said.
Fat chance. This is France and this is August. August means nothing runs normally, whatever 'normal' might mean in this country. In August, more than in July, people take their holidays. In Paris it seems that people either have July or August holidays but anywhere else August seems to be preferred.
Therefore I was very surprised to receive a telephone call one week after placing the order.
'Bonjour Madame, this is XYZ delivery company from Paris. We have a shipment to deliver to you and we would like to do this next week. Either Wednesday or Thursday would be preferred for us, would you be available on either of those days?'
I said that, of course we would be available, not a problem. I was told that someone would telephone us on Tuesday morning to confirm the details, and was there any problem with getting a lorry to our door? No problem, I said.
Followers of this blog may recall that last year we had the chalet delivered along with a small shed, a shower unit and, several weeks later, the chalet floor. No problem for a large lorry.
We waited in on Tuesday morning for the telephone call. Nothing. I don't know why I was surprised and/or disappointed, after all, what should I have expected?
Nothing on Wednesday either, and I didn't have the details of the delivery company to contact them. I thought I would leave it until Thursday before contacting the supplier, but on Thursday afternoon the telephone rang.
'Bonjour Madame, we have a delivery for you, can we deliver it tomorrow morning? Can I have directions to your address? And is there any problem sending a large lorry?'
Friday morning arrived and we were up and alert waiting for the lorry.
Around ten o'clock the telephone rang.
'Madame Smeeet? I have a delivery for you, I'm outside the garage in your village, how do I find your house?'
He continued chatting to me as he was driving up the road, we could hear his crawling lorry and all the miserable cars behind him getting ready for the overtake as soon as they could.
'You have passed the turn, Monsieur.' I said. 'I can see your lorry, it is a white one. You will have to make a demi-tour and come back to me, there is a turning space on your left'.
'Madame? Will you please come and meet me at the entrance to your driveway, I don't know where you are talking about'
I duly jumped in the car, drove down the hill and waited. And waited. And waited.
Eventually I could see a large lorry coming slowly down the hill followed by a trail of cars towing caravans. They were not best pleased.
Seeing the lorry driver signalling, I went back to my car waiting for him to follow me up the drive.
I had completely missed the point. This wasn't any ordinary large lorry, this was an articulated lorry. There was no way he could turn into our driveway.
He hooted. I got out of the car and went to talk to him. All the people in the cars behind with their caravans hooted. Some got out to see what was going on.
I agreed to follow the driver down into the village to discuss what would happen next, jumped in the car ignoring the abuse from the caravanners (serves them right anyway, now they know what it's like to be stuck behind a snail) and went to collect Jon.
Down in the village the net curtains were twitching trying to decide why a very large lorry had pulled up in the middle of the village and had been hooted and sworn at by several caravanners as they passed him. We ignored the twitchers and discussed the next move.
We suggested he turn round again and leave the floorboards outside our neighbours house at the bottom of the hill. We knew there was no problem with access as a haulage company have their yard just a few doors away.
No, this was not a good idea. The best thing would be to put all the floorboards in my little Peugeot 106 and take them home from the village.
There were 44 packets of them. 55 square metres in total.
We managed 9 packets in the first run, brought them home and then returned with both cars. Hoping that the driver was an honest man and would wait for us.
He did. It took 7 car loads (Millie Mehari can't take as many as the Pug) but we finally have our loft floor. It's in the garage where it will have to stay for a few weeks. The next job is treating the wood which we don't want to do just yet as we have the Munchkins arriving for a week and don't want to poison them. Then there are a couple more visitors before we can get back down to work in the loft.
Today's job is shopping and cooking. The beds are made up, the toy box unearthed and dusted off and the cats have been warned. Little boy alert! They arrive tomorrow morning and we can't wait!
Thursday 7 August 2008
Courgettes all over the place
St Gaétan
I found my very, very old freezer book which contained a superb recipe for courgettes - and so simple - I'll share it with you - it's easy to adjust the quantities to however many courgettes you have, so I'm not being exact.
Slice courgettes, as many as you have, then fry them in a little butter just until they begin to soften. Take them out of the pan and put them into a freezable dish or tin foil container.
Sprinkle them with lemon juice, chopped fresh basil and grated cheese of your choice. Leave it all to cool. Top with breadcrumbs - I always have plenty in the freezer as the bread tends to go dry quickly here. Freeze and label.
When you want to use the dish, take it out of the freezer and pop it in a hot oven for 30 minutes or so until it is cooked through.
Enjoy!
Personally, I would serve this dish with a cheeky Chablis.
If I could afford it. Meanwhile any old white plonk, a green salad and a slab of fresh chunky bread to mop up the juices.
Tuesday 5 August 2008
Book group lunch
St Abel
It has been the hottest day yet - although tomorrow is forecast to be hotter - and we had a vey pleasant lunch with our book group at friends who live nearby.
I sometimes wonder whether it is the lunch or the books that keep us together but actually I'm sure it is a mixture of the two. The final two of our group have finally moved over here permanently and you could almost see the stress leaving them as they left their stressful jobs in England and realise that they can relax into the restful way of life we have here.
We are now a group of thirteen. An unlucky number you may say but we feel that we have grown as much as we would like to and have lively discussions about nearly all our book choices. Those under discussion today left the group, as ever, divided in opinion. One was too light perhaps, way too far fetched for some; the other was too ' American', the language too foul and gratuitous in places, or was it an easily read, hilarious in parts, poignant in others - the majority loved it but there was a sizeable group (mostly men, now I think about it) who didn't.
Today's hosts had excelled themselves in providing lunch and organising the timetable and we all parted looking forward to the next time. Which must be pretty scary for the person who has volunteered to host next time!
You know it really is a tough life out here, but someone has to live it.
It has been the hottest day yet - although tomorrow is forecast to be hotter - and we had a vey pleasant lunch with our book group at friends who live nearby.
I sometimes wonder whether it is the lunch or the books that keep us together but actually I'm sure it is a mixture of the two. The final two of our group have finally moved over here permanently and you could almost see the stress leaving them as they left their stressful jobs in England and realise that they can relax into the restful way of life we have here.
We are now a group of thirteen. An unlucky number you may say but we feel that we have grown as much as we would like to and have lively discussions about nearly all our book choices. Those under discussion today left the group, as ever, divided in opinion. One was too light perhaps, way too far fetched for some; the other was too ' American', the language too foul and gratuitous in places, or was it an easily read, hilarious in parts, poignant in others - the majority loved it but there was a sizeable group (mostly men, now I think about it) who didn't.
Today's hosts had excelled themselves in providing lunch and organising the timetable and we all parted looking forward to the next time. Which must be pretty scary for the person who has volunteered to host next time!
You know it really is a tough life out here, but someone has to live it.
Monday 4 August 2008
Aiming to keep warm
St Jean-Marie
Busy, busy days.
Our friend Mark came over today to organise Jon into sorting out our logs. Actually, he came over to offer a pair of hands for the day in return for some nice pieces of wood we had offered for wood carving. Mark had indulged in wood carving in the past as a hobby until his career got in the way (we all know about that one don't we?) and now he's retired he wanted to get back to it and to have a go at some large projects.
We were more than happy to give him some large chunks of tree trunk, as many as he wanted, but he insisted on giving us some of his time in return and drove for an hour in each direction towing his trailer laden with chain saw, neat tools and the jewel in his trailer - a wood splitter. Wow! Boys toys or what???
So a very busy day of moving, sawing and splitting was had by all.
Well, I say 'all'.
Actually, I did what any girl would do when the big boys toys come out and I went shopping.
Not very exciting actually. I went to the supermarket which was a very unpleasant experience as all the July tourists had been replaced by the August tourists over the weekend and they had all descended on the local supermarket en masse this morning.
I returned to prepare lunch and spent the afternoon once more not by the pool reading a good book but at the computers trying to sort out printers and print all the various pages of evidence needed for our 'application not to put in an application for planning permission' - many, many more pieces of information than required this time last year.
The upshot of the day is that we now have a beautiful wall of logs running across the garden and needing to be moved nearer to the house (Liz, are you reading this and will you tell your husband what his little holiday project might be next week?). Mark tells us that we may already have most of the winter's supply stocked up - and they haven't really scratched the surface of the wood supply yet.
Keeping warm as well as keeping cool!
Busy, busy days.
Our friend Mark came over today to organise Jon into sorting out our logs. Actually, he came over to offer a pair of hands for the day in return for some nice pieces of wood we had offered for wood carving. Mark had indulged in wood carving in the past as a hobby until his career got in the way (we all know about that one don't we?) and now he's retired he wanted to get back to it and to have a go at some large projects.
We were more than happy to give him some large chunks of tree trunk, as many as he wanted, but he insisted on giving us some of his time in return and drove for an hour in each direction towing his trailer laden with chain saw, neat tools and the jewel in his trailer - a wood splitter. Wow! Boys toys or what???
So a very busy day of moving, sawing and splitting was had by all.
Well, I say 'all'.
Actually, I did what any girl would do when the big boys toys come out and I went shopping.
Not very exciting actually. I went to the supermarket which was a very unpleasant experience as all the July tourists had been replaced by the August tourists over the weekend and they had all descended on the local supermarket en masse this morning.
I returned to prepare lunch and spent the afternoon once more not by the pool reading a good book but at the computers trying to sort out printers and print all the various pages of evidence needed for our 'application not to put in an application for planning permission' - many, many more pieces of information than required this time last year.
The upshot of the day is that we now have a beautiful wall of logs running across the garden and needing to be moved nearer to the house (Liz, are you reading this and will you tell your husband what his little holiday project might be next week?). Mark tells us that we may already have most of the winter's supply stocked up - and they haven't really scratched the surface of the wood supply yet.
Keeping warm as well as keeping cool!
Friday 1 August 2008
Keeping it cool
St Alphonse
Well, no it didn't all go horribly wrong but yesterday events overtook me rather.
The morning was shopping - not as early a start as I had planned but, hey, who cares? Then as it was book group day (one of them) I had to get supper prepared for the people who were coming back for the evening.
Everything takes so much longer in the heat, even though I had planned an easy meal: Gazpacho, salmon and rocket pasta bake with salad, cheese, shop-bought tarts. The chopping for the Gazpacho seemed to take forever and then, of course there is the clearing up. Meanwhile, shooing cats out of the kitchen - mostly those who aren't allowed in the house anyway (see previous posts), and walking back and forward from the two fridges collecting things I had forgotten.
Two fridges - very important. I find that vegetables go off so quickly that everything has to be kept in the fridge to extend its life. We try to shop only twice a week. One big shop and a top-up, but even so we find veggies and salads go off so quickly that meals are re-vamped at a moment's notice.
We do plan to get a larger fridge soon, our main, indoor, fridge is on it's last legs but we still believe that a second will be essential. The fridge in the garage is known as the drinks fridge and we try to only have it in play during the summer when it stores wine, beer and all manner of cold drinks but if we are expecting visitors we use it in the winter too. Then there is the freezer, usually full and with my future plan to 'buy when it is cheap' in bulk, we could really do with a second freezer too - and there's all those courgettes from the garden to freeze as well.
Once the shower unit, which has been taking up valuable garage space for 12 months now, is fitted, we will have space for a nice big chest freezer, but I'm sure it still won't be big enough. I have heard of people here with four chest freezers and three fridges, but I think we'll stick at the two of each.
Oh yes, last evening went very well, thank you. Our friends had a swim before supper and we ate outside in the cooling air, even though we were still overheated at 11pm!
Well, no it didn't all go horribly wrong but yesterday events overtook me rather.
The morning was shopping - not as early a start as I had planned but, hey, who cares? Then as it was book group day (one of them) I had to get supper prepared for the people who were coming back for the evening.
Everything takes so much longer in the heat, even though I had planned an easy meal: Gazpacho, salmon and rocket pasta bake with salad, cheese, shop-bought tarts. The chopping for the Gazpacho seemed to take forever and then, of course there is the clearing up. Meanwhile, shooing cats out of the kitchen - mostly those who aren't allowed in the house anyway (see previous posts), and walking back and forward from the two fridges collecting things I had forgotten.
Two fridges - very important. I find that vegetables go off so quickly that everything has to be kept in the fridge to extend its life. We try to shop only twice a week. One big shop and a top-up, but even so we find veggies and salads go off so quickly that meals are re-vamped at a moment's notice.
We do plan to get a larger fridge soon, our main, indoor, fridge is on it's last legs but we still believe that a second will be essential. The fridge in the garage is known as the drinks fridge and we try to only have it in play during the summer when it stores wine, beer and all manner of cold drinks but if we are expecting visitors we use it in the winter too. Then there is the freezer, usually full and with my future plan to 'buy when it is cheap' in bulk, we could really do with a second freezer too - and there's all those courgettes from the garden to freeze as well.
Once the shower unit, which has been taking up valuable garage space for 12 months now, is fitted, we will have space for a nice big chest freezer, but I'm sure it still won't be big enough. I have heard of people here with four chest freezers and three fridges, but I think we'll stick at the two of each.
Oh yes, last evening went very well, thank you. Our friends had a swim before supper and we ate outside in the cooling air, even though we were still overheated at 11pm!
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