Aliens in the sky, party time, and consumer frustration

St Raoul
Yesterday's weather: Better

I woke up this morning and my eyes hurt. I couldn't understand it. Every time I tried to open them they just wouldn't work. Eventually, by turning on my side and facing the wall I could just about open them without them hurting. I got up and wandered around the room.... looked out of the window and noticed something very strange. There seemed to be a big ball of fire in the sky!! I just don't know what it could be! I seem to remember something similar happening a few weeks ago but I think that some wet stuff falling out of the sky put the fire out again.

Anyway, we got up and had breakfast (toast and Marmite, we're not totally weaned yet) and the big ball of fire is still there. I don't know if anyone else is suffering from this phenomenon but if so, please take heart in the belief that it won't last long and normal rain will be resumed shortly.

Party boy
A few days ahead of his first birthday, Leo is having a party today. I understand the bouncy castle is already set up and there is a heap of food available. Sausage rolls and party rings (you know, those nice round iced biscuits with a hole in the middle full of E numbers to make all the kiddies hyperactive all night) are piled high ready for the screaming kiddies to arrive. Apparently Leo's Daddy got carried away with the BOGOF in Morrisson's last night.

Have a lovely time, family. Sorry we can't be with you.

Frustration of buying
We've been trying to order the shed/garden room/bedroom. Found what we wanted, added a floor and a terrace and proceeded to checkout where my bank card didn't go through. Back to the start and it lost all the items in the basket. So we found what we wanted, added the floor, terrace, and this time, a water butt too. Went to checkout, tried my bank card again and it still didn't go through. Back to the start, no items in the basket. Found the shed, floor, terrace and water butt again. This time we added another smaller tool shed to the list. Went to the checkout and decided to use Jon's card this time. No luck. So we gave up, decided to take some planning fluid and come back this morning.

So, we logged on. Found the shed, terrace, floor, water butt, second shed and added a shower unit (it's a really lovely one, got hydro-massage jets and all....). Went to checkout and noticed that I could pay by bank transfer. Good idea, I thought, we'll do that and get it over with before we decide to spend any more money! So, we log on to the bank account - no option to add a new account for transferring money. Great. Eventually found that I need to complete a form on line with all the details and then the bank will phone me (when they get round to it) to check the details again and set up the transfer.

I don't know if the bank is working today. We do hope so. We're also wondering when the pantechnicon (big lorry) will turn up with all our stuff. All hands will be to the deck that day.... Anyone fancy a week's holiday doing DIY?????

Back from shopping - where are you?

Ste Marietta Goretti
Yesterday's weather: Hmmmmmmm

We've gone shopping this morning. Please come back later

OK we're back now. Got enough food in for the weekend and a new toy for Jon - a big angle grinder - we know how to live, don't we? It's scary, the roads are suddenly so busy (we saw at least 50 cars on the 20 minute drive to the supermarket) and we know that it will just get worse this weekend when the French holidays really take off, and will last until the end of August. We are hoping that the visitors will bring the sunshine with them at last, but the forecast for the next week is still very disappointing.....

So, where are you?

I've been looking at the statistics for my blog and apparently the majority of people reading it are in the Gloucester (UK) region. Funny thing is, we don't know anyone in Gloucester but apparently they know us, so, bear with me (as the telephonist says) and, when you read this, please send an anonymous comment just to say where you are reading from.

We've had a few visits from Australia (G'day Aussie rellies), some from the US (Howdy you independents), one from Spain (Buenos dias, que tal?), 33 visits from Paris (since I think I'm the only person in France who logs in I don't really have a lot of faith in this report) and none at all from Germany, which is disappointing since Bernd won't read his birthday message on Sunday! We've even had a visit from Indonesia (who on earth....?).

Happy Friday all you workers! We're going to have lunch in the garden (and if it's sunny I bet you'll all be going down the pub for yours).. Have a good weekend.

The usual question

St Antoine-Marie Zaccharia
Yesterday's weather: Sun and cloud, not very warm

It is an unwritten rule: 'Where expats gather together, so shall they asketh the question: What do you miss from home?

So, here is a list of what we miss:

• Family
• Friends
• Banter (you can't rib people you've only just met)
• Choice of restaurant food - we are making our own Indian, Thai, Chinese etc., but you can get the occasional Italian meal. Luckily we have found a little shop where we can buy almost all the spices we need (loose) and they even do (for a price) Pataks curry sauces although we haven't resorted to that yet.

As for food stuffs, we try not to miss the usual things that people seem to bring with them: Marmite, we are weaning ourselves off but still have quite a stock; Cheddar I haven't missed although I would love some now and then because this country which is famous for having over 350 varieties of cheese just don't make anything as wonderful as a nice Cathedral City cheddar, or even a Wensleydale (that comment especially for Robbie - to check that he's reading from time to time); baked beans we can live without. We have heard of people bringing gravy granules and even suet and Trex but none of these bother us at all. We even deride people who say they have to bring stocks of back bacon, and any of the above because we feel that since we have chosen to live in a country that doesn't have a ready supply of these things, then that was our choice and we have to adapt to using what is available to us and we happily do that most of the time.

BUT (you knew there'd be a 'but' didn't you?), the one thing we cannot live without, the thing we would go to the ends of the earth to obtain is a decent English tea bag. Twinings English Breakfast is favourite but even an Asda cheapie would be better than the tea bags we find in France. We cannot start our day without a nice cup of tea, I need it to wake up and Jon needs it to help him mentally organise his job for the day. After that, we're fine and often don't have another cuppa until the next morning.

We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week...
The bottom is out of the Universe.

~Rudyard Kipling

Snakes and ladders

St Florent
Yesterday's weather - very mixed. I am boring you yet?

Today's title is a bit of a red herring as we haven't actually seen a snake yet this year. We did hear one rustling in the undergrowth a couple of weeks ago when I was walking Misty (yes, I walk the cats sometimes). She went to investigate and came back in a rush when it hissed at her. We have Western Whip Snakes here (amongst others, but those are the biggest). We rarely see them but they are quite impressive when we do. Luckily they keep away most of the time. They are black and yellow and grow quite large but are totally harmless. Well, the hiss is enough to scare anyone away as I found one day when I was hanging out the washing a couple of years ago.

As I mentioned the other day, Jon is painting the outside of the house. I've done some of the shutters but I've run out of Hammerite in the nice green so I'll have to source some more in the local Mr Bricolage. Our dilemma is how to paint the upstairs window surrounds as they are very high. We looked at buying some scaffolding but the ground isn't flat enough to get it close to the house, so it looks like it will have to be a ladder, even though neither of us like ladders or heights. The problem is that we can't get a roof rack on our little car and a ladder won't fit in the boot without hanging out another 6 foot and I don't think that would be a particularly good idea. So it's back to the drawing board - unless anyone out there has any (sensible) suggestions? (Abseiling from the roof is not an option).

It's the WI, Deer.

St Thomas

Yesterday's weather: not as bad as threatened. Warm, sunny with cloudy spells.

First off, I have a sinking feeling. I think it is the birthday of someone I know but I can't for the life of me find my diary with all the birthdays in it. So, if it's you, I do apologise, have a great day and please let me know who you are. And while I'm at it, Happy Birthday to Tom Cruise, Ken Russell and Tom Stoppard (well, why not?)

I have made jam. I know, I know, it doesn't sound very exciting, but it's a first for me. I have been looking for a particular type of plum tree to grow and haven't found one anywhere. It's called a Mirabelle, the fruits are small and orange and very delicious. I have been hankering after one. Then on Sunday I looked up and over my head was a tree groaning with small orange plums. I was very excited (well, as you know, I don't get out much) and we picked a kilo or two of these plums. So, I made jam with them and it is lovely on a slice of walnut bread for breakfast in the morning. The only trouble is that it isn't orange, it's red, so obviously they weren't Mirabelles and I will have to start all over again.

Oh, Elk *

It's only 10 am and we have already had two visitors this morning. One hare and one deer. If you look very hard you will spot him (or her).
Pretty eh? Sorry I didn't get a photo of the hare but I didn't see him personally.


*in joke for one in the know - HT!

Where's ya bin?

St Martinian
Yesterday's weather: Will you British please stop sending rain south?

Happy Monday everyone.

I have one of my least favourite jobs to do this morning. Our rubbish isn't collected and today I will have to tour the local bins looking for one empty enough to pile in a weeks' worth of recyclable rubbish. All household rubbish in rural France is collected from big wheelie bins placed at strategic points where there are a collection of houses. For the three houses along our track the nearest bins are on the other side of the main road. Unfortunately the same bins (one for household waste, the other for recyclable rubbish) also serve another 5 houses and I haven't yet worked out which days they are emptied, there doesn't seem to be a pattern. So, on any given day of the week they are likely to be full to bursting and we haven't recycled for a week.

The good thing about recycling here is that everything goes in one bin. Plastic, cardboard, polystyrene, tins, they all get sorted at a depot. Glass goes elsewhere and there are even fewer of those, so it could necessitate a visit to any of the 4 nearest villages to find an empty glass bin. We are recycling much more here than we did (to our shame) in England because it is so much easier, we are also composting as much as possible so our household 'smelly' rubbish (things that can't go on the compost or be recycled) is considerably less too.

Unfortunately we don't go out too often. Well, there is so much to do here and every excursion takes half a day; not to mention the fact that we are so happy to be here that we don't like to go out that much. So, the rubbish gets done once a week. Jon has volunteered to start painting the outside of the house (while the rain holds off for an hour or so) so I am on bin and shopping duty this morning.

I will just put on a balaclava and hoodie. I just hate people thinking that I have been hoarding my papers, wrappers and plastic bottles.

Diana Concert
Did anyone watch the concert yesterday? What were your highlights? I must say that I thought the sight of those two princes bopping away (even if William did look a bit like his Dad from time to time) was great. I am a little suspicious of Tom Jones' hair - only a really vain man would dye his eyebrows quite that dark, don't you think? Good to see Take That back together again too - shame about Robbie, perhaps he thought it was beneath him? Jon really surprised me by saying that P Diddy and Kayne West were fantastic. Rod Stewart was amazing....

Dishes and cloths

St Thierry

Yesterday's weather: Fantastic, 26 degrees with a nice breeze

We have a new hobby. A few minutes every now and then are spent trawling through the thousands of channels on our new satellite system trying to find something sensible to watch. We got the system so that we can watch main-stream French TV but we haven't yet been able to align the dish to the correct satellite. This is not an easy task as it relies on one of us up a ladder moving the dish and the other testing the signal on the TV. So we have doors and windows open and one of us (usually me) running from the TV to the window to say what, if any, signal we have managed to find hoping that Jon hasn't moved the dish a fraction of an inch in the meantime. I think we have got as far as the 'M's in the listing now. Media TV was particularly boring (Italian), and the 'Coming Soon' channel (also Italian)was thrilling stuff (not). I can't wait for the zeds. Zoology TV? That will probably be Italian too.

Flappers

We were up early this morning having a cup of tea on the patio at 7am. Sunday mornings are the quietest of the week here. No traffic passes on the road below us, all we could hear was the sound of Mrs Veranda flapping her tea towel.

View across the valley (April 2007 - before the trees were in leaf)

Mrs Veranda (not her real name!) is someone I have aspired to be for a long time. She lives on the other side of the valley to us and, although we can't see her or the rest of her household because they are too far away, we are aware of their presence. Mrs V gets her washing on the line by 7am every day. She airs her bedding over the balustrade of the veranda and is forever flapping. She flaps tea towels, towels, floor cloths, dish cloths and I'm sure she would flap her husband outside to dust him off if she could. Of course by the time we hear the flapping she has already gone indoors just because of the time it takes for sound to travel across the valley. So, as I say we have never seen her and wouldn't know her if we bumped into her in the village store and, actually, the desire to get my washing out on the line earlier than her is beginning to wear off now. However, I think it's time to get outside and beat the rugs.