Snowed in

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



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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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




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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas

St Noël

Happy Christmas to one and all!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So today's menu is:

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

Which reminds me - I'd better get cooking!

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

With love and best wishes to you all.

Sue and Jon

Let the festivities commence....

St Tomaz

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dark days and warm places

St Gatien

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why?

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

Moving house

Morning, readers.

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

Find my new home here

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

Bugs, germs and rolls of insulation

Ste Odile

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

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

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

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

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

Wow.

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

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

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

Friends and Family

Ste Guadalupe

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

That's a difficult one to answer.

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

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

However.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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