No spam thank you

Ste Juliette


Do excuse me for not blogging today. I am trying to sort out both computers which have been going far too slow for far too long.

It's a very nice 31 degrees outside but in here it is a lovelier cool, so it's the ideal afternoon to set to and sort out anti-virus software and spam blockers.

If I'm not back tomorrow you will know that it has all gone horribly wrong!

Cat burglars

St Samson

It was a lovely day yesterday, we had a pre-lunch swim and a sit in the shade watching the numerous butterflies and swearing at the flies (a particularly nasty little thing around at the moment, looks like a nic lacy winged thing but is very persistent and ticklish when it lands on you). I wandered back indoors to throw some bread and cheese on to a couple of plates for lunch.

I entered through the cave door and into the kitchen and was surprised to find a packet of Whiskas kitten food in the middle of the kitchen floor.

'That's funny' I thought.

Then I noticed the Tupperware box of home made ginger biscuits was also on the floor.

'Very odd'

Then it dawned on me. The kitchen windows were wide open and the fly screen was up in its roller blind. We had been cat burgled.

It was pretty obvious when I saw the kitten (now fondly (?) named Big Balls for obvious reasons) looking at me from the sofa. He was almost smiling and looked very comfortable and content.

Figgy and Misty's food bowls were empty and someone had evidently taken a liking to Whiskas Temptations with chicken and cheese as the pot was half empty.

BB suddenly realised that maybe I wasn't as happy to see him as he was to be snuggled on the kitchen sofa and he made a break for it upstairs to the lounge where he decided to roll around the floor looking cute.

It didn't work and I chased him out.

There was no sign at all of his mother who is now known as Scruffy.

I called in the reinforcements and Jon eventually found her looking quite bewildered up in the attic as if she had just been beamed there from outer space.

'I have no idea how I got here', she seemed to say. 'Could you please show me the way out and I'll leave you in peace'.

She, too, was quickly shown the door.

These two 'little dears' seem to be with us almost all the time now but we are still resisting adopting them properly. A serving or two of biscuits a day has done them the world of good and they look much healthier, but we still refuse to let them in the house, hence the break-in. Still, they sit on the kitchen doorstep for hours a day hoping for us to relent (especially since BB found the cosy sofa). I wonder who will crack first.

I found BB this morning curled up in an old kitchen cauldron that we intend to paint up and use as a planter one day.
I've heard of eye of toad and wing of bat, but a whole cat?

Silent Sunday

Ste Nathalie

Photo taken with great patience by our sister-in-law Shirley Smith



Copyright Shirley Smith, July 2008

Rain wanted

Ste Anne

Happy Saint's Day, little Sister
Happy Birthday, Elaine in Oz


You won'e be surprised to hear me moaning about Mr Meteo again. He usually does get it wrong, but this time he's been frustrating us no end. He did it last weekend and he's done it again this weekend.

I check every day to see what the weather is going to do and if he says it is going to rain then for some strange reason, I tend to believe him. We were due rain on Thursday, then thunderstorms last night and rain all day today.

We had a mild sprinkling which, if I were on holiday I wouldn't have minded at all, but not the steady rain he promised me.

This means that I will need to go out and give the veggie plot a really good soaking tonight because I didn't do it last night on the understanding that we were to have thunderstorms, but not a rumble or grumble was heard - except from the courgettes and beans who really would have liked a good downpour!

Meanwhile, sheltering from the non-existant rain, I have spent the afternoon alternately between the loft, the garden and the kitchen table where I have finally ordered the floor for the loft, and started drawing up the numerous plans that need to be attached to the dreaded form 'application to be exempt from having to put in a planning application'.

Yes, OK, I know I said that we absolutely HAD to do this last month (or was it the month before?) but if you saw the 7 page form and its list of supporting evidence required all in a language that is not your first, then you'd be a bit daunted too. Anyway, at the last count they are requesting 9 separate pieces of supporting evidence by way of drawings (to scale, of course) and photographs and all for three small loft windows.

The 'simplified' form is different from last years in that it is also used if I should want to put in a request not to have planning permission for a campsite, leisure complex or boating lake.

On second thoughts, if I'm filling in the form already and we do have room for a campsite and/or boating lake .......?

Hey, Baby, I'm your telephone man

(Meri Wilson 1977)

Ste Christine

My battles with France Telecom continue. We opened a new contract with them after various troubles with another company and we were promised that there would be no problems.

Of course, we didn't believe this for one minute.

Our contract is supposed to include unlimited calls to the UK (not mobiles) and to other European countries near to France.

The invoices from FT confirm this and then under that is a list of calls we have made and the cost of them - which is added to the invoice. No, they are not calls to mobiles in the UK.

So, having heard that they are quite good, and being totally fed up with spending all my time arguing with people over the phone in French, I thought I would try out the France Telecom English Speaking Helpline.

First of all you get a message saying that your call will be monitored. Fair enough, it might even help out later if they do record the call.

Then you get a lady saying 'Welcome to France Telecom English Speaking Helpline. Please wait, your request is being dealt with. For all technical questions please dail 3900'

'OK' you think 'my call isn't a technical one so I'll just hold on'

It's a bit like a Chinese water torture. She keeps repeating herself over and over again. The longest time I have had to hold on to speak to someone was 23 minutes 42 seconds. I lost count of the number of times she repeated herself and by the time I got through to a human being (a man called Ange - that's with a soft 'g' not like Angie in EastEnders) I was so numb I almost forgot why I had called.

I explained the problem

'You are invoicing me for calls that I shouldn't be invoiced for'

'No, the option is not set up on your account'

'Yes it is, I am being invoiced 7 euros per month for the option, I can see it on the invoice'

'Hold on, I'll have to look at your contract.'

Usually at this point I am cut off and have to go through the whole rigmarole again. Sometimes I am lucky.

'Hello? Yes, the option is set up on your account. What was your question?'

'I'm still being invoiced for calls to the UK'.

'Are they to UK mobiles?'

'No'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, but there is one call to a UK mobile and that is all'

'Hold on. I'll just look at your invoice'

If I haven't already been cut off before, it might happen now. Last time I was really lucky.

'Hello? Yes, I can see that you have been invoiced for calls that you should not be invoiced for. I'll have to write them a letter.'

Luckily he means an e-mail (or emu as my friend's mother calls them).

Finally he says he has written a letter and all will be OK next time.

Then I get the next invoice and it isn't OK next time. I have to go through the water torture, the brain numbness and the questioning all over again.

But, at least I have a telephone and the internet. A dear friend of ours is having trouble even getting connected and has to use the local library for the internet and another line for the phone. She is at her wits end. 'The lady at France Telecom tells me to reste tranquille and I hate her' she says.

I know just how she feels.

Pics & wood

Ste Brigitte

More and more wood is being added to our pile. Jon has cut down some overhanging branches that were, frankly, encroaching far too close to the pool and blocking the sunlight. How rude!

We have been wandering around looking for more culprits and have identified a good dozen or so that will have to come down during the winter. Lovely, lovely logs for future years!

Here are a few photographs from our wanderings in Rocamadour at the weekend.

Spare tyres and woodpiles

St Victor

Happy Saint's Day!

Busy, busy days recently with a spate of visitors. So, do please accept my apologies (Jim) for not blogging so much recently.

We have been blessed with good weather again and had a good weekend with friends from the UK staying. They seemed just as happy by the pool with a good book as they were pottering out to a couple of local shops, and on Sunday to Souillac where we sat in the sun and enjoyed three jazz bands playing in the streets. We were surprised that the town wasn't busier yesterday but we soon found the crowd of people outside the cathedral gathering for, who knows what.

Jon and Rob, our guest, spent Sunday afternoon and this morning moving huge piles of logs which had become buried in the hedgerow. We are delighted that we seem to have at least a winters' worth of wood now but it still needs to be moved from the middle of the field to nearer the house and we don't think the Mehari will be able to manage it all. A log splitter is on the shopping list but before we buy we have a friend coming in a couple of weeks from nearby with his own log splitter to give us a hand with the first batch. We can then test his machine and see if it will be suitable for us.

The catering department (me and him in turns) has been very busy for the last week with various dinner guests as well as our 'stayers' and I'm pleased that we can resort to light salads and snacks from my freezer stock for a couple of weeks - it may help us lose the extra pounds I'm sure we've gained from the more elaborate meals I like to feed to visitors, especially those who haven't been before or don't come here very often. It's one of the pleasures of life, feeding guests and sitting around relaxing with slow, many small-coursed meals and enjoying conversation and catching up on a year's news.

But it does nothing for the waistline!