Sky's on Fire

Last night's sky really looked like it was on fire.

View from the office window

Sky and clouds

Pingy

Pingy is the name we give to the extending lead that we used when walking the dog when we don't want to let him run free but we want him to be able to sniff and explore things nearby. We use it when we are in parks, or out on long walks where we might come across other people or other dogs, or where we might go close to a road. It's a solid, professional standard lead, that extends to about 10 metres, but can quickly be pulled back in when we need to.

It's not that the dog doesn't understand 'come', and most of the time he is very obedient and does just that when called. It's just that he is a little wilful and if he is doing something interesting he will hesitate before returning. He also has a very high prey drive, and if he sees something fluffy or fast, such as deer or a sheep, a red mist descends and he becomes deaf and blind to anything else other than the chase. He will take off instantly and chase whatever it is he has seen until he has calmed down or lost the scent or until he remembers himself. This can take anything from two to thirty minutes.

Today we went for our evening walk and I noticed that our neighbours sheep were in our field, so we ventured out with pingy. For a while he didn't notice the sheep, but then he got a scent and got exited. He still didn't see them, but then as we came over the hill they were there. I thought I had the lead locked short but it must have slipped, so he took off at full pelt. Realising that when he got to the end of the lead I was either going to dislocate my shoulder or he was going to strangle himself I had no option but to let go.

I watched the stinky dog charge 100 or so metres with the extending lead flying behind him. I watched the sheep run through the hole in the fence from whence they came, and I watched him jump over the fence trailing pingy behind him, getting it caught in the fence for a while and then pulling it free. Dog and sheep disappeared.

I ran over quickly calling him all the time, worried that he had gone down into the woods with the lead trailing behind him; imaging him hanging from a branch or tree, with the sheep gloating in glee at the bottom.

I got round the corner and saw him wandering back, lead still there, looking annoyed that he had been hampered in his sheep chasing activities. Panic over!

Floods and Eggs

I have been watching the news reports of the extreme weather in Britain, with storms, gales, tidal surges and flooding and actually feeling rather glad that I am not trying to get to work or travel anywhere as I can imagine the sense of panic and the disruption that would permeate everywhere. Of course the sense of catastrophe always seems worse for those of us that are not actually there, whereas if I was 'in the thick of it' I would just be getting on with it and probably wondering what all the fuss is about.

Here we have also had unseasonable weather. This winter we haven't had more than about 5 frosts, and none of them have been severe. Instead we have had day after to day of heavy rain. The ground is now waterlogged, every time the dog goes outside for a wee he brings in more mud, my coat is covered in mud, my wellies are just about holding up and the grass is growing but too wet to cut! We have had our own flood to deal with. Our house and garage are on a slope and the garage is lower than the house. We have always had problems with run-off from the fields when the ground is saturated. It used to hit the rock below the cellar and then sit there. This was solved by building a moat style drain in front of the house and installing a pump. However, we made a beginner's error when the electric and water supply were laid going down to the garage.

We laid the conduit for the pipes but failed to realise that when it rains they become a channel for the water and take the water straight down the pipes and up into the floor of the garage. Ian spent a week out there in the rain, digging and laying another drain to divert the water away from the garage, and we had to unpack everything, check it, dry it all out and put it back afterwards. It wasn't really a problem we wanted to have to sort out, but at least it was something that we could solve, unlike the people living by the River Thames, who can only wait for dry weather and the waters to subside.

Closer to home, the Gironde flooded in Bordeaux a couple of weeks ago, and the left bank and Bastide area was under half a metre of water. The towns of Marmande and Tonniens in the Lot et Garronne were also affected.

So.. what has this to do with eggs? Well apparently the chickens like the milder weather and our local farmer friend in currently getting a dozen eggs a day. He has been giving them to us at the rate of 2 dozen a week! We pass some on to other neighbours but I am running out of ideas of things to do with eggs! I think we will having quiche tonight!

Making Progress

This week I had one of those moments where I suddenly felt all those weeks of French lessons, all the headaches, all the hours spent feeling like my head was going to explode, are beginning to pay off. The occasion was a meal at the home of some French friends. They are a lovely  couple, who are interesting and interested in the world around them. Now retired, they were teachers and have travelled extensively. They also speak very good, clear French and are prepared to be patient with people who are making an effort to communicate.

When we go out with English friends Ian is normally the quieter of the two of us, preferring to limit his discussions to technical bits and pieces. I have always enjoyed a more in depth debate about things and the ability to be able to do more than just talk, but to express my ideas, ask questions and discuss current issues, is really important to me. My aim for my French was to be able to speak it well enough that I was able also to express a little of my personality and humour. Up until now, although I have been able to get by in most everyday situations this aspect has alluded me and when we are out with French people Ian has taken the lead in conversation, with me chipping in, if and when I was able to follow what was being said.

My French had sort of reached a plateau over the past year or so and I hadn't felt I had made much improvement. Fortunately I found a new more advanced class and got back into the studying in September. I hadn't really noticed much progress for a while but last week I spent three days in Bordeaux and suddenly found that I didn't have to think all the time to communicate and that I could make jokes with the students in French that made them laugh (and not just because of my accent!) The meal last week marked a turning point as for the first time Ian was silenced and I was able to talk!

For anyone who thinks that you can come to France and 'be fluent in two years'.. it's taken me 6 years of lessons to get this far!

Too hot to make cheese

Summer seems to have been around for a while now. It's funny how you long for it all year and then when it arrives with a vengeance you soon get fed up with it. It has been the hottest and driest July for several years, with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius on most days.

We have our village summer party next weekend. This is the poster.

 

I put it in in extra large size so you can see the menu. One of the items out of the 7 or so courses is the 'fromage'. This is usually purchased from the local diary who make the cheese from locally sourced milk..and do a very good special offers on their excess produce. However this year there are no deals to be had, as for the past month it has been too hot to make cheese and they are only able to make butter and dried milk products.

The dry weather has crisped up all the farmland nicely and so we are on an alert for fires. If they occur then there are a couple of fire planes that are stationed locally, that will pick up water from the lake to use on the fires. The lake starts pretty much at the end of our field and they have been out practicing. They fly pretty low over the field and it can be quite scary to watch at first as it looks like they are about to land!

Unfortunately they were on their way off by the time I got my camera out!



Anyway, the thing about summer is that eventually it comes to an end, and the cracks are beginning to appear. Such intense heat generates dramatic storms, and on Friday we were on an 'orange alert' for severe storms. That didn't stop us from going out to the local food producers evening. It is an outdoor event held in the summer months, where all the local producers set up stalls. You can choose from hot dishes, salads, grilled meat, deserts etc. all washed down with a bottle of local wine and enjoyed while listening to a local band. We got there early and as we were finishing our food and drink we saw this approaching from the West!

 

 

Fortunately it passed us over, but where it hit the hailstones were the size of golf balls and they destroyed much of the grape crop.

 

Walking the dog

Spring is still slow but there are early signs! We have had a few warmer days but interspersed with days of rain and cooler spells. However, signs of life are emerging; the grass is growing and wild flowers are springing up in the meadows.

As usual I didn't have my decent camera with me when I took the dog for a walk. I only had my mobile phone, and because the sun was shining on the screen I couldn't really see what I was doing. Bearing those things in mind, I was quite pleased with the results.

First flowers

Walking the dog

Spring is slow to arrive this year

It is the beginning of our third year here and the coldest one so far. The dry spell ended and January and February were wet months. The lake has gone from being a puddle to completely full and the river that flows into it has burst it's banks a couple of times. Our last walk around there was a couple of weeks ago and it was full to the brim. The weather was also cold and sunny.

 

It's hard to believe that we walked across this bit of the lake back in October.

Despite the sun, it has been cold and so we are only seeing the first signs of blossom and green shoots. Actually we aren't complaining as once the weather warms up we will be back into the cycle of cutting crass, pulling weeds, and generally trying to keep on top of the green bits.

The last few mornings have been frost free but the cold is set to return for (hopefully) it's last burst before spring. There is snow in the north of France and the South of England and it is heading this way. It reminds me of the first time I came down here in one Easter and we were caught in snow on the drive down.

We have been very busy with various projects for other people, so have made little progress on our own project. At those times I have to remind myself that we are living here and not commuting back and forth from London to Eastbourne (and spending 12 hours stuck in the snow)!

Getting on with life

Reading through my last few posts it almost appears that my entire focus for the last two months has been on the death of my mother. Well although I guess this has taken a lot of my mental focus, and maybe been the reason why I can write about nothing else, the reality is that life has continued and I have been getting on with it.

We have had a rather busy few weeks, starting with a social event at the local village hall. It was the usual format, with too much food, too much drink and a lot of work, but a good way to feel a part of a bigger group. We also had a friend staying with his two dogs, so even Gremlin got some company! The morning started with a walk, a lunchtime meal that lasted until 7.00pm, music and even some games!

I also had a week working in Bordeaux, which was hard (three nights in a city centre cheap hotel) but good to get back into things. It is just enough to keep me in touch with my interests but make me glad I gave it up as a full time job!

We have also been working to get our permanent electric supply, which we succeeded in doing last week, so for the first time in two years I can put the washing machine, toaster and dishwasher on at the same time without having to worry about tripping out the supply.

Add into that walking the dog, and all the other daily things and life has been really busy.

Things to do!

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted here. I think we thought somehow that coming to live here was going to be a bit like early retirement, where we would still be busy but would have more time! Well that couldn't be further from the truth as we have a list of projects that gets longer each day and each time we cross off one job we add on two more!  The positive things are that we are working in a nice environment, we are pretty much working for ourselves and we don't do the same things everyday.

So here is some of what we have been doing:-

We have been making hay while the sun shines.. although it turned out that was only for a weekend and came at the time when we had a million and one other things to do. So, our one day off for weeks was spent cutting, baling and lugging hay. We called in a few favours in order to get it done and by the end of Sunday had a field full of large bales and a big pile of small ones. The wet summer has meant we have about 5 times as much as last year.

The wet warm whether has caused the garden to grow and I have been inundated with courgettes again! We have been eating courgette soup (quite nice), courgette lasagna, courgette muffins, stir fried courgettes, courgette scones.... (next year must remember that two courgette plants is ample!)

I guess people who have been reading the blog for some time expect that after 18 months our building project should be complete, we should already have our llamas and be open for business.  We are now more accepting of the fact that it will take longer than we anticipated to get that far!  Day to day life seems to take more time than we expected! Still we are progressing slowly. A big step this week is that for the first time since Ian and I met, all our possessions are in the same piece of land! For 18 months most of the boxes that we brought from England have been stored at a neighbours house. This week Ian managed to finish boarding an area in the garage that we can use as storage and we moved our boxes in there. They didn't look so bad when they were all piled up in one space.

We have also been trying to make headway with the electrics so that we can get our permanent supply connected before our temporary supply is cut off (as is being threatened!) We have a 4 page list of jobs and are gradually ticking off the red (high priory ones ). Some days we get it down to three pages but then remember other things that need to be added!

So, with all these things to do, I suppose we don't need another project but we just can't resist! Someone was offering an old caravan free to someone who could collect it. We volunteered our services and so yesterday drove 2 hours to collect what I have now christened 'Norma' the caravan; named after my old cat that never made it to France with me! Here are two pictures of Norma as she was this morning.

Of course we can't resist attempting a major restoration project at some time in the future. I have always wanted to have a go at tarting up an old caravan and turning it into a kitch waggon. Ian is not so sure about the kitch bit but when he saw what we could get in rental for one he was more convinced! For now we are just going the repair the leaks and damage and clean it up....but it has been a great thing to be thinking about while we should be doing other things!

Someone asked me before I left whether I would be bored in France and questioned what I would find to do with time! I can honestly say I have never been busier!

Strange goings on in the country

Sometimes on a Sunday I can persuade Ian to come for a walk with Gremlin and me. One of the walks we do takes us down into the village, along a couple of farm roads, and back home. On the way back we pass a dis-used quarry. It always looks very tempting and this time we decided to pop in and have a look round. (I should say this was about a month ago). It was quite a weird place. There were the remains of the workings. Ian and I were saying that probably many of the houses round here would have been built with stone from this quarry. In one corner there was an area that looked a bit like it had been used for fly tipping. There were a lot of large chunks of concrete slab, earth, gate posts etc. Ian had a good look and we did think that some of it might have some use. We decided that we might ask one of the nearby neighbours if they knew who owned it and if the items there were needed. Here is a picture of Ian and Gremlin climbing over the rubble.

There was a bit of strange smell there and I didn't feel comfortable, so we left and continued our walk.

A lot of people die here. This is probably because the population is quite old. There was yet another burial in the local graveyard attached to the church a couple of weeks ago. The graveyard is quite small and I often wondered where they put all the bodies.. (Are you beginning to work it out yet?). Once I went and had a walk round the cemetery but I didn't like it. There were lots of flies, decaying flowers and a funny smell (although it was the middle of August and hot).

This week the news broke amongst the English speaking community (although it had been news for a few days prior to that). A walker had also been in the quarry and had also been poking through the rubbish and found human remains; skulls, femurs, burial shrouds and even an old coffin. He had reported it to the police and it transpires that the local undertakers (or their employees) had been exhuming bodies to make way for new occupants. Now in France this appears to be legal under certain circumstances. The body must have been in the ground for at least 5 years and there must be no relatives, or they must give consent. The Maire must sign the authorisation and any human remains must be returned to the church where they are stored. Now the undertaker is in prison, his business closed for 6 months and he is facing charges that could mean up to a year in prison and a fine.

This is a link to an article on the local news about the events!

I am definately even more convinced than ever that cremation is the way to go!

Sheepgate (and other stories)

Spring is now here and we are up to 25 degrees during the day. Although the nights are clear they are not too cold and so we have forgotten about heating and are beginning to look out our summer clothes (not much different to the winter clothes but just have shorter sleeves!)

Last week Ian celebrated his half century, which required me to make a few mad cakes. Here are the results.

The tractor was all they had in the gift shop that was appropriate. It is made in China!

Cup cakes with chocolate and vanilla butter icing decorated with licorice allsorts

Gremlin the naughty cattle dog is slowly calming down at times. His main difficulties (or should I say our main difficulties) are his over exitement at anything remotely different. To that end we are trying to increase his disciplined exercise and I am trying to run with him (trying because I can't keep up) whereas Ian is trying to get him used to running after the mountain bike without attacking it. We have been having some success although he still runs off unpredictably after an interesting smell or a flapping duck, taking the bike or me with him.

Yesterday Ian took him round the field and I waited on the terrace for them to return. I glanced down towards Herman's field and noticed his sheep running around in all directions. After a while I could just about make out another animal with them. Closer inspection showed a red dog, causing havoc! I concluded the worse; that Gremlin had escaped from Ian and was having a good time on his own. I put on some shoes and made to go across the field, when I saw Ian and Gremlin trotting up together.  Further investigation revealed that Herman's dog had got out of his dog house and was rounding up  the sheep in Herman's absence (only not very gently!). A rescue party was launched consisting of me, Ian and a neighbour. When we arrived we heard the dog in the distance. After calling him a few times he sheepishly appeared (punn intended) and we were able to put him away. Now to look at the damage! There were sheep all over the place; several in the stream, some in different fields, many with big bite marks in their flesh. Ian and the neighbour set about trying to drag the wet sheep from the river and tend to the wounded. It took about and hour of pulling, coaxing, lugging, calling and falling in the stream to get them all accounted for. One lamb was dead and one sheep looked close to death. Herman returned at this point and surveyed the damage. We were amazed to see this morning that all the surviving sheep were still alive and grazing in their field.

Drought is anticipated this year. We walked around the lake with Gremlin this weekend. It should be full at this time of the year but it is less than half full.

As we were walking round the lake a couple warned us that further round there was an 'incident' and we might be turned back. They thought someone may have collapsed (maybe died) as there were Gendarme all around. When we got there it was mid-day and the incident had just been cleared in time for the Gendarme to go for lunch.

Today there was a funeral in the village. I don't know who it was but there were well over 100 people there. It is the third funeral in the village that we have seen and they all have been well attended!

Marching forward

March seems to be going by rather quickly. Our aim is to get the garage sealed and secure by mid April, when we are returning to UK for a week. With that in mind Ian has been putting in windows and doors. These are the latest pictures.

Back of garage 21st March

Double doors still needing fitting

End view; door still needing fitting

The roof is now completely finished, including cementing and pointing the ridge tiles. The large shutter doors still need installing and then the whole outside can be clad. I think I am going to call the garage the EBay garage as that is where much of the materials are from. The cladding is a type of fibro cement panel, popular in the United States. Ian saw it on EBay and had two pallets shipped from the UK. The windows are not EBay but special offer in our local DIY store and cost 70 euros each. The roll down doors, all the nails, the breathable membrane for the outside and all the tools required for the build (nail gun, stappler etc) were all EBay specials, and even with delivery have saved a considerable sum of money on the costs.

The garage is looking rather good now, to the extent that we were told by the local Maire that people are concerned that we are building gites, not a garage. I decided to make a joke of it (because it is a bit of a joke!) and told them that there was no doubt that the garage was going to be nicer than the house, but that was because Ian thinks his tools need a special place to live!

This week we have had our first real experience of French administration. Ian has been trying to register the car and I have been trying to exchange my drivers license for a French one. This has required three or four trips to various offices that are only open between 8.30 and 12.00 every day and very slow progress. One trip to the local town hall in Bergerac was the closest I have come to experiencing a visit to the DHSS in the UK. We are resolving to do as much as we can by post and email from now on, even  though everyone says you only get things done if you go in person!

The problem with exchanging the drivers licence is that as soon as you send it off if you are stopped by the Gendarme you can be fined for not having a licence. We struggled to find out the correct procedure in this case. The town hall suggested we asked the Gendarme and the Gendarme suggested that we asked the town hall! In the end we we to the village council and got a letter from them certifying that they had sent it all off to the appropriate people!

Gosip and idle thoughts

No theme to todays posting.. just odd thoughts and observations on life here.

So here we are coming to the end of another month. The garage is slowly moving forward but weather has held us back a bit. The forecast now is looking more promising so hopefully we can crack on with it and move on to the next job! We still haven't got round to registering the car in France (as the process is fairly complex) and as the insurance runs out soon, and my UK drivers licence needs to be renewed and changed to a French one, then this job is taking on more importance.

Sunday here is the hunting day. Mostly there are one or two hunters out looking for rabbits or hare, but every month or so the whole hunt come out in force to hunt deer. It's a bit of a fiasco and looking at them out there last week I couldn't help remarking to Ian, that for the hunt organiser it must be a bit like organising a day trip for age concern, since the average age of most of the hunting contingent is well past retirement. They are usually driven to their stations in a 4x4 as they are too frail to walk there and mostly they use the gun barrel as a mobility aid. I guess that over the next few years with the old brigade dying off, so will the hunt. There are younger members but most of them suffer from the 21st century disease of too little time and too much work. I have mixed feelings. Having been anti-hunting for years I won't miss the spectacle, but at least here they eat what they kill and respect the wildlife around them, wanting to preserve natural environments so that there are plenty of things for them to shoot. Without the hunt, people would put down poison and adopt other more nasty and dangerous forms of pest control to keep the deer, rabbits and hare, etc from taking over.

Looking at the older population around here, it did strike me that it is very like "last of the summer wine." The older generation still get out and about and get themselves into mischief. One dropped dead last week after shovelling snow. He was well over 80 and I couldn't help but think what a nice way to go! The local accent and patois is also widely used amongst this group. They have names like Combo, Old Scapan and Peter Orange. Old Scapan is a hunter in his 80s who has a wife 20 years his junior. He still drives his tractor around. Peter Orange lives with his wife but they argue a lot and he has made it known that he is looking for another, much younger one. I have yet to identify the Nora Batty character but there are several candidates.

On a completely different note, the first of the three babies expected to be born in the village this year arrived recently. Well, at least I assume it did as the pregnant lady no longer looks pregnant!

A year ago

All of a sudden the warm Autumn days and crisp nights have given way to the grey and damp days of November. Not that it is cold yet, and we haven't needed to use much heating at all, but we have suddenly had about a months rain in three days and everywhere is looking rather soggy. We are back to treading mud in through the entire house every time we go outside and regretting that we have not got round to finishing the drive yet.
Ian is now focussing on doing some electrics as the temperature is ideal in the loft for running wires and lifting insulation. He is installing something called a VMC or ventilation mechanique controlee. This is standard in all French new homes and is a whole house ventilation system that works by extracting humid air from the bathrooms and kitchen and drawing air through the rest of the house, thus hopefully preventing the problem of condensation that is common in modern sealed houses!

Just to proove it isn't always sunny here!

I realised last week that it was a year ago that I gave up my full time job. Have I missed it? Well, I miss the security of the regular paycheck, although when I had it, I never really appreciated it. I haven't missed the regular, boring routine and the internal politics at all. I suppose to some extent I have struggled with losing some of my professional identity, but as I become more settled here and my life here gets fuller, it becomes less and less important.

Autumn jobs

Ian returned from UK as planned with another van full of materials, tools, possessions, a topper, a box for the tractor and roller shutter garage doors x2! Unloading took a couple of days but we managed with help and as the boxes just added to the clutter already here we hardly seem to notice them!

Autumn is here all of a sudden. The trees are turning and the vines have lost most of their leaves; but autumn isn't as spectacular as it is in colder parts. The days are now decidedly shorter as well and we have got up in the dark a few mornings this week.

October

One of the first jobs was to sow some grass seed in the field. We ploughed up the far end and according to the farmer it had to be sowed this week in time for the rain. Monday morning early Ian and farmer drove up and down the field several times and got the job finished! In the middle were some old hay bales that were never used. We tried to spread them but they fell apart so the farmer stuck a match and they ended up in flames! It was a bit worrying to see how easy they went up and a bit of luck that they didn't go up in the dry summer.

Burning the bales

The final job that we finished this afternoon was to hibernate the swimming pool for the winter. This involved reducing the level a little, cleaning, putting in something called 'hivernage' (winteriser). In case of freezing you add a row of bobbing half empty coke bottles. The theory is that the bottles will squash up in any ice and thus prevent the pool from cracking. After this, we covered the pool with an old cover and fixed it as securely as we could with a row of old paving stones.

Bobbing bottles

Next job will be to finish our drive, so that we are not walking in mud everytime we go out of the house. We are a long way from Little England!

Still home alone

Ian left for UK 7 days ago now. He has been doing what most of us do in UK; driving around from one part of the country to another, sorting out things, visiting people, spending money and probably now acutely aware that all his clothes are tatty, worn out and when he walks into a shop everyone stares at him, wondering whether he is a down and out!

In the meantime life here ticks on at our slower than snails pace. It took a bit of adjustment to being here on my own. At first the silence was hard to deal with, until I reverted to one of my habits from my single life; that of having the TV on virtually all the time to provide the background noise! I have also been invited to friends houses for supper a couple of times, which has made a nice break from the silence. My main luxuries have been

1. Catching up with writing and other on-line activities that I have found strangely difficult to focus on lately.
2. Taking Gremlin for long tiring walks in the hope that he will calm down in the afternoon (except it is me that is sleepy and him that is wondering why I have suddenly stopped!)

The weather is becoming more like autumn, with colder nights but still warm sunny days. Autumn has also been anounced by the arrival of the cluster flies. These annoying little black buzzy flies head indoors about now to find somewhere warm to sleep over winter, and they are the most annoying things, ignoring the flourescent fly lamp and seeming to be particularly resistant to fly spray! Fortunately they don't lay eggs in the food and cause maggots!

The drought continues as we have had no rain since July, and that was after a bone dry spring. Today I walked Gremlin round the Lac de Lescouroux and looked at the old river course, the bridge, the road and not a drop of water.

lac de lescouroux 2011

Ian returns Thursday night and I am  looking forward to it.

On my own

I have 10 days here on my own now, and it feels really strange. Ian has gone back to UK to sort out a few things and buy some more building supplies and I have stayed behind, mainly because the pet passport regulations don't change until January and so Gremlin can't travel.
I have a list of jobs that I want to do, many of them mundane. Today I wrote to my bank and did some work for an online module that I am still doing. Before starting that however, I decided to treat Gremlin to a long walk around the lake. The lake is a man made reservoir, formed 20 or so years ago by blocking off the river and flooding the valley. At the moment the levels are so low due to drought you can walk across it and see the old road, bridge and former course of the river. It's 5 miles around the main lake. It was meant to be warm and sunny today but instead there has been a mist over everything, especially the lake and so we had a brisk walk resulting in me being tired and Gremlin getting boisterous and grumpy. He got particularly exited by a dip in the stagnant smelly water, and now I smell like a stagnant smelly dog as I sit here wiriting this.

One of the jobs Ian managed to finish before leaving was putting the first row of bricks around the base of the garage; so now we are truly 'out of the gound' and I am hoping that progress will be rapid!

We have also been watching Little England, a lightweight bit of fluff describing life in these parts. All in all creates a pleasant picture of cloud cuckoo land that is several million miles from the reality but harmless enough!
(They don't show you the annoying, glue-pot black flies that seem to be around at the moment, that don't die with fly spray and sit on your nose just as you are about to take a mouthful of food! Yuk!)

Days out

I seem to now be into a routine of posting every 4 weeks or so. This seems to fit with most other bloggers who start by reporting on the processes of a major life change on a daily basis but then, once the change has occurred, settle into a less frequent and more mundane report on day to day events.
So, what has been happening? I made a brief visit to UK to see friends and family, flying in by the oh-so-cheap Ryan air and then taking the oh-so-expensive train once I had landed! It was a feast of friends, family and food and for me an indulgent few days. I got to eat a Chinese take-away, a curry, pizza and an English Sunday roast. I got to enjoy hundreds of sweaty armpits on the London Underground, people teaming on the pavements, traffic, noise and more people and although it was lovely to see everyone I was very glad to be back here.

I arrived back with Ian's mother, who made a brief visit to see our progress. The good thing about having people to stay is that you have an excuse to be a tourist for a few days and explore things in the area that we haven't seen before despite living here. So, in addition to the weekly market in Eymet we went to the gardens of Latour-Marliac, the largest collection of water lilies in Europe and the inspiration for Monet's own collection at his home in Giverny. 

And then yesterday we went to the national agricultural show in Bergerac for the local breed of cows, the Blonde d'Aquitaine. These are rather like the cows of the Limousin being pale coloured and very big. Although Gremlin is a cattle dog he did look a bit scared of them. I'm not suprised really as the bulls were the biggest, strongest looking beasts I have ever seen. In France all bulls must, by law, have a ring through their nose so that they can be handled more easier, and to see these enormous creatures being led around through a crowd by lightly built teenagers and girls was quite a sight.

Responsibilites

I suppose owning a puppy is the closest I will ever come to parental responsibility! I am getting used to balancing the puppy's needs of firm, fair treatment, our needs for a life and the demands of our continued project. For the first time in my life I am up at 6.30 and by 7.00 have walked for a mile or so. By 7.15 the dog has been fed and we have had tea and by 8.30 we are usually up and ready to go, having done all our morning jobs. Gremlin, in the meantime, is growing up faster than we can keep up with and is certainly living up to all the breed characteristic of being intelligent, strong willed, energetic and loving human company, especially ours. Ian is also warming to him as well although the walking is definitely my responsibility!

The dry summer has been particularly bad for the vegetable garden as even with watering, the high temperatures have burnt a lot of the leaves. Also, as it is the first year of growing on my patch and I did not have much time to cultivate the soil I was not holding out any high hopes. So, it was too hot for the spinach, the peppers are tiny, the aubergines have not flowered and the potoes have produces a minimal crop. However, for some reason the pumpkins are enormous and will be ready for harvesting soon.

Locally the farmers are pessimistic about the sunflower crop this year, which is way below what it should be. With the cost of fertiliser, seeds and the labour to sew and harvest they need a good yield just to break even.

 I am still going to the nursing home on a volunteer basis. It takes quite a bit of energy but it helps with my French and I love the engagement with the residents. We will see how it progresses over the summer!

Ian is off to see a friend over the weekend so I have a few days here to myself to catch up with some writing, admin and do my tax return!

Continuing professional development

My work in Bordeaux has finished for the summer and I decided that a summer without speaking French would not help me at all. So, to continue with my quest for greater integration and some professional development, I contacted the local retirement home and offered my services as a volunteer. I spent a day writing my CV in French and I think it rather took them all by suprise. I will not speak too much about the details here except to say that I spent an interesting two hours talking with two new graduates from Bordeaux who work there for one day a week. By the end of the morning my head was spinning in French so all was good!