A definitive sign of spring

Various people have been posting on their blogs about the first signs of spring (including me). Well two days ago we saw the strongest evidence yet; the cranes migrating north to their breeding grounds in Scandanavia.

I have never seen this before. They passed overhead at about 5.30 in the evening. We first noticed these black lines in the distance, and then before we could really make out what they were heard this squawking sound, getting louder and louder as the flock got nearer.

And then they were overhead. We could hear the sound of their wings beating together and the sounds as they called to each other. Within 5 minutes they had passed over, heading North, their dark line contrasted with the vapour trails from the jet planes high above them.

It was an  amazing sight and my only sadness was that I have had to wait 52 years to see it. I shall be looking out closely for them next year.

A country life

The weeks progress and spring seems almost here. We have learnt to ignore the weather forecast since it is almost always wrong. It is supposed to rain at some point, and we have had a few light showers, but not the day-long rain that was predicted. Most days we have not needed more than a light fleece or jumper over a t shirt and at lunch time on the terrace it is possible to sit out in shirt sleeves.


I survived two days in Bordeaux last week and now have a bit of a break until March. For the first time I was not exhausted by 8.00 pm and so walked around the city in the evening. I was surprised at how lively it was; and as the temperature was mild, the restaurants’ outside tables were full. I asked the students if this was usual for February in Bordeaux and they assured me it was!

On my return to the house however, I got back to basics. Herman had ploughed up the square that has been identified as my vegetable patch (note that things to do with cooking and growing food are mine and things to do with diggers and machines are Ian’s). I am more familiar with a little hand digging in the back garden and a quick half hour with the rake whereas this is digging on a more serious scale!

Well, the digging was easy enough but then the job was to spread the pile of sh*t that the farmer kindly donated! This was hard work and took me two days with a wheelbarrow and pitch fork!

The wildlife is begging to re-surface after winter. We have three young deer that run across the field in the morning and various birds that appear. One of them looked bigger than average and when I looked closer we could see it was a heron; obviously trying to supplement his normal fish diet with a few field mice! Then, on Monday (Valentine ’s Day) we woke to see this just outside the bedroom window. He looked like a baby buzzard (although I am not sure what a fully grown one would look like). He sat looking at the rain until the sound of the electric tea-maker finishing brewing scared him off.

There is a little bit of shaking at the start of the video while Ian bounced up and down on the bed !

No sooner had I started writing about grey, damp days the weather improved dramatically and we have been basking in 18 degrees centigrade in the afternoons (warm enough to sit out on the terrace for a while). Mandi the cat has now woken to the delights of spring and is beginning to get his small head around the fact that his world has grown beyond his wildest dreams. For the first time in his life there are no walls, roads, other cats or buildings within his sight and now that he is beginning to get it, he has been driving us mad by wanting to go in and out and in and out in as many different compilations as he can manage. He is most active during the night, preferring to sleep it off during the morning. I think his days of sleeping at then end of the bed may be coming to an end!

Ian has spent more time working on the outside of the house. We dug out for the second Canadian drain. These are air vents in the form of plastic pipes that are buried into the ground and have an inlet above the ground to draw in air and an outlet in a vent in the floor. As they pass underground the theory is that the air is slightly warmed  in the winter and slightly cooled in the summer; well that is the theory! We thought it sounded a good idea and better than having vents in the windows. However, as we investigated it further we found out that it was rather more complicated than we thought and actually would make very little difference in terms of heat in our part of France as it is not cold enough (or hot enough) for long enough for it to be effective. We also did not have the 1.5 metres of top soil necessary so put it deep enough. So, in the end we have compromsied and made an air inlet pipe that goes underground a little! The run in the ditch by the side of the house and in digging it out Ian managed to break the sewage outlet pipe with the digger! As it was sunny he took it in his stride and promptly fixed it!

I am currently in Bordeaux. I am only working a day and half this time which meant that I didn't have to get up too early! However, I still had to get the 9.12 train, and as we drove to Ste Foye le Grande we passed the monks and followers from Plum Village on their morning walk. I smiled to myself as over their sackcloth dress they were wearing hi-visibility vests. Even the budhists are not exempt from health and safety!

Second of February

The grey weather has continued; leading to a lack of motivation and energy and a feeling that maybe we are back in the UK! Today we took a trip in the car to look at stones for the driveway; as we are fed up of our boots and shoes getting covered in sticky, gloopy mush everytime it rains.

According to one of my former colleagues today is " ‘Imbolc’ on the pagan calendar and represents the flowing of new life with the growing daylight hours and the retreat of winter and darkness – but a warning that winter hasn’t completely gone. " He then added  "So let’s hope that you two country folk are beginning to feel that spring is on its way.  I can see you and Ian sniffing the misty air each morning and communing with nature with sage -like astute nods".  Don't think we are quite there yet, but on our way over to look at stone we saw at least six buzzards out hunting. We have seen them before but not so many and not so close to the road. They obviously no something that we don't!

We dropped something into the farmer on the way and his wife told us that if the weather is good today then it means we are going to have a second winter. According to Wikipedia it is Groundhog day and
"According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks"
The second of February is also
Candlemas
Pancake day in France
Bun day in Iceland

Frosty starts and glowing days

The last couple of days have been grey and misty, although prior to that it was cold, dry and sunny. This is typical winter weather and with misty dawns and red sunsets.

 We seem to live under the flight path for planes heading down to Spain. They fly high above us, so we don’t hear them, but on a clear day they leave their vapour trail across the sky.
Ian has been spending time on the digger.

The priority has been to try to stop the cellar from flooding every time it rains, so ditches have been dug and drains have been laid,

culminating in the biggest ditch of all; constructed around the house like a moat. This was dug by the builder using his very big digger, when I was working in Bordeaux and consists of a two metre deep pit across the front of the house filled with gravel. The theory is that as the rain runs down the hill, along the rock bed, it will hit the drain and run off into the field before it reaches our cellar. We are so confident that it will work that yesterday we started to paint the walls of the basement (although we stopped just above the flood line!).

I have done another two days in Bordeaux and although it was exhausting it didn’t feel quite as strange as on the previous occasion (although I was in bed by 9.00pm and asleep by 9.30). This time I took the early train and my Brompton bike and navigated my way through the rush hour traffic and trams to get to the school. On Saturday we were both tired and decided to have a ‘weekend’ day. We went shopping to Bergerac and spent our time buying groceries, a new doorbell; a mat to put our muddy shoes on and a chimney for our Canadian drain (more on that another time). Despite what some English people here seem to think, food is not more expensive if you buy fresh food in season (although tea bags and other things imported are naturally a little more). The best place for fruit and veg is a shop called le Grand Frais (or the big fresh), which has rows and rows of beautiful looking fruit and veg; some of them long forgotten types, such as purple potatoes and carrots. As we were there, three monks from plum village were doing their weekly shop.

So, life goes on in rural France as we continue to adjust to our new life.

Lost in translation.

We have had a day off work today. At 9.30 we had a visit from a salesman about a swimming pool. We are not really that bothered about a pool for ourselves but when Ian got planning permission for the house it was dependent on us having a source of water for the fire brigade. It was either a pool or a fire hydrant and the cost for the latter was not much less than a basic pool, so a pool it is! As Ian has been focussing mostly on the outside of the building and the groundworks we decided to at least give some thought to the pool.

So.. after lunch we went pool shopping, around the many pool merchants of Bergerac. We have several appointments booked to get opinions on what is possible and we have some nice glossy brochures. The best one has been rather poorly translated into English, to the extent that Ian had to download the French version so that he could understand it. Here are some gems.

The etancheity of your swimming pool is ensured by a resistant coating, the liner

Amongst a pletoric choice, you will give substance to your ideas... your swimming pool will become a reflection of your desires.

Worldwide Pools disencumbers you of the inherent concern of the earthwork. This stability confers you the insurance to arrange the beaches quickly..

and my favourite:
Some common sens, a little bit of dexterity, a knowledge of work of masonary and an imense desire to give pleasure to yourself...

Your friends will be astonished, your close relations will be proud of you and you will have a great satisfaction from this experience.

This is a great example of why you shouldn't use Google Translate!

Squirrels and doctors

Yesterday I had my first contact with the French Health System; except I am not fully registered yet so I am still learning! I was amazed to have a whole half an hour with my GP; who took one look at the referral letter from my GP in the UK and panicked! I now have referrals here, there and everywhere for permission to have my medication prescribed, for blood tests, and for appointments with a specialist in April! How quickly things move and how great that the GP can organise it all from his office! No waiting, no letters but as I have no inusurance yet, quite a heafty bill for me at first! Unlike in the UK, healthcare is not free at the point of delivery.

Ian opened the bonnet of the Ford Focus to put some windscreen washer fluid in before I left, only to find 24 neatly stored acorns, squashed in the sound proofing of the bonnet. It looks like a squirrel saw it as a nice nesting box and as here they are not the aggressive grey variety but the rather timid red squirrels, we were sad about disrupting it. (However, squirrel barbequed on the engine block would not be a good idea!). Ian now has instructions for a squirrel house!

Students

I guess students are students wherever you go. Despite my careful planning most of them didn't bring their papers to the class.. one had read the wrong paper, one was on the phone during the break and then came back in and cried to herself for the rest of the class; they talked amongst themselves, they spoke so quietly I could hardly hear them, they sat looking dumb and they laughed from time to time. No change there then!

Phew

When I told Madame Martenago that I was going to Bordeaux for two days to work she was so exited and started telling me about the wonderful buildings, the opera, the concerts and what a great time I would have! I thought about her comments as a I struggled up the road from the station to the hotel; carrying my luggage; as I walked past the sexy lady peep shows and the all night supermarkets and laundries that line the road from the station and I thought that this was probably not the good time she had in mind!

It's been a long time since I was in a city. Bordeaux seems busy, young, trendy and amazingly warm for January! I spent the day saying 'il fait chaud' and' il est comme printemps' only to be told; well you are in the South of France now! I found the day quite hard and spent most of it feeling out of my depth. To make it worse, I arrived in the middle of a hot flush and spent the entire day feeling sweaty. Now I am only fit for bed!

Digger tales

While I plan my teaching sessions in the relative warmth of the bed-sitting room, Ian has been enjoying playing with the digger. He has been digging drainage gulleys to try to solve the problem of the subfloor flooding in winter. However, the thick claggy clay and his desire to make progress at all costs did lead to a few problems.

The digger was stuck fast in the mud, leaning over at a precarious angle and even the farmer's big yellow tractor could not shift it! Hmmmm what to do??

Eventually, after some discussion, digging, twisting, levering and groaning the digger was freed and lived to see another sunrise! Ian was happy.

The end of the holidays

In all our time coming here we have always been on holiday, (although with the amount of work we had to do it was never very restful). We would rush around with things to do, no time to do them, deadlines approaching. We would make progress and then frustratingly have to tidy up, pack up and return home exhausted to our equally busy lives. Well, now the holidays are over and this is it...We can't turn our back on it and head home as home is here. This has begun to really hit us both now and although it is great, the degree of adjustment we have to make is quite overwhelming at times and we have both had 'wobbly' days when we think 'what have we done'. However we have also had days of peace and relief.



I have found coping with the French bureaucracy the most unsettling. My attempts to get a bank account, registered with a doctor and signed on to the health insurance system have been a case of two steps forward, one step back (normal progress in France). I am slowly getting there and for me it is about having an independent identity and ‘existing’ in France in my own right and not as part of Ian. I came to this point as someone who has lived independently for 33 years, with my own history and outlook on life and at now would it be too difficult to exist entirely as part of someone else. For this reason I am looking forward to spending two days in Bordeaux next week on the first of my teaching tasks, although I am rather nervous as to how I will manage, given that my spoken French is so much worse than my written (and that my new colleagues thought that my carefully prepared session may be a little too difficult for the pupils!) Still, I will blag it and I’m sure it will be okay!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone! We celebrated New years Eve in the house; with a party with our neighbours in our temporary kitchen, in the makeshift dining room, on the trestle table covered with a plastic cloth, with the three sets of Christmas lights that we managed to salvage from the unpacking and with six of our neighbours. We barely had enough crockery and cultery, everyone brought bits and pieces and we finally got to bed by 3.00 a.m. It was a great start to our new year and new life.

Today I had to do some work for my part time job that I start in a week and Ian spent the morning on his digger; which he enjoys a lot! We visited some friends for an hour or so this afternoon and then this evening I came back and started to cook dinner when there was a loud knock at the door. Ian got up to open it and standing on the doorstep were 'Le chasse'; carrying a dripping bit of animal carcass!

Now, we can recognise a bribe when we see one and this dripping bit of bambi was in the hope that we will continue to allow them to hunt for the next year (and also a bit of a welcome present)! If you are a bit sensitive to these things I suggest you look away now.

Anyone know how to cook foreleg of bambi?

Christmas 2010

Well after my last post about the balmy weather the snow God obviously heard me and decided to sprinkle a few centimetres of the white stuff over us just before Christmas. This is unheard of here and so promptly caused a 19 hour power cut on Christmas Eve.

Fortunately power was restored in time for me to cook Christmas dinner. We also managed to get the satellite dish connected so we had TV over Christmas. Inspired by Gordon Ramsay does Christmas, we had scrambled egg and smoked salmon on toasted croissants for breakfast and then went for a walk. Most of the snow had melted by this point but there was enough to create the feel of a white Christmas.

The rest of the day was spent eating and resting. For the first time in many years we didn’t have to worry about how much we drank because we didn’t have to drive various parents everywhere.

On Boxing Day (not a holiday in France) we went for a longer walk around the lake and visited some neighbours. It was all very non commercialised and low key.

As we now have a ceiling in the dining room we have decided to have a New Years Eve party amid the building site. It has given us a focus to work towards in our endeavours to make the place feel comfortable and we are looking forward to welcoming our English neighbours to see in the New Year with us.

In transit

We are slowly making progress into our new life in France. For a start, the snow and freezing temperatures seem a bit of a distant memory as we bask in daytime temperatures of 12 degrees. The other thing that seems different is the daylight. We are no longer surrounded by buildings, we are few hundred miles further South and the clocks are an hour ahead so although it has been grey at times it hasn’t had the oppressiveness of the greyness in England.


We now have a warm room to sit in, our clothes are sorted (nice clothes packed away in boxes and thermals, work clothes and wellies are unpacked), we have a warmish kitchen, an area that has potential as a dining room space, Internet (except for two days when we didn’t have it!) and now we have TV via a satellite dish temporarily installed on the end of the terrace.

On a spiritual level I am not entirely here. I still dream of packing up, dangerous journeys and not reaching my destination but last night I was in France in my dreams for the first time. I have not entirely finished all my business in England and have a long way to go before I have things set up here (Governments don’t understand this, expecting you to be either resident in once place or another; they don’t understand that you can be in-transit for a while even if your body is in one place.)

The cat also seems a bit in-transit as well. Some days he is bold and runs out exploring his new environment, getting muddy and excited; and some days like today he prefers to sleep under the bed all day.

But, at the end of the day I can sit and watch Herman’s sheep as they make their way across the field in search of warmer and lusher pasture, and look out at the tidy wintry field that is South West France.

The shortest day

It is the shortest day of the year in a few days and one of the main things I notice is that there is just that bit more daylight than further north. It is 5.30 pm and I have just taken this photo of the sun dipping behind the trees. Now, as I look out of the window it is almost night. Dusk does not hang around here for long.

Freezing!

God it's cold in the kitchen! With a temperature of 1.7 degrees I have to dress up in thermals to cook the dinner! Main problem is the butance gas freezes at 4 Celcius so it is a race to get the dinner cooked before the temperature falls! Once on the plate the distance from the kitchen to the dining table is enough to cool down the dinner considerably! Mandi the cat decided that today he wouldn't venture out of the warmth of the bedroom and really, we should have done the same!

Early days

The first few days here have been spent acclimatising to the change in environment. For a start, we are now ‘camping’ in one room, with the rest of the house looking like a building site! (And now full of our possessions in boxes and packing, spread randomly around).


We have arrived to typical winter weather. The nights are cold and clear; going down to minus 5 or 6, and the days are sunny and crisp. The contrast in temperatures between first thing in the morning and the evening requires maximum flexibility in terms of clothing and heating.

When we arrived the temperature in the bedroom was 6 degrees and in the kitchen around freezing. With our heating we managed to get the bedroom up to a comfortable 18 and now it feels quite comfortable. However, the kitchen was 0.1 degrees this morning and I can only cope with 10 minute spells at the moment!

However, the positive thing is that washing dries on the line in two hours! Unheard of in the UK.

Plan is to finish the kitchen ceiling and insulate it as soon as possible so that we can get some heat in there!

Onward!

We made it.

When I asked people here how their move went they all sighed and said pretty much the same thing. "Well we made it". It's only now that I can fully appreciate what they meant!

We made it but the journey was long and stressful! We were still packing the trailer at midnight on Thursday and putting the last things in the van as we were due to leave the following morning but somehow we made it onto the ferry and heaved a sigh of relief. We drove in convoy with Ian only managing 55 mph (less uphill) and me behind with the cat. We kept in touch using walkie talkie radios. Friday we stayed in a nice hotel but collapsed into bed and passed out. We overslept the following morning but continued our drive southwards by mid morning and got here, finally at 8.00pm.

So we are here and keep having to remind ourselves that we don't have to go back

I will write more details as the days progress but for now we are resting!

One step closer

Today we drove up to London to collect the trailer. The snow here has gone but from Crowborough northwards it was still there beside the road with a most spectacular hoar frost through the Ashdown Forest. On the way there we stopped off to get rid of some scrap metal we had collected in the course of our work. I have never been to a scrap metal yard before and it felt very much like a scene from Mad Max minus Mel Gibson. The old copper and lead pipe paid for the fuel we used today.

The car park by Ian's garage was covered in a thick sheet of ice, so prising the trailer from its cave was a long job, involving a lot of digging, scraping and heaving. It was a hectic day but eventually we got here with the trailer and managed to park it outside the house. Tomorrow we start packing!

D (for departure) Day

Well, we've gone and done it! We've booked the ferry crossing for Friday morning. Over the past week the house has got emptier. Yesterday I gave away my bed frame and now we are sleeping on the floor. This evening the dining table and chairs went to a good home.. The kitchen is half packed, most of my clothes are in a suitcase and the cat has definitely realised that something is up!

We have no snow here but tomorrow we are driving up to  London the get the trailer, and that is still snowed in. I think we will have to do some digging.

I still don't know whether everything will fit in the trailer, van and car but I suppose we will sort out that problem if and when it happens.

Am I exited yet? Well, I don't really know. Sometimes I feel a twinge but then I think of all the things to do between now and getting on the ferry and I have to put my excitement to one side. Maybe when we are driving to the port I will feel a bit exited?

The journey down will take two days as we are driving slowly and in convoy. Thursday night we are having fish and chips at home, Friday night we are eating in a hotel. The hotel is cat friendly and will let us keep Mandi in the room in his crate.Mandi has a very special travel crate designed for a small dog so that he will have room to move around a little.

By Saturday evening we should be in the house..

Halted by the cold

The limbo continues and our progress has been slowed further by the coldest December that I can remember; with no sign of a let up! I went into town today and was stunned by how cold it felt. I had underestimate the weather and did not have nearly enough jumpers or socks! Tonight the temperature is -8 and there is still 10cm of snow and ice everywhere. We are making good progress with the jobs in the house but desperately need two snow free days to do the necessary outside jobs and then to get and load the trailer. We have not booked our tickets yet but hope to go next Thursday. I have now got rid of most of my furniture and we have packed most of our things. Last night I almost felt exited. If we have a thaw tomorrow and manage to get on with things I will more so.

Limbo

We are still heading forward, inching towards leaving..but with no definitive end in sight. Our first date was to be 1st December but that edged towards the 5th, then the 6th and now maybe sometime the week following. We still have a lot of jobs to do and our progress has not been helped by a sudden early snowfall. Snow by the coast is an uncommon event (although we seem to have had a fair bit over the past two years). Autumn has only just gone and suddenly we are in the middle of winter as this street scene shows.

This rose is doing its best to survive under the heap of snow! It's the earliest snow for 17 years but at the moment in the South East seems to be confined to Eastbourne for some odd reason, as Hastings and Brighton are clear.
 I must admit I didn't think we would have to deal with snow again and it has thrown us a little. Never the less we are getting there although the logistics of loading up, tidying, cleaning, handing the keys to the estate agent, manhandling the cat into his crate; and driving down through France through what is likely to be winter weather does fill me with some panic! Ian's IBS has started to play up in anticipation.

So, I am half moved out and half here. I am in limbo. My mail is now being redirected, my car is currently on EBay looking for a new home, we had farewell drinks with friends here on Thursday and have a family Christmas tomorrow and then technically we are gone..only not quite!

Warm and furry

We called in to see Ian's mother the other day while we out her way, and she decided that I might find her sheepskin footmuff a useful addition to our French home. With nightime temperatures of -12 at the moment by the land this may be the case (although I can't imagine us ever having time to sit still at the moment). In the meantime Mandi the cat has found a use for it as a bottom warmer!

Changing times

It's now just 4 weeks since I left work for my new life. I am amazed at how much we have managed to do since then and my everyday life has changed beyond all recognition. I have gone from spending 40 hours a week sitting on my backside to days of physical activity. We usually get off to a slow start as neither Ian or I are morning people, but once activated we work hard until about 7.00 p.m.when we stop the hard work but then I then cook dinner if I am not too sleepy! I pack boxes, lift things, paint, hold screws in place, shop, wash, clean etc etc. and the most interesting thing is that even after only 4 weeks, my body is metamorphosing. My rounded shoulders are gradually opening up, my feeble arms are getting tiny muscles and my legs can leap upstairs without noticing. Of course this change is not pain free, and my body feels worse than it used to after a day of mountain biking, but I am optimistic and convinced that this will be a temporary thing. I even enjoy the odd bit of computer work that I still do, as it is a nice rest. I can definitely appreciate how unhealthy my previous life was.

Post script

It certainly is a dark month in more ways than one! Condolences also to Shirkaholic.

Virtual death

Even in blog land death is not far away:

I learned from my blogging friend The Chairman that The Irascible Fairy has died. Readers of his blog will know that he has been ill and in fact he hasn't posted for a few months. I only knew Richard through blogging in that strange kind of friendship where you share secrets with someone that you don't know at all. I never met Richard but I think if I had, I would have liked him. He taught me a new word...."coruscates" It means to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes.. to sparkle.

In his profile Richard wrote this:

I dream. I am falling endlessly through a blue and cloud flecked summer sky. Around me the music soars and coruscates.

I can imagine that wherever he is, he is coruscating now.. In memory of him I plan to use this word as often as possible!

Fiona, from Two Sheila's and Dog, posted that her mother died yesterday. I send her and Richard's partner Gavin my condolences.

Onward

The strangeness continues as we progress slowly through the process of packing and decorating. The work on my house consists of two steps forward and one step back. The backward step involves Ian finding some electrical or plumbing abnormality that  requires fixing at once. The latest discoveries have been a leaking lead water pipe, a leaking radiator, an unearthed lighting circuit.. the list goes on. I go out to Screwfix or B&Q to buy more plaster/electric boxes/plumbing bits etc and Ian continues with the repair. We are progressing but I can't predict what we will uncover next and what other jobs we will need to do so although the day that we depart for France is looming, D day is still uncertain!

Disorientation

There's something about working 9-5, five days a week that means that you never have to think about what day it is. Life follows its regular, routine pattern; you get up, go to work, your day is organised for you, you come home, wait for the weekend, when your time is your own, but mostly you wake up around the same time anyway. It is quite freeing not to have that structure anymore, but yesterday I truly forgot what day of the week it was and although tomorrow is Saturday, for me it will be the same as Friday,

A nice break

We actually had a proper 'weekend' for the first time in ages! The occasion was the wedding of an old friend of Ian's in the New Forest. We decided to make a little break of it and stay in a hotel on Saturday night. Unable to find a reasonably priced bed and breakfast in the area we decided to look further afield and ended up doing an Internet search for hotel rooms in Bournemouth. We were amazed to find a very good deal at The Chine Hotel in Boscombe, where we got a room and breakfast for two for £52.95. It was almost too good to believe and we turned up expecting a catch and expecting one of the poorer rooms in the hotel but too our surprise, this was the view from our window.

 

The service was good, the room comfortable, the breakfast was good and all  in all we were very satisfied.

Ian used to live in Boscombe in the 1980s and had a small house there. It was his first house, he had no money, and learnt most of his D.I.Y skills renovating it. We couldn't resist driving by to have a look and Ian was surprised to see that the gate that he repaired 23 years ago was still there!



Ian remembered Boscombe as being the rougher end of Bournemouth and was surprised to see how much improved it was. The beach is a surfers paradise (but colder and greyer!) and the seafront itself quite unspoilt.

The weekend concluded with a visit to a friend on Ian's in Wimborne and a pub lunch. All in all a much appreciated break from D.I.Y.!

Ridding myself of possessions

I remember now why I haven't moved house very often; at least not since I started acquiring things! I actually find the process of sorting, packing and moving quite stressful, and not being one for creating lists, I wake up at odd hours with a long list of must do's circulating around my brain and hence find myself blogging at 4.45 a.m. in a vain attempt to make myself feel sleepy again! I suspect that today it is not going to work! Just to add to my sense of unreality it just worked out that this highly complicated and stressful move coincides with Ian and I finally living in the same house at the same time! For me, at the age of 51, this is a first! How mad is that! Actually, I think I might quite enjoy that bit if we weren't having to focus on a whole other life project at the same time! So, this is a time of massive transition for me and maybe I need to allow myself a few sleepless nights to help me cope!

The end effect of all this sorting and packing and trips to the dump is that my life should be lighter and less full of clutter. That's what I said last time I moved 8 years ago and I made a resolution not to acquire so many things and to be more organised. I must have forgotten that somewhere along the way!

It's all there in black and white

It's been five days since I left work and I have never been busier! I soon realised that the weekend is no longer a relevant concept as we continued packing, cleaning,decorating, repairing etc. We are progressing and the new kitchen is almost finished! It is very monochrome! I think Ian is very clever!

 

You can have your cake and eat it

This was my farewell bespoke cake, made for me by another of my talented colleagues who, as well as having a full time job as a lecturer, two children to look after, studying for her PhD, also runs her own cake business! Thank you Tania!

Parting gift

This is a picture of Simone- The contortionist llama, mentioned in my previous post. I feel quite honoured to have her as she was made for part of an exhibition of circus animals by my colleague Victoria. She was a gift to mark my leaving and my colleagues thought she was appropriate obviously because of the llama connection but also because apparently I always stand with my legs twisted around each other!

The leaving

Well, my last day at work has been and gone. All in all, leaving work was actually very pleasant, and not in a negative way. I spurned the idea of an official leaving event, with presentations and speeches and organised something myself that involved maximum activity and minimum opportunity for discussion. And so it was, 16 of us went to our local bowling alley and together we did two games of bowling, ate a meal in a basket and then had a go at Laser Quest; where grown men and women put on belts with flashing lights and carry laser guns and try to shoot each other in a dark room with scary music playing! I enjoyed every minute!

Earlier that day my colleagues had presented me with a clay llama, made by Victoria, the pottery teacher. I will post a picture of it and more information later. Similarly, my colleague who makes fantastic cakes made me a big cake of 'the house on the hill', complete with mountain bikers and a French flag ribbon.

When I arrived at work yesterday there was a large bouquet of flowers on my desk and throughout the day, I did various little jobs that I had saved up interspersed with farewells to different people. It all felt very positive.

At 3.30 my colleagues came down and helped me transfer my possessions to my car, using the opportunity to remove any office furniture that was better than they had into their own offices like vultures pouncing on the dying! I returned by office key, made one final defiant gesture and left my unwashed mugs in sink, waved goodbye to everyone and left! It felt good.

Last week

Today is the first day of my last week at work. This morning it was cold and crisp as I left the house and got on my bike. I could see the sea from the top of my street and the horizon was a deep blue line against the paler sky. The leaves are falling from the trees in earnest. I am feeling quite content with no sign of panic and I am actually looking forward to the rest of the week.

Progress notes

I am still without a kitchen, but work is progressing and Ian is working hard at home while I finish my last few days at work. I am currently clearing out my office, which is as bad as my home for being full of junk and unsorted bits of paper!

Heartwarming

Yesterday I found myself totally glued to the television or to the Internet, watching the rescue of the Chilean Miners. I saw almost every one of the 33 step out of the rescue capsule that had pulled them some 700 metres from below the the ground, and step into the arms of their families, friends and waiting dignitaries.  I can't remember a time when a news story has gripped me so much, except perhaps watching the events unfold on 9/11. This was totally different.  It was a wonderful positive story of people working together to save other people with a happy outcome.  I know that after this initial euphoria, it won't all end happily ever after for them all (one wife discovered that her husband had a mistress for years while he was missing in the mine!); life is not really like that. The cynic in me also noted that the politicians were there, and milking the event for their own gain; but yesterday my cynical side was pushed very much to the background. Someone commented on Facebook that it was the best reality TV show they had ever seen!

Co-incidence?

I have no kitchen at the moment as we ripped out the old one at the weekend. As usual once we had stripped everything out we realised that there was more to than we had hoped. C'est la vie! Plugs needed replacing, walls re-plastering, floors levelling. The most peculiar thing we found were some pipes buried in the floor, wrapped in old plastic bags. Unfortunately these seemed to be still connected to the heating system and Ian was for once stumped! We called my friendly plumber but no reply!

Tonight we went to Screwfix and B and Q to buy the rest of the bits we needed to finish the kitchen and who's van should I see parked outside but the Plumber's! I hid behind it until he left and pounced! I stood between him and his van until he agreed to come round next week and remove the wayward heating pipes! In fairness to him he said he was very busy as everyone had switched on their heating systems and found them broken!

Moving

The Universe works in mysterious ways as no sooner had I changed the banner at the top of the blog to demote the llamas to a less prominent position, they suddenly re-inserted themselves into my consciousness! I occasionally do a Google search of 'llamas for sale' and this time I spied someone selling a whole herd for a very reasonable price on the condition that the herd stayed together. Obviously an opportunity too good to miss and a quick email established that they had not been claimed. However, here is where the present interfered with our plans for the future as this news coincided with the weekend that Ian was finally moving out of his flat.

I arrived at his house on Friday evening. "I'm nearly packed; just a few bits of wood to remove from the loft tomorrow" said Ian; so with that I drifted off to sleep imagining some light packing, moving and cleaning the following day! Well, the few bits of wood turned out to be a loft full of tools, boxes, old cupboards etc and with 20 minutes to go until the new tenant arrived, we were still removing them from the loft! It really was like a scene from one of those DIY programmes where they are finishing off as the owners walk up the path!
Like one of those programmes we made it by the skin of our teeth, drove back to my house and were so tired yesterday it took us all day to recover! During our recovery we looked into the how's of transporting llamas to France and considered how we might  do it and whether it would be possible! I eventually phoned the seller of the llamas in the evening only to be told that someone had bought them that afternoon! Well I was a little disappointed but also relieved as logistically it would have been a nightmare!  However, what it did was re-ignite the llama flame and for that I am grateful!

My grandmother's chair

This is my grandmother as I remember her in her later years. She was in her 90s here and in the winter she would move this chair into the sun and sit, looking out over her garden, snoozing, or just looking. I always remember her in this chair. She had two of them and they were her mothers' I think. She only ever had the money to get one re-upholstered and the other languished in it's original covering. She particularly liked the chairs because she was quite short and they were small and upright. When she died I couldn't bear to throw them out and no one else wanted them, so I took them to my small flat. I had every intention of getting them re-upholstered but never got round to it and in the end they have just cluttered up everywhere and had been and been virtually destroyed by the cats who seemed to think the rough wool covering was a perfect claw sharpener!

I still couldn't bring myself to throw them away despite their poor state but Ian insisted that if they came to France they must finally be re-upholstered. After a few attempts at finding an reasonable upholster I eventually stumbled into Chris from Valley Upholsters. He works with a partner in a smallish mews workshop near the station and mostly does contract and commercial work. However, he seemed genuinely interested in the chairs and knowledgeable about their construction and for a very reasonable sum of money put his heart and soul into rebuilding, restoring and recovering them. I got them back yesterday and I think my grandmother would be delighted to think that her old chairs will now be used again, and with any luck could last another 100 years!

About to jump

I have been experimenting with a new layout as I was getting a little bored with the other one. The banner across the top was taken from the terrace in France in the middle of August. There was not a cloud anywhere. The background is from a blogger template but I thought it fitted quite well. The sky and clouds seem to fit quite nicely with my current mood and feelings as it is like I am just about to jump out into space and float away freely to whatever awaits! (Well on some days it feels more like I am going to jump and land flat on my face, but I try not to think about that too much!) I also changed the description slightly as the dreams of llamas and cycling everyday seem a bit of a long way off at the moment!

Ian is on his way back from France after unloading a van load of boxes at our neighbours' house and trying to finish putting in the ceilings in the kitchen. This job took on more of a sense of urgency after he got up to make tea yesterday and realised that it was only 11 degrees in the kitchen! Ceilings and insulation make a big difference! I think my electric Teasmade is going to come in rather handy on the mornings when it is my turn to make the tea!

When he arrived there was no power to the house. We are still on a temporary supply until we have finished all the wiring and had it signed off by the local inspector and it had tripped out at the main switchboard, which happens to be on a pole in our neighbours hedge. Every time he re-set it, it tripped again, until he discovered the black and crispy plug socket in the bedroom! He later discovered that the pole had been hit by lightening a few days before, causing one of our neighbours plugs to fly out of the socket and across the room! Time to get the lightening arrester fitted!

Last minute panic

Suddenly I feel that the speed of events is picking up way too fast! Of course this is not true as we have been planning our move to France for more than two years, but all of sudden it is within touching distance and in some ways I can't believe we are there. It feels a little unreal and all those feelings of excitement and hopeful anticipation are being swept away into a tide of uncertainly and doubt and to make it all worse I am beginning to realise that I will miss my job and work colleagues! It's a strange feeling. I don't get it all the time but I am glad it is there as to really leave somewhere hating every last minute would be a bitter experience. At other moments I can get a sense of a new life ahead and an uncertain but exiting future. How great to still be able to have adventures when you are the wrong side of fifty!

Very soon there will be no time for these feelings as we will be totally caught up in the logistics of packing and moving. Ian is there already. Olga, a Russian woman from his previous workplace, was interested in his flat and she moves in next week. She is exited and Ian is rushing round trying to pack up his things. Tomorrow he drives down to the house with a full van of boxes and plasterboard, hoping to finish the ceiling in the kitchen before the winter starts. On his return we will start the final countdown.

The earth moved...

Well, it did for one of my closest friends, who now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. They were close to the epicentre of an earthquake measuring 7.1 magnitude. These are her words:

an amazing 24 hours. the earthquake the most terrfiying thing ever. It felt as tho the house was picked up and dropped many times. I woke leapt out of bed shouting "earthquake" ran to Owen's room and was screaming at him to get up. It was so loud as the ground groaned. The house shook and china and glass crashed around us. We are all happily ok but left with a chimney that needs to be pulled down.

and from her husband

we are ok after major earthquake here in Christchurch. Our chimney is a gonner and a few precious things lost but we are fine if shaken. On top of it all, it is my wifes 50th birthday today - what a way to celebrate.

I called tonight on SKYPE and ironically had the best quality SKYPE call I have ever had ..no annoying echo or time delay.. She had gone to work. The schools are closed and they are still experiencing after shocks. Last night Owen slept under the table and they slept on a matress in the living room. As I spoke they had another aftershock.  Someone had suggested that they go out for dinner, but I don't think there was anywhere to go out to!

End of an era

I am an occupational therapist. I do not talk about this specifically in my blog very often as I moved from clinical practice many years ago into teaching and did not want this to be a blog about occupational therapy as such.

When I did my training occupational therapy was a diploma and became an honours degree course in this country in 1991. It had already been a degree course for many years in the United States prior to this, and about that time a new breed of occupational therapy academics were emerging; helping us to back up our observations with science and developing theories to help us to understand what we were doing. One of these pioneers was Gary Kielhofner. In the early 1990s his youthful enthusiasm and ideas inspired us to think about our profession in a different way. His ideas were amongst those that guided me to towards my degree and PhD.

I met him on a couple of occasions. He became involved in some projects that were happening in my previous workplace and spent a few days with us. I didn't find him an easy person to work with at that time and I didn't always agree with him but found him interesting and charismatic as always!

He had just bought a farm with his new wife and it was rumoured that he was trying to cut down on his work commitments and spend more time there. Two weeks ago he became ill and was taken to intensive care. He was diagnosed with malignant lung cancer and died at the end of last week. He was 61 years old.

My profession is suffering from bereavement at the moment.

Merging lives

Apologies for the lack of posting. Contrary to what some think I did in fact make it back from France but was thrown immediately into work without time or energy for a moments reflection. However, this period of my life is now coming to an end.

This time I have returned in a different mood. Of course I will not miss the frustrations from work, but at last, thankfully, I am beginning to appreciate the things that I will miss. The colleagues who I can chat and joke with over lunch, the way I am challenged by some of the things I have to do (in a positive way) , the grateful students, and the not so grateful and the students that I know I have made a difference to! I can finally say that I am glad and sad to go. This trip was different to the others. Up until now I have had my time in France; a working holiday, my work life, and home lives here and at Ian's place in London and I have managed to keep them in separate boxes. Now, they are merging together, and my 4 lives are becoming one. In a couple of weeks the London life will cease when Ian rents his flat; and I already have some potential tenants for my house and I can see a real end to these lives soon.... and in the not to distant future my main life will be in France. This is important to realise I think. One thing I learnt over the summer is that for our change to work we must make a 100% commitment to it. There can be no going back and forth to England every month because we feel like it (although some trips will be necessary at first); we need to work hard to make sure that we integrate into our new life in France and not spend most of our time with other English people, I need to work the two days a month that I have been offered in Bordeaux and maybe look for some other work to keep me interested until our B&B is operational; I need to try to learn to be French for a while even if, for a while, it means putting my English bit on hold. (I can easily revert to it if necessary).

Time to go already

All to soon our three weeks are coming to an end and we are, as usual, rushing around trying to finish off things before we return home. The weather has continued to be hot, which has been a problem for working. Yesterday the temperature reached 39 degrees again but this was accompanied by a strong wind that was so warm it took my breath away as soon as I stepped into it. Last night the temperature didn't drop below 29 degrees in the room and neither of us slept that well. However, today the cloud came in, the wind increased again, the temperature dropped slowly and by afternoon we watched as brief but heavy rain storm raced across the land towards the house. When it hit us it blew down the ladder that Ian had used to get onto the roof! Just as well I was there and not too p*ssed off with him as I was able to put it back and enable him to get down. He has been trying to finish the soffits. This was a job we started last year but could not finish as we couldn't access one side of the house and ran out time with the tower. The disadvantage of not having soffits is that Renata redstart and her family now think that the roof is the perfect place to raise a family and have moved in; covering everything with bird sh*t. We are on course to finish all but the front of the tower, for which we need to build some scaffolding to reach. Hence I fear we will not deter Renata this time round.

We spent a day in Bordeaux this week and I have provisionally agreed some dates with the school to do some teaching. It is not brilliantly paid but is a start and will certainly help me to settle into my new life.

The local Mayor (think Vicar of Dibley) owns a airstrip that he uses for microlights. They had an open afternoon and we dropped in briefly to see what was going on at the same time as group of monks from Plum Village, mindfully watching the scene! The whole thing was quite bizarre!

We asked the Mayor if the Russians were landing on his airstrip. He didn't laugh at all but said that the Gendarme had asked him the same question a few weeks ago!

We had a full moon at the beginning of the week. When the moon is full you don't need any lights to see outside.

A second French wedding

When we arrived the temperature was comfortable, reaching 22-25 degrees during the day and 12-13 at night. This was just right for working in. However, for the last few days the temperature has crept up into the mid 30s, reaching 39 degrees yesterday afternoon and not going down much below 26 at night. This has been pretty uncomfortable and made us reassess the need for some portable air conditioning for the bedroom!

Yesterday we went to the wedding of the farmer's son. Ian visits the farmer (M Mulatier) often and talks about tractors and machines. His son has two children and he and his partner were not married so I guess eventually the presuure to conform got to them, or it felt like now or never in terms of timing! In fact, it was a double ceremony with their wedding and the baptism of their second child. I hope it was a buy one, get one free deal!

This was the second French wedding that I have been two. As France is a secular state everyone must marry first at the Marie. So, following the trail of hedge clippings laid that morning (a tradition) we headed up to the Marie in Thenac in our Tranist van, with the air conditioning on full blast. In due course, the procession of cars arrived, with lights flashing and horns blaring. Following up behind was this tractor, decked in flowers and various banners!

The banner reads " convoy of happy angels".

Nothing was quiet about the arrival; there was lots of shouting and cheering and the wedding was conducted by the local Mayor. The bride and groom say "oui" and then the Mayor reads out a long list of relevant French legislation and law, things are signed and everyone leaves, heading for the proper ceremony in the church.

The church in Puyguihelm is spectacular in that it is perched right on top of the hill, with the doors opening onto the most wonderful panorama over the vineyards of the Duras region.

The searing heat make it look more washed out than it actually is.

Fortunately the ceremony was not a full Mass. As in the UK no one but the priest knew the words or the tune of the hymn but at least he had a wonderful voice! Being a dual event the service was still quite long and by the time it finished I was soaked in perspiration and longing for a cool drink.

As the couple left the church for the obligatory photos their friends had a special guard of honour with hard hats for her (she is the manager of a building site) and toy tractors for him. This was accompanied by heart shaped confetti (with no one complaining about who was going to sweep it up, the priest just being relieved that he had managed to save two more souls!).

The day finished with a 'Vin d'honor' in our village hall where I thought I was drinking grapefruit juice but alas it was a local cocktail containing something very alcoholic! I was served in a refridgerated fountain which meant that we all drank more than we should. However, I noted again the phenomenon that alcohol improves my French!

The Russians are coming

Our three weeks seems to be racing by and already I can tell that we will not get all the things done that we had on the list, but that is what usually happens. We are aiming to finish off some more wiring and to plasterboard the rest of the ceiling in the kitchen. Ian intersperses this less interesting activity with sojourns on the digger! I can hear it whirring in the background!

On Saturday evening we went to the soiree jambon braise in the village. The committee de fetes in the various communes usually organise an event each year to  raise money for local projects ets. I suppose it is a bit like the English village fair. Tickets are 18 euros and you turn up with your own place setting (knife, fork, plate, bowl etc). There were about 100 people there; a mixture of locals, French, English and tourists. The food consisted of an apperative, tomato soup with tapioca, barbecued pork with pepper sauce, braised haricot beans with garlic and pig skin, cheese, cider and dessert of cherries soaked in alcohol and ice cream. This was all accompanied by wine, music, etc. and I must say was enjoyable enough to justify the hangover the following day.

On Monday night we went to our neighbours to finally eat the leg of venison that as been in their freezer since February and was given to us by le Chasse as it was shot on the land. I must confess it was very tasty and I only had a slight pang of guilt when I thought about the four lovely deer that have been running across the field all week.

We caught up on some local news. Now France has become too expensive for most English people the Russians are arriving. In the nearby village of Thenac the Chateau has been bought and beautifully restored by a mate of Abramovich and the rumour is  Abramovich himself has bought the neighbouring hilltop! The reaction of the locals has been mixed but I am not going tho say anything bad at all!!

Visitors

We have had  a few visitors chez-nous over the last few days. On Thursday Julie from my French class came for lunch. We sat in the sun on the terrace and looked out into the field while her partner and Ian discussed the problems of building in France and the UK. It was very pleasant. Just as they were leaving Ian's friend from the north of France arrived. He is staying with us for a few days to help Ian and also for a change of scene for him. He arrived complete with his pop-up caravan. This was a bargain Ebay purchase as it cost him all of £200 and as it folds into a trailer, means he does not have to pay the higher tolls on  the motorways. It comes with all its original fittings and is now parked under the trees.

Yesterday morning we were looking out of the window just as a hot air ballon glided into view. At first we thought it was going to put down in the field, but it managed to stay aloft for another kilometre or so and we saw it ditch in a nearby farm.

The final group of visitors have been of the wild variety. We have seen several deer and hare but the most frequent visitors have been the praying manitis (is the plural mantii or mantises?). There are lots in the field..so many that I abandoned my strimming so that I didn't kill any more. One in particular has taken a likeing to the house, despite all our attempts to rehome her in the field, she keeps coming back!

Connected to the rest of the world

I haven't minded the fact that we have had to get all the hot water from the shower , or that I have been cooking on a camping stove, or that the toilet has until recently flushed directly into the field, or that we have no TV.. However, I have missed the Internet. When we were here last we signed up to a new WiMax service. "It will be installed within two months" said the girl, from the comfort of her Parisien office. Two months came and went and still no sign. Ian called once, and then again and then eventually, 4 weeks ago, got through to the installer who came out with the age old excuse ,'sorry, my van broke down'. He agreed to put us in his diary for first thing Monday. By 10.00 o'clock on Monday, when there was so sign, Ian called him. "Sorry, I forgot. I've just got back from holiday". (In France the customer is always wrong!) We agreed to reschedule until today. At 9.30 there was no sign and a call confirmed that the installer was lost! Eventually, however, at 11.00, he found us and started his work installing an arial pointing at the only transmitter that was not obscured by a hill. As you can see we now have Internet access. It is a little slow for uploading things and at times has been a bit hesitant, but at least we can now stay in touch with our virtual lives and virtual friends!

The dumper truck made it down in once piece without any more problems. However, getting it off the trailer and into the field was another matter as it starts with a starting handle. Two grown men could not get it to fire so ended up bump starting it down the field. In the end there was a puff of white smoke and it coughed into life and trundled around the field with Ian cheerfully in command!

Fly free water butt! Fly free!

Tonight we are staying in the Premiere Classe hotel in Rouen, which is neither premiere or classy but does have free Internet. The dumper is still attached to the trailer although the water butt that Ian fixed on to it with straps managed to disconnect itself and fly free somewhere south of Calais. The first we knew of it was when we were stopped by a 'securitie civile' man who told us he had been driving behind us as it launched itself into the air! We said sorry, decided the water butt was not worth rescuing, and continued on our journey. Later on we heard a traffic announcement saying that there was an object on the road south  of Calais and to take care. We suspected the water butt!

We ate in the only restaurant in the area, the Campanille. Campanille and Premiere Classe are operated by the same group. The meal was expensive and just ahout edible but being English we didn't complain!

All aboard

We are off to France tomorrow for three weeks and I am feeling a bit stressed as I still haven't finished the packing! I am quite good at last minute packing, but I need to be totally focused and alone. This time I had Ian looking over my shoulder so I am convinced that I have forgotten something very important. Ian arrived mid-day with a dumper truck on his trailer. When I got home at 3.00 it was covered in small boys, staring at various mechanical bits!
We now start the slow and tedious journey to the Dordogne; never going above 90 km an hour! We should arrive some time on Sunday, stopping overnight in Rouen tomorrow. The good news is we should be getting our WiMax on Monday so I may manage blogging on the go!

Happy Birthday

Despite her protests to the contrary I think my mother quite enjoyed her 80th birthday party. We had tea, wine, sandwiches and cake in the company of the other residents. We didn't stay late and we cleared up afterwards and my mother even managed a smile for the camera! This is all of us! (Photo by Ian).

Some you win and some you loose

I have been trying to buy an ice cream maker for ages. I started by scouring eBay, but missed out on a few bargains. I bought a Magimix one from John Lewis but decided that it was rubbish (and it didn't work properly) so I sent it back and today I saw quite a nice one on eBay that was local, so would save me the £8.00 postage normally quoted. Ian  suggested I bid with 20 seconds to go with the maximum price I was prepared to pay. With 6 seconds to go I was the highest bidder, but in the end I lost out!  Never mind! I'll get the ice cream machine one day!

In the meantime Ian bid on a second hand dumper truck somewhere up near Birmingham and he won it, so is driving up on Tuesday with the trailer and then we are taking it down to France on Friday. That marks the start of our three week trip. I no longer call it a holiday since we spend most of the time working. The good news is that we should be getting our WiMax connected on the 9th August so no more walking up to the neighbours' garden to use their wireless network!