Rob and Jan

Another 3 months have whizzed by since the last update, time seems to go quicker as you get older (miserable excuse number 42 for being late with an update)!

February was a wonderfully warm month, we got a lot of gardening done and we thought that summer had arrived early, unfortunately it hadn’t, March was a lot colder and wetter, bugger…….

Marc, Matthew, Debs and others went skiing to Lake Tahoe  (in California) in February, their regular winter sports destination.  While they were there, we got a phone call from Matt and Marc asking me to log onto a live webcam where we could see them all waving to us from a cafe at the start of one of the ski lifts. The wonders of modern technology!

Part of the reason for the crap weather in March was due to David and Pauline flying down to spend a few days with us, the sun shone for a few hours after they arrived and then stayed away until after they had left. It’s a job convincing people from the UK that Lascazeres is much sunnier than England!

This picture of Jan and Pauline by a well was taken at Bassoues. I thought it was a wishing well but when I threw some money in and made a wish, Jan didn’t turn into Cameron Diaz, so that was a waste of 5 cents, perhaps 10 cents would have been more effective!

Despite the weather we had a great time when David and Pauline were here, we went out and about around the local area and they treated us to a meal in Maubourguet one lunchtime. We played Ludo a couple of times in the evening, bloody hectic lives we live down here, we were going to play snakes and ladders as well but I thought the excitement would be too much for me! Anyway, Pauline cheats, or was it me, I can’t remember…….

David got tickets to see Portsmouth win through to something, FA cup final I think. Not sure who they are playing as football is not my favourite sport, poor David; he was confusing me with someone who gives a shit when he was talking enthusiastically about the final.

When I was younger, much, much younger, I used to support Pompey and watch them play at Fratton Park, then I discovered girls, far more interesting and the games were a lot more fun (still are!). Oh, I did watch England win the World Cup in 1966 but that was the last game I saw. Sorry football fans, each to their own, you carry on watching your fit, healthy young men running around the pitch and I’ll continue to enjoy watching fit, healthy young women wherever I see them….. Who said ‘dirty old pervert’? Less of the ‘old’ if you don’t mind!

Our neighbour, France, asked us if we would prune her fruit trees, so, calling on the knowledge gained from Jan’s Dad we did our best to look as if we knew what we were doing. None of the trees have died yet so that’s a good sign! I’ve told her she might not get any fruit this year, this gives me another year to think up an excuse if there’s no fruit next year…

Except in really cold weather our front door is always open during the day so that the dogs can come and go. We can always tell which dog came through first, if it’s just open a dog’s width, Daisy was there first, if it’s hanging off it’s hinges, then Rokxy was first in!!

Rokxy in her normal winter coat, i.e. covered in mud!

Rokxy riding side saddle

Daisy flying 3 feet above the ground just after catching a tennis ball, sorry it’s blurred but she wouldn’t hold the pose long enough for me to get a good picture….

Rokxy had her annual rabies jab in February, plus one for red tick, the vet then sent us a card saying we needed to take her back for a follow up jab. When we got there, we had to wait for a while before we saw the vet, Rokxy was reluctant to go into the waiting room but that was nothing compared to the game we had getting her into the consulting room! We had to slide her across the floor on her bum, when 5 stone of exceedingly strong dog doesn’t want to move, brute force is the only answer! After all the hassle, the vet said they had made a mistake and she didn’t need another injection, Rokxy was very confused but more then happy to leave without any treatment.

Our friend Bob had an old ride-on mower which was beyond economic repair. He decided to get a new one and when I asked him if I could buy the old one he said I could have it. I may be able to repair the mower bit, but if not I will make a trailer for it so we can move heavy stuff around the garden, plus I can tow a heavy roller to try to get the lawn more like a normal lawn and less like a ploughed field…

Talking of lawn mowers, we’ve had our new mower about a year and whilst it works pretty well it does have a few limitations. It is sooooooo sloooooooooooow, the speed is fixed which can be a bit frustrating as the daisies and dandelions seem to have time to duck before the blade decapitates them. By contrast, the old hover mover used to chop the buggers to pieces before they knew what had hit them! At least this one collects the grass cuttings but the bumpy ground doesn’t help, another reason for getting a heavy roller.

Bruno moved into his new house about 3 weeks ago, we were invited in for a drink and then asked to stay for a meal, we arrived at 7pm and left at about 11:30 after several whiskies and glasses of wine, a meal and lots of French that I didn’t understand! The house is very nice, it’s just about finished inside but there’s still a lot to do in the garden….

Bruno’s house, God’s rainbow….

There is going to be a duck ‘farm’ along the road from us, it’s on the other side of the road, about a third of a mile across the fields. Apparently it will be a small farm and hopefully will not be an issue for us as the prevailing wind will blow any smell away from us.

The French version of health and safety seems somewhat different to the UK. When they dug a trench across the road for the services to the duck farm, they put a warning sign in the road either side of the trench, then went on their usual 2 hour lunch break with just the digger arm preventing traffic falling into the hole. I think they work on the theory that if you don’t have the common sense to miss a bloody great digger arm guarding a hole you deserve to fall in and break your neck! This of course would never work in the UK as the nanny state has removed common sense from everyday life.

In mid April we went to stay with Marianne and Ian for 4 days, we had a wonderful relaxing time, lots to eat and drink despite their kitchen not having a working cooker or sink (they were waiting for the new granite worktops to be fitted). We went to Andorra for some cheap booze and cigarettes, shopped at the first town across the border (Pas de la Casa (Margate with snow!)) and then went further towards the capital to another village. The scenery away from the town was beautiful but the whole place is very commercialised with new hotels being built everywhere. It was bloody cold up there, they had a fall of snow the night before we went. We didn’t try to exceed our cigarette and alcohol limits as the gendarmes stop most cars to enquire about what you have bought.

Puivert Castle through the mist, spooky, you can almost imagine the Cathars appearing on the battlements, you can’t? Nor me, just thought it was the sort of bollocks people say about pictures with mist and castles in them!

We also went to the fortified city of Carcassonne, it was restored in the 1850s and is well worth a visit, free entry, although you have to pay for parking. Avoid the tourist season to get the most from a visit, all the usual tacky tourist crap being sold in the shops but the rest is amazing.

Part of the Cité de Carcassonne.

 I thought I was pretty crap at playing pool until I played Marianne! They have a small pool table in their bar and we spent an hilarious afternoon playing the Puivert World Pool Championships, I won of course….. Trouble is, Marianne was improving the more games we played whereas I reached my peak several years ago, Jan keeps saying that as well, don’t think she was talking about pool though!

When we went to Andorra we shut the dogs in their cage, Daisy managed to get out, partially wrecking it in the process.  So, when we went to Carcassonne Marianne said it would be fine to leave them in their downstairs summer kitchen (they’re posh, they’ve got 2 kitchens!). The only thing fine about that idea was the fine old time they had while we were out. They chewed up a bath mat, dustpan and brush, the extractor hose on the tumble dryer and god knows what else! It’s a good job Marianne saw the funny side of it, mind you, we’ve not heard from them since!

While we were with Marianne, Jean-Claude our local farmer, delivered the long awaited trailer load of cow poo, we’d only been waiting since January so quite quick really. I gave him a bottle of whisky and he delivered a second load a few days later, which is enough to keep us in the crap for a while!

So, what with spreading cow poo on the garden and clearing up dog crap on a regular basis, if Shit Shovelling ever becomes an Olympic sport I’ll be up there with the best of them!

About 2 weeks ago there was a loud knocking noise from the rear of the car, I initially thought it was the exhaust but it was a broken shock absorber, luckily a local car accessory shop had 2 in stock and I changed them in a couple of hours, it’s a bugger not having a company car and just ringing up for someone to fix it for you free of charge…

Last Sunday was the Lascazeres plant market (Marché aux Plantes), it was started some years ago by local Brits, all the plants are donated and profits go to charity (a different one each year). It has become very popular and the French support it as well as the Brits. Jan bought quite a few things (no surprise there then) including 2 fig trees for the exorbitant sum of two euros each!

We’re off to see Rob and June for a couple of days at their holiday home near Bergerac, about 2.5 hours drive from here. I have improved the security of the dog cage in the hope that they don’t repeat the performance at Mariannes!

Jan’s Dad is hoping to come out for a visit with Jan’s nephew (Andrew) in early June. I’m saving all the tough gardening jobs for them as the pool should be nice and warm by then and I can relax with a beer while supervising their efforts.

We are going back to the UK in early July as our ‘adopted daughter’ Gemma is getting married. We’ve known Gemma since she was about 2 and have watched her grow into a beautiful young woman, despite having an ugly old git for a father (our friend Pat)!

Thought for the Blog:

With reference to my earlier ramblings about football… Footballers, they get paid how much for buggering up a nicely mown lawn? I’m not jealous you understand, why would I want pots of money, a large house and several cars when I’ve got Jan, she’s worth more than all those things, so, any offers over £2 million pounds seriously considered…..

Well, that’s it, all the latest news, wonderful wasn’t it? I bet you’re all jealous of us playing Ludo and shovelling cow crap, we wouldn’t change it for the world (did I ever tell you I’m an inveterate liar?).

Finally a long awaited update, although I expect most people have died through boredom waiting for me to get round to this! Anyway, to those who are still out there welcome to this literary mastermess masterpiece.
To start, let me be the last to wish you all a Happy New 2008, may all your dreams come true and fame and fortune bless you all. If you are that lucky, remember the plonker who wrote this and whose dreams have not all come true, especially the one about Cameron Diaz! Hey ho, back to reality….

Our first visit back to the UK for a year has long been and gone, it was a mad rush as usual. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see all the people we wanted to, even after extending our stay by a couple of days. It was good to catch up with family and friends and to have a few (more than a few!) Chinese and Indian take-aways.

We crossed the channel back to the UK with P&O, returning with Sea France. This might seem a strange way to do it but it was cheaper than booking a return trip with either company!
Speedferries would have been much cheaper but our trailer is too long for their ferry. One third of the cost was for the dogs, bloody cheek when they don’t even check them on the way back!

All the road works associated with the Horndean-Cosham bus lane were still pretty much as we remembered them from the year before last, the words ‘piss up’ and ‘brewery’ spring to mind when it comes to seeing how slow the progress has been. Still, I’m sure that once it’s finished the buses will be winging their way along their own lane, loaded down with passengers because the fares are so cheap and the buses so frequent!! They will of course, be accompanied by a herd of pigs flying overhead.

We had to take the dogs to the vet to get their passports and the all clear for them to travel before we left home. On the journey they were no trouble at all, even though they had to stay in the back of the car for 12 hours each way (in France), with only a short loo break now and again.

We stayed the first two nights at Pat and Judith’s place. Pat couldn’t get tickets for the beer festival as he promised so we had to make do with a visit to the pub, no great hardship really!

We then went to Jan’s Dad, he had an angiogram a couple of days before and was feeling very tired. Unfortunately the angiogram showed there was little they can do for his furred up tubes but the doctors have changed his medicine and his breathing is a lot better. As long as he doesn’t overdo things he will be OK (not overdoing things isn’t something he doesn’t find easy though!).

We took our trailer back to England as we had hoped to pick up our new wood burning stove. Unfortunately we couldn’t get it delivered to Matt’s in time for our return journey. Luckily Bruce had a load being delivered to France and he was able to bring it over for us. We still managed to fill the trailer with radiators, tables and god knows what else!
The woodburner now sits proudly on a new hearth in the lounge, unfortunately the chimney is still not constructed so it’s not burnt a log in anger yet.
We bought a paraffin heater to keep us warm while I install the woodburner, it’s all electronic and automatic, just fill it with go juice, press a button and away it goes, magic!

We’ve changed our minds yet again about the heating, the new oil fired boiler is not to be, the last oil we bought just before Christmas had gone up 33% since the summer. We will now have electric radiators in all the rooms, plus we will insulate the outer walls of the bedrooms and dining room to keep the heat in.
We have abandoned the upstairs bathroom for the winter, the downstairs one is much warmer with its insulated walls and ceiling.

We were very busy when we first got back from UK, the garden needed a lot of work (still does!), mostly grass cutting and raking up the 200 million leaves that had fallen while we were away(200 million is of course an exaggeration, it was only 175 million really, I made Jan count them all…..).
Because of the very dry period towards the end of last year the maize harvesting didn’t finish until after Christmas, not enough moisture to make the crop worth cutting, still I’m sure there’s an EU grant to compensate everyone….

Early November is the time the local Madiran vineyards have their ‘Portes Ouvertes’ (open doors). They all provide wine tasting for free, although we buy a glass from them for 2 euros as a momento of the vineyard (it usually has their logo on it). Most also offer a meal, we went to the Domaine Moulié (with Lynn and Barry), the meal was 16 euros, good value. Luckily it was a lovely day as the meal was outside, I only tried a few wines as I was driving and as I’m an inverse wine snob, the cheaper wine tasted much better than most of the expensive stuff!

Al fresco at the Portes Ouvertes

Matt and Debs came over for 5 days in November, their friends Marcus and Natasha and their son Marc tagged along as well. We had a great time, Marc is a lovely lad, lot’s of energy, he saved me exercising the dogs as he would throw the ball for them until his arm ached! He made a good impression when we went out to lunch, he pinched the waitress’s bum! Not bad for a 3 year old, obviously been paying close attention to Marcus!

In early December we went to the Lascazeres hunt meal, where you get to eat all the animals they have murdered in the last few months, great! Actually it was fish and boar, the boar in various guises, quite a strong taste, I enjoyed it but it was too much for Jan. we arrived at about 8.30pm, the first course was served about 2 hours later. We left about 2 am, just after finishing the last course, I think it went on until 5ish, the music had barely started when we left!Marc came over for Christmas, he arrived on the 20th December, complete with flu, he really felt terrible and only decided to come at the last minute. The first few days he was here he was still feeling crap but after Christmas we managed to get some work done towards the woodburner installation.

Two days before Marc went home we went to La Mongie and then on the cable car to the Pic Du Midi (2800 metres). There are several observatories there and spectacular views across the Pyrénées.
Jan was absolutely dreading the ride in the cable car but in the event quite enjoyed it. The views at the top were worth overcoming her fear of hanging in space a few hundred metres above the ground. I don’t know why she worries about falling, falling is fine, the sudden stop at the end is a bugger though!

Cable Car (yes, really!)
View from Pic Du Midi
And another view
And another view
TV mast, white UFOs courtesy of Marc!
Viewing platform
Old farts and Marc

Since Marc went back we have been sorting out more boxes and crap that we bought over when we moved. Jan has started doing some of her stained glass again, she’s currently making a plaque for the gate with the house number on. I’ve started digging over the veggie patch but as we’ve had quite a lot of rain lately, it’s been an off and on task. Off is my ideal as digging is not my favourite pastime!
I asked our local farmer (in my best French) for some cow manure for the garden, he’s agreed to bring me a load of matured dung in exchange for a bottle of whisky. At least I think that’s the deal, I just hope I’ve not got my mucking words fuddled up and ordered a cow!

We had some really cold weather for a few days around the New Year, freezing fog included. There is more snow in the mountains than there was this time last year. The cold weather was followed by a really mild spell, temperatures on the patio in the sun regularly reached around 27°C, 18°C in the shade. Recently it has been more unsettled with lots of rain, interspersed with lovely sunny days as well of course. There have been some great sunrises recently, just a couple below:-

South towards the Pyrénées
Looking east

For New Year we went to Lynn and Barry’s along with some friends, had a great evening, lots of lovely food and Champagne of course! We had the TV on to see how the French welcome the New Year, looked like a load of old bollocks to us but I’m sure they find it entertaining!

The new house opposite us is progressing well, not as well as the owner (Bruno) expected but then this is France! The main structure came in pre-fabricated sections, it was up to the stage shown below in less than 3 weeks with only 2 or 3 men working on it.

Bruno’s house

My cousin Marianne and her better half, Ian came over last Thursday from their place in Puivert, with doggy Darcy in tow (well, not in tow, that would be cruel, they let him ride in the car), they stayed until Sunday. We had a great time, lots of alcohol consumed of course.
We went to a local wine Domaine to buy the local ‘plonk’, it was €1.55 per litre and very tasty, to us anyway, of course wine snobs should ignore this, as to them there is no such thing as a good cheap wine!
Ian and Marianne took us out for an excellent meal on Saturday, 4 courses including wine, for 11 euros each, really good value for money.

There’s now a webcam link at the top of the page, it’s only updated occasionally at the moment until I can get it permanently fixed. It is password protected for family and friends, we don’t want everyone to see us in the shower! Come to think of it, no-one wants to see us in the shower so it’s only the garden you’re ever going to see!

Thought for the Blog (my Victor Meldrew moment):-
Ring pull cans, great invention, much better than using can openers, however they do seem to be especially designed to frustrate old people and those with arthritis. Then, when you do get them open, they have the wonderful ability to shower some of the contents all over you, however slowly you pull the lid off. Any tomato based contents seem to be especially formulated to achieve maximum effect, splattering anyone and everything within a metre range!

Well that’s it again for another few months (only joking, there will be another update tomorrow and every day in the future - NOT!) but I will try to get one done by the end of February, just not telling you which year…

Well, not quite, more like a grass snake eating a toad, isn’t nature wonderful…

Jan was in the garden with the dogs and couldn’t quite make out what they were barking at, so called me to look.

The snake spat the toad out just after the picture was taken; I think the dogs frightened it as it slid away very quickly, leaving the dead toad behind.

I’ve had a couple of complaints about too much swearing on the blog, bloody (what a) cheek, I never bloody (ever) swear! For those of you with a sensitive nature, please ignore all words that are crossed through and read the words in brackets after it…..

We went to the Madiran wine festival in August, it’s held in the town of Madiran, clever that, name the festival after the town that it’s held in, brilliant idea!

All the wine producers in the area had stalls there; tasting was free after purchasing a glass for a few Euros on entry. Unfortunately I was driving, so my tasting was very limited, next year I’m getting a taxi! We bought a few bottles, the cheaper end of the scale, some of the pricier ones were a little over our budget (€60+, bugger (no to) that!!)

We had a great few days up at Alan and Angelika’s near Rennes although the weather was appalling; it rained most of the time. We went on the river in Alan’s boat, there was nearly as much rain falling as there was water in the river!

They have a wonderful house and garden, two lakes (which Rokxy and Daisy loved!), all in a beautiful setting near the river.

We have been to see Marianne and Ian twice since the last blog update, their lovely house is on the outskirts of a small village and they have great views of the surrounding countryside from their balcony.

All the main living accommodation is on the first floor, with the same floor area beneath where they have a garage, utility room, additional bedroom and most important of all, a bar!
Daisy and Rokxy mostly got on fine with their dog Darcy, he just ignored them and they left him alone, except Daisy occasionally snapped at him, we think he was being over protective towards Jan if Darcy approached her.
My Aunts, Peggy (Marianne’s Mum) and Joan were staying with Marianne and Ian on our second visit, despite being over 80 and with quite a few aches and pains between them they are remarkably cheerful and very entertaining!

One more milestone, we’ve got the car registered here in France now. Most people said it would be a long and tortuous process but for us it was painless. The longest part was getting a Certificate of Conformity from Renault to say the car met European standards; it took longer than expected as I didn’t send enough money with the request. I then took the car for its Controle Technique (MOT), apart from needing new headlights it passed OK. I bought some new lights on the net and fitted them myself, took the car back and got the necessary paperwork. Next, was a visit to Tarbes to get a form confirming VAT had been paid when I bought the car. One slight hiccup here, the woman we saw at the Import office said we didn’t need the form so we went straight to the Prefecture for our registration (Carte Grise) but we had been directed to the wrong place at the Import Office!
Anyway, the next day we got the Import form within 5 minutes and the Carte Grise 10 minutes later.
A quick trip to the local motoring centre for the number plates (€32, fitted, including supplying a third plate for the trailer) and we were legal!
Incidentally, the Controle Technique costs €52 and lasts for 2 years; I had 2 months to change my headlights and only had to pay €6 when I took it back for checking (they only check the failed item), but if you have a major problem you may not be allowed to drive the car until it’s fixed. Overall a better deal than in the UK I think!

So, now it’s a properly French registered car I thought I’d make it feel completely at home by disconnecting the indicators, driving all over the road and only using one hand to steer!

We are planning to visit England in early October, assuming all the dogs’ paperwork is correct when we go to get their passports. Daisy had to have her yearly rabies jab last month, we’re just waiting for the change of ownership papers and then hopefully all will be well. It’ll cost as much or more for them to go on the ferry as it is for us and the car! We will be travelling from either Boulogne (Speedferries) or Calais (P&O) to Dover. Must have a short route as the dogs have to stay in the car, it would be unkind to take them on a long crossing. Speedferries is our preferred ferry company, usually the cheapest and quickest.

We will be staying with Pat, Matt and Jan’s Dad while we are in UK, not necessarily in that order.. When we stay at Pat and Judith’s we will be going to a beer festival, of course this is a bit of a comedown as wine festivals are more our thing now! No doubt we will quickly remember what is expected at these occasions, don’t suppose much has changed since I got pissed (merry) at the last beer festival I went to!

Looking forward to seeing friends and relatives, but we’re not missing the UK itself though.

Rokxy and Daisy are fine, they spend most of the day playing, either with me hitting a tennis ball around the garden or chasing each other. Sometimes they even do as they’re told now, progress!

Rokxy is still a bit like a delinquent child though, but at least I can give her a good beating with a baseball bat, something I couldn’t do with a child… (only joking, in case there are any humourless, politically correct, sad bastards (people) out there reading this).

The building of the new house across from us is coming along quite well, Rokxy sits for ages watching the builders, she really is a nosy little bugger (dog), their intention is to finish it by the end of November now, which is a bit earlier than they originally thought.

We have been to numerous vide greniers (car boot sales) recently (when I say “we”, I mean Jan, even if I go, I’m only there in body, my mind is miles away, sipping wine and watching the world go by). Luckily Lynn also likes to go to vide greniers so she usually takes Jan, while Barry and I take life easy, trying not to worry about how much crap (rubbish) the girls will bring back.

After changing our minds numerous times about our heating plans (well my mind, Jan lost hers years ago), we have finally decided to get a new oil fired boiler (for the central heating only), an electric heater for the hot water (it uses cheap rate electricity overnight) and a wood burner to heat the lounge (which should also contribute to warming the kitchen and stairwell.

Jan’s Dad was hoping to come out for a couple of weeks before we visited the UK but he has not been too well. He had heart by-pass surgery over 10 years ago and it’s past its use-by date. He feels tired a lot of the time and has to go for an Angiogram so the doctors can decide what is necessary to get the old bugger (gentlemen) back up and running again! Looking forward to seeing him when we go back and eating lots of Chinese take-aways so he doesn’t have to cook!

Matthew made the final of London’s Fittest Firefighter for the 3rd year running. It was held in Covent Garden on 1st September, he came 5th, which was an excellent result. Looks like too much work to me!

Unfortunately we couldn’t get back to cheer him on but Debs and her friends, plus my sister Jane and nephew Stephen we there to give him moral and vocal support. He trained hard in the weeks leading up to the competition, we’re really proud of him.

Marc came over for nearly a week in August, we went out and about a bit but he spent some time helping me install the shower door and also set up my desk top PC which had suffered with a failed hard drive. He also bought and modified an Xbox so that I have somewhere to backup my important files and store films and music, plus he’s linked it into the home network so I can control the world from my PC (well almost!). Clever bugger (lad)…….

He has another job, still within the same company but with more prospects plus training in new CAD packages which the company are paying for.

We went for a meal with Marc to a lovely bastide town called Bassoues, the meal was excellent and very cheap. The picture shows the covered market at night, which the more observant among you may have realised!

Our friends Rob and June came down from their holiday home in Monségur to stay for a few days. We took them to La Mongie ski resort as we thought we would go on the cable car to the Pic du Midi. Unfortunately the clouds spoilt that idea and the temperature at the Col du Tourmalet (above La Mongie) was only 1 degree C! Yesterday (27th September), the first snow of the season fell in the higher mountains

New! Thought For The Blog… (Jan calls me Victor Meldrew, so I decided I had better have a moan about something on each blog update)Why is it, when I meet a 4×4 vehicle on a narrow road, it is always me who has to take to the grass verge so we can pass? You would think the tosser (person) in the 4×4 could put 2 wheels on the verge without any fear of losing traction. I guess he/she/it doesn’t realise the thing has off road ability, as, like 99% of 4×4s drivers, they’ve never let their vehicle see a blade of grass under its wheels. Here endith this moan, but I’ve got plenty more where that came from!

Anyway, enough of this bollocks (excellent blog) more updates soon(ish)…

Nearly 3 month since the last update, three months! Sorry (as usual). We’ve had crap weather and good weather, unfortunately the crap seems to have outweighed the good until the last 3 weeks. It has not been particularly cold but unseasonably wet, with more overcast days than clear days. The vegetable plot is not doing very well, not sure why but probably need a few trailer loads of cow poo dug in this winter to improve things next year. More bloody digging!
The only things that are really flourishing are the weeds, if I could sell them I’d be a rich man! The grass is pretty rampant as well, it has to be cut at least once a week, but to keep it really looking good, twice a week would be better.
The fruit trees have turned out to be a huge disappointment this year, after a promising start a late cold snap buggered everything up, so whereas last year we had about 10 wheelbarrow loads of fallers, this year we’ll be lucky to get 10 apples. There were 3 pears but the bugs have eaten 2 of them. If we were dependant on the garden for self sufficiency in fruit and veg we would be bloody starving by now!

We were a little upset to find out that a new house was to be built opposite us on the other side of the road, but having met our new neighbour to be (Bruno) and seen where the house will be etc we are looking forward to him moving in. I’m sure my French will improve once he has taken up residence. He is 35, and will be building the house himself for his wife and stepdaughter. He hopes to have it completed by early next year….

Our hover mower (well, Pats old one) had been playing silly buggers for a while, I’d bought a few new bits, made a few bits in true Bodgit and Buggerit style and generally nursed it along each time I’ve used it but it finally went tits up when the exhaust bolts sheared. We are now the proud owners of a new Macillister mower. Hope it lasts as long as the old one!

Jan’s Dad and her 2 sisters (Fiona and Mary) came out for 2 weeks in May; they all helped with the gardening, which was much appreciated. We had a few days out as well, when the weather permitted, which wasn’t as often as we had hoped. Mary was really taken with the area and would love to move here if she could, another convert to the French way of life!

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Although it has been very difficult to get over losing JJ, the arrival of Daisy has helped to take our minds off our loss. She is 12 months old and belonged to Polly’s Dad, he is returning to England and couldn’t take both his dogs with him.
Daisy is a Labrador-Whippet cross, mostly whippet in build though. She can run faster than Rokxy, much to Rokxy’s annoyance! When she can’t catch Daisy she yaps and barks at her, presumably telling her to slow down!
She is much more genteel than Rokxy, I call them Beauty and the Beast or Lady and the Tramp, you can guess who is who….

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