Rob and Jan

Snake with legs

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 Monsէur 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)?

Comments:

1.

Hi Rob and Jan, discovered your blog whilst looking for info on Madiran where we have recently purchased a village house. Hope you are both well and have not given up on occasional update since I found your articles informative (local things to do…) helpful(car registration, carte grise…)and amusing. Being french myself, but having lived in the UK for the past 23 years,I don’t have a problem with language. But, there stops the easy part!I have read a few of your remarks to my husband and we giggled at your observations on french drivers(4×4 and regular).Michael definitely identified with your “love” of french vide-greniers. May be you just need to be female to realise how great they are!!!
All the best with your french life.
Regards,Frederique.
PS:If you get the opportunity read “A piano to the Pyrenees” by Tony Hawks.

Comment by Frederique — April 27, 2008