Well almost the end of November

So near the end I really didn't think I'd have anything worth writing about but of course I didn't reckon on sod's law being alive and thriving nearby.

I was minding my own business, writing e-mails to friends when I heard a horribly ominous hissing sound coming from the bathroom behind me. I was horrified to see a fountain of water gushing out from under the basin. Panicked, I rushed down and turned off the mains and thanked God that we only have floorboards and no plasterboard on the ceiling so the water just trickled down to the floor. I have to admit that although I consider myself pretty independent, I have no real knowledge of the intricacies of plumbing or electrics (so I'm sure that'll be next) and I wasn't about to start experimenting now. As luck would have it, my nearest friends in times of need and emergencies are in the UK at the moment, so I phoned the next lucky couple. As much as I hate the 'needy single female' syndrome, at times like this I have no pride.

My dear friends Maggie & Alistair are Scottish salts of the earth, I can't praise them highly enough, always ready to help and this was no exeption. Alistair arrived, reccied the problem and incredibly enough had a spare flexi hose to substitute for the leaking one. Within 1 hour, job done and water back on. That it might have happened when I was out for a few hours doesn't bare thinking about. I have to fight the impulse to turn the water off every time I leave the house.

On a lighter note, the last few nights of frost have finally reduced the huge rampant morning glory outside to mush and I've had to take it all down as the jasmin beneath really did deserve a chance to breath. Next year I'll plant morning glory again but on the trellis bordering the first gite as it will really give privacy to it's patio and hopefully the jasmin will go forth and multiply.
In all it's glory

To the end of November

September – November

So much has happened since my last blog; I’m still trying to catch up. Can’t be sure it’s all in chronological order but I’ll do my best.

I found we had a short window of opportunity to get away for a few days as my son was around to take care of things between 3 lots of bookings. So we did the changeovers on Saturday 17th September and went off to visit friends who have also upped sticks and moved to France. They are located near Agen and had invited us to spend a few days with them off-season when Ian had helped them with their pool area earlier in the year. Yes, they are gite owners too. It was perfect timing too as it meant that my son could stay in our place and not rough it in a tent as both my gites were rented out that week.

We made our way south early on Sunday morning, had lunch on the beach at La Rochelle then by passed Bordeaux by taking the Libourne road and reached Clairac in the early evening. As we were due back on Friday night for Ian’s changeover (my rentals were finished) we decided to make the most of our time and sightsee every day and my God did we pack it in. Monday we went to Villeneuve sur lot via a lot of beautiful villages but found, as it seems everywhere in France, that Mondays are not good – everything is closed. Still we returned by a different route and managed to enjoy the countryside as the weather was fantastic, almost too hot to do a lot of walking around. Tuesday, I followed Ian around the local golf course and explored some more. On Wednesday I’d heard that Agen had a market, unfortunately we didn’t manage to find it and eventually drove over the Garonne to visit Nerac. Agen’s prunes may be the best but I was les than impressed with the city, however I don’t suppose a couple of hours is anywhere near long enough to form a true opinion.
We got to Nerac still in time for lunch and found a lovely restaurant opposite the city museum. We also found that there was a boat tour still operating, we had almost given up as all the others seemed to be seasonal and firmly closed for the winter. But it was not to be as they wouldn’t budge with less than 8 passengers and there were only 5 to be found. So much for my theory that if the operators extended the season they would still have business.

The boat trip that wasn't to be.


We decided that we’d leave on Thursday and travel to another location that Ian had worked in which was kind of on our way home. We went through Bergerac, stopped for a break in Perigueux and Limoges reaching our destination of Valencay just north of Chateauroux by early evening. Spent the night with another friend and after yet more sightseeing, Valencay, Chinon, Saumur (Chateau closed until next year) and a very strange troglodyte home we crossed the Loire at Angers. Big mistake, it had to be the first traffic jam we’d encountered since leaving the UK and it was a lulu. It took us nearly 2 hours to get out of Angers and by 9pm we were home. Great trip but totally exhausting.

Meanwhile my son and his girlfriend Kerry had been looking for work to tide them over until they could take up their winter season jobs in the Alps. Except for a bit of labouring there was nothing on offer and their already low morale hit rock bottom when Mish fell ill. For 2 weeks he suffered intermittent fevers, sweats, headaches and general fatigue, eventually after two lots of blood tests and a great deal of anxiety he was diagnosed as having glandular fever. This put paid to all their plans, even when the symptoms went, Mish wouldn’t be able to work for quite a few months in order to allow his body to fully recuperate. After a great deal of thought, we decided that the best place for him to do so would be with his father in Saudi Arabia. There he would have guaranteed care, no stress of having to work to keep himself alive before he was fit enough to safely do so and at the same time he could around for potential jobs. However, it would still be a while before he was fit enough to travel and his father had to arrange to somehow smooth his way there.

On the 9th October, well into the bonfire season, Ian decided to help me clear the field and set a couple of fires going. As my old British car is still lodged in the corner, I did say he should be careful as there was still petrol in the tank – famous last words ‘don’t worry, I’m in control’ - well the car didn’t go up in smoke but the neighbour’s hedge did. It was horrific how quickly the fire caught and spread, it wasn’t even a windy day but unfortunately we hadn’t had enough rain to make a difference and the hedge was tinder dry underneath. The next thing I know, Ian is yelling for me to call the Pompiers (fire brigade), Mish and Kerry are filling anything they can lay their hands on with water and I’m holding the hose on the tap for dear life as Ian tries to extinguish the blaze. Later friends said they could see the mushroom of smoke from quite a distance away. Luckily the Pompiers arrived quite quickly and put it all out, they were very pleasant about it all and when we derided ourselves as the ‘crazy English’ they said many a Frenchman had made the same mistake. 1st October is officially the date from which you can light bonfires but one is supposed to use one’s discretion as to whether it’s actually safe to do so. The Gendarmes arrived soon after and it occurred to me that this wasn’t quite the way I’d envisioned myself getting to know the neighbours. However, they were also really nice about what was left of their hedge, I felt really awful because the couple who actually live there are very old and their daughter said that her father was extremely ill and in fact he died 2 days later. I just hope that the commotion didn’t hasten his departure. Luckily my insurance did cover this and now I’m awaiting the arrival of the loss adjusters from both their and my insurance companies as the claim seems to me a bit OTT - €2500! Quite a lot to replace a few conifers, thank goodness my excess is only €167.

Ian and I attended M. Taillandier’s funeral and were amazed by the turnout, the church was filled to the gunnels. How wonderful to be so well thought of in a community.

As if that wasn’t enough, I noticed that Simba was scratching his ears to the point of drawing blood and took him to the vet. The vet diagnosed a fungal infection and prescribed an ear wash and antifungal drops to be administered daily. The first went in with no trouble but the after the second dose, Simba totally lost his sense of balance. He was like a drunk on the high seas, complete vertigo, unable to cross the room without falling over. I took him back to the vets, and was told to continue with the drops but not the wash. By the end of the week I was really worried as there was no improvement, he wasn’t eating, he was falling down the stairs although I’d put his food, water and loo on the first floor as he seemed to prefer living under the eves. He was a pitiful sight to behold. At the next visit to the vets 4 days later, I was told to stop the medication, this time on looking in his ear, she’d found that there looked to be a tiny tear in the side of the ear drum and of course that’s where the drops were ending up. In the following week, he gradually improved and now 2 weeks on, only looses balance when he shakes his head and the vet assures me that even that will eventually be back to normal. The downside of all this is that he was a dreadfully fussy eater pre France, on arrival here. He appeared to have turned over a new leaf much to my delight and positively relished Lidl’s best but no more …. He’s back to his old ways and I’m still trying to put the meat back on his bones so it’s the a la Carte menu again.

In the throes of all this, Ian left to make some money in order to complete his cottage’s extension but will be back for Christmas and New Year. Mish and Kerry left for the UK and eventually Jeddah with his father and so now I’m all alone with just Simba for company.

April to September Update

I thought starting a blog was probably the best way of continuing the updates without major amendments to the website. I have started where we left off back in April just to close the gap, this was to have been posted on the website but never quite made it. So here goes, hope it's not too long winded:

April seems to be light years away and I wish all the more that I’d kept some sort of diary. Our various guests have come and gone, all having had great holidays and all very impressed with our achievement. The most voiced comment was that the photos don’t do the gites justice and the reality is so much better than was expected. It is lovely to hear people’s praises for our gites as having lived with them this long, we now tend to take them for granted and lose sight of the extent of the fruits of our labours. Having reaffirmation on a regular basis is like a frequent pat on the back for a job well done.

My ‘star’ rating inspection for the tourist board took place back in June and ‘incredulous’ is describing my reaction to it mildly. This was for the Loire Atlantique Tourist Board and basically I was told that to get just 1 star, I still had to put in electric shaver sockets in all bathrooms, black out blinds or black out curtain linings in all bedrooms and wait for it …….. steamers in the kitchens …. , yes - steamers - doesn’t matter if they are electric or stove top but can’t be the perforated metal umbrella ones that fit all saucepans. For 2 stars add French TV arial sockets even if you don’t provide TVs. I hate to think what I’d need for 3 stars. To add insult to injury, I thought the inspection was free as it was in aid of local tourism but no such luck, I had to pay 70 euros for the privilege (35 a gite). I was also shocked that there was no need for me to have any safety measures in place to gain stars therefore my smoke alarms and fire extinguishers got me no brownie points at all.

The summer turned out to be a very long and hot one with hardly any rain so I dread to think what my water bill will be like as having planted my veggies I was determined to keep them alive. At least we didn’t have to mow the grass very often and it’s only now after a couple of recent night’s rain that there’s a green tinge to it. I harvested a great crop of beans – French & runner, I must remember to stagger my planting next year as we were drowning in beans at one time. The potatoes are doing well, and should see me well into winter. I tried cauliflowers but should have cut them as babies because it seemed like the next time I looked they were yellow, manky and being eaten by a multitude of bugs. The mange tout and sugar snap peas were disappointing, not much and not for very long, again I should have staggered the sowing. Tomatoes still going strong and I must find the yellow variety I tried for next year as they are delicious.

The plan this autumn is to clear the field and divide it in half. One half to be grassed over for guest use and the other will be my allotment. At the moment my younger son is staying with us and I’m using this slave labour to have all the self seeded/rooted saplings dug out and come the 1st October we’ll have us a great bonfire. I’ve been spraying the other undesirables (brambles, nettles & thistles) with systemic weedkiller all spring and early summer but it got so hot (40c on my patio), I couldn’t bring myself to go out there during July and August and when I did later, I was mortified to see that there was a sea of seedheads all raring to go forth and multiply again. This is where I could really use a flame thrower.

The swallows did come back and even though they were somewhat
confused by the disappearance of their nest at first, they renovated
an old one in the barn and raised a new family, they then built a brand new nest on the next rafter along (better view/post code?) and had another family. They are all airborne now and will soon leave us for another year. They’ll be able to return to their nests next year as I’m sure we won’t have the cash to start on the barn for some time to come.

Another recent addition to our family in France was Simba, our cat. He’d lived with my son in Plymouth for the last 2 years while he (son not cat) was at uni. Now Mish has finished and has had to vacate his digs, Simba added another country to his repertoire. A much travelled cosmopolitan cat, he’s lived in Jeddah, Bognor Regis, Plymouth and now Guemene Penfao. He appears to have settled in well and we hope to have the pleasure of his company for many years to come.

We did manage to go and see a bit more of the surrounding area and I think Ian’s found his next project – should only take him about 6 months. Guemene Penfao had a lovely festival celebrating its Celtic heritage, there was a huge parade of representatives of various towns dressed in their regional costumes and who ever said that the French take themselves too seriously obviously had never seen the two lovely ‘ladies’ dressed in their Breton best.