our place in France Chapter 100

Last week was a really bad week for me as perhaps you may have gathered. This week though has seen an improvement all round and the fact that we could sit out on the verandah for lunch today and bask in the sun has put a much better light on our affairs. It did make me think though, that when I get to the stage where I start off-loading all my negativity on to my writing, it may well be time to stop – writing, that is. If we go anywhere spectacular or do anything out of the ordinary, I can always start up again. After all, in 278 weekly chapters, spread over nine years, I have only ever had two comments and only two other people have ever acknowledged having read what I have written. Definitely time to stop. I am even starting to bore myself now and being the end of winter there is very little to brag about in the photographic sense so this will be the last chapter of this story.

Thank you to all of you who DID read a chapter each week boring or not – I appreciate your loyalty and perseverance, and for staying with us on this journey of ours.

If I start up again I will send out a note to that effect and hope you all get it.

With regards to you all,

The Cannyvanners

Our place in France Chapter 99

If you had asked me in the middle of the week how things were going, you would have received a very negative reply. It was about then that I had decided that France really didn’t like me and was wearing me down bit by bit. Because, since we have been here, I have been beset by strange and unusual ailments, which have made me quite miserable at times. To start with it was the dreadful chilblains that I got when we first arrived. Having never lived anywhere that experienced such cold, I was obviously a prime victim, but no-one warned either of us. So, for the next year, I had to put up with missing toenails and the discomfort of wearing socks (to keep my feet warm) and shoes which rubbed on the sensitive part of my toes. Happily that is now a thing of the past and my nails have almost entirely grown back.

In the same year, I had quite a bad fall and although I didn’t break anything, something got shaken up and after a while I started having severe pain in my hips and lower back. I was prescribed a number of physiotherapy sessions but although I religiously went, I was less than satisfied with the results. I am well aware that I am a dreadful patient and that I always want to be cured immediately but I would have settled for less, if there had been any obvious results, but there hadn’t been. However, they say time is a great healer and after a while I really thought my condition had improved without any outside help. That was ignorance thinking and a month later after spending a couple of weeks in the most deliciously soft and bouncy beds each night, I was right back to square one. When the pain became almost unbearable and I was in danger of becoming a pain-killer addict, I thought that it would be a good idea to get some help, but not from my original physio. After asking around we found another person who turned out to be just what I needed and after only two sessions there is already improvement.

In between all these strange ailments it was suddenly discovered that my eyesight was failing and that there was treatment available but that it had to be started promptly or I would lose my sight altogether. It was a real wake-up call but I had no option but to go through with it. In the end, it sounded much more horrendous than it actually was, thank goodness. I mean who would willingly have injections into the one’s eyeball? But as I said, it turned out to be not so bad at all and also turned out to be a fairly routine procedure with at least twenty patients arriving every Friday morning and being dealt with in a very matter-of-fact way, reminiscent of a sausage machine! After six injections into each eye, spread over about five months, I think I can honestly say that there is improvement here too, for which I am very grateful. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting when I went to the eye clinic on Tuesday afternoon for an assessment after the twelve injections. I bounced into the consulting room fairly confident that I would have an eye test and a new pair of spectacles would be prescribed but things didn’t go quite like that. A scan of my eye showed that there was still room for further improvement and another two injections were ordered with another assessment in May. Hopefully then, I will  be given new glasses and be able to read easily again. It will be such a relief.

So, you see, in the middle of the week I was fairly down-hearted but with good reason. However, by the end of the week my spirits had lifted again and there was once again light at the end of the tunnel. If the weather would now just warm up a bit things would be wonderful again.

I apologise to all my regular readers for burdening you all with my moans and groans but at least you now all know why I sometimes don’t seem my usual sparkly self!

In spite of all this, we both still love living here and would not have things any other way. We couldn’t wish for better or kinder neighbours and we love the thought that at least half our family is within reach. We still miss our friends a lot but are slowly making new ones although they will never be like the friends we had in South Africa. Our door is always open for visitors, don’t forget.

Our place in France Chapter 98

Spring has definitely sprung! We have noticed numerous trees with white blossom which a local friend of ours says is a wild flowering plum. Also, in this last week a lot of other fruit trees have suddenly come into bloom and the countryside is beginning to look really pretty. The rest of the trees around us are also just starting to get their new leaves and have a pale green cloud of colour around their tops. We know that within a few weeks they will all be fully ‘clothed’ and then a lot of scenery disappears for another year.

During the week we took a drive with a friend who is a builder of note, down to the Tarn, to view a house that Andre and Leigh had seen and liked. Our friend, Denis the builder, knows a lot about what needs to be done and how much the various jobs will cost, so he was there because the house was not entirely finished but after all the effort, it was decided that there was really too much to do and was going to cost too much, which the owners were not prepared to deduct off the selling price, so we have to wait for them, Leigh and Andre, to find something else.

Apart from that little bit of excitement, we had a quiet week until the weekend when Andre, Leigh and Cassidy came to spend a night with us. They brought the two dogs with them which made me a little nervous but they were very well behaved and the little Yorkie whose name, Puddles, aptly describes his level of house training, didn’t make a single puddle! Good dog!!

It was great to have a lot of people in the house for a change, although the noise level from the two girls got quite high at times. Courtney and Cassidy cooked for us on Saturday night and served a delicious three-course meal. We were all very impressed. Our main course of individual chicken, bacon and mushrooms pies, with vegetables, was preceded by a novel avocado and feta salad with parma ham and followed by a dessert of ice-cream and ‘Rice Crispie treats’ made of Rice Crispies and marshmallows. All very yum.

The weather during the week was unbelievable – sunny and blue skies but not yet really warm. And then over the weekend everything reverted to the horrid weather we seem to have been enduring for ages. Mind you, we had nothing like the freezing time the UK was having, thank goodness. I really feel that we have had our fair share of cold this year. Hopefully what is forecast for the week ahead is going to be the last cold burst and now that the plum trees are out and the plant selling marquees have made their appearance outside the supermarkets, warmer weather just has to be on the way.

Our place in France Chapter 97

It seems to me that we have reached that stage in our life in France where there is only something of interest to comment on in every second week and that the intervening weeks are pretty mundane. So, as this is an in-between week, there is really little news. The weather, always reliable as a topic, is at long last warming up a bit and we have had a whole two days of blue-ish skies and (some) sunshine. The thermometer balanced on the windowsill outside has discovered that there are degrees above the red zero line and has actually risen to 18 yesterday and 16 today. Positively tropical! There is definitely a touch of Spring in the air although we are only too aware of the pitfalls of ditching the winter woollies too soon. The well-known British saying tell us to ‘Cast not a clout ere May be out’ and with that in mind we will just enjoy the sunny days as they appear. I have to say that although the days are sunny, there is a still an icy wind blowing in from Siberia and we will be delighted when it stops.

To help in spreading the warmth through our house a little more we were hugely adventurous and bought a Stove Fan off Amazon this week which was delivered on Friday. This is a remarkably simple gadget that we have heard of before and saw in a friends’ house last week. Made of cast iron, the fan stands on top of the wood-burner and as the hot air rises and the stove top becomes hotter, the fan begins to rotate and blow extra heat into the room. It is a bit more complicated than that with bi-metal strips and a small electric motor, but it appears to be a very simple thing and it works! Anything that heats without using more plug-in electricity is a real boon. In fact anything that makes the house warmer without using more electricity is a boon!  Of course, now that the days, and nights are warming up a little, we don’t need this so much anymore but it is nice to have for that expected cold snap later on.

We expect to see the first signs of spring appearing on the trees and shrubs soon with the first one being the lovely bush with white blossoms whose name I have never discovered. All I know is that is the earliest flowering tree in the area and that very soon after that we can expect to see signs of the various fruit trees showing their pinks and mauves, along with the pale green of leaves appearing. A daffodil bulb that I ‘missed’ last year when a took up all the others has made itself known by suddenly pushing up through a tumble of mesembryanthemums and will make an interesting show. I also have a hyacinth that has decided we should really get on with the year and is sticking up about 5 cms above the ground. The mint plants survived unaffected in spite of being frosted and snowed on, but I expected nothing less. We fought the mint in our garden in Onrus for all of the twelve years that we were there and never got rid of it. Also a miniature rose plant has managed to come through unscathed which surprised me, but a pleasant surprise for all that. Also the day lilies that we didn’t dig out at all have suddenly made their appearance and have multiplied ten-fold. They are going to make a great show this year. However, as soon as the ‘Nursery garden tents’ start appearing outside the big supermarkets we will be there to get some new geraniums and a few basil plants to replace what didn’t survive. Every year at the official start to spring which I think is the 1^st May, these huge marquees are erected outside the supermarkets and are filled with everything you might want, or need, to have the best garden in the village. French people are very garden-proud and I have to admit, it shows. Towns and villages are always decorated with flower boxes and beds full of colour so we feel that we have to do likewise, as far as we can.

Our place in France Chapter 96

I really apol0gise for there being no chapter of the blog last SundayMonday but things will become clearer as you read on.

The second week of our holiday was lovely – as we knew it would be. Another cosily warm house and delicious food prepared by Tilly. What more could we ask for? Better weather, I suppose, but this is northern hemisphere winter so we must just accept what we get and hunker down until it is over. A bonus, in a way, was the snow storm we had on Tuesday which dumped about 5 cms of snow everywhere. As this is almost unheard of in that area of France, traffic was battling and when Pieter and Tilly went to do some shopping in the morning, they passed a number of cars that had slid off the road into the ditch. I think the towing service was kept busy all day. Little Jack though thought it was marvellous of course, and was a keen starter when building a snow man was suggested. The three men braved the icy cold to build a presentable ‘Snowy’ and then Jack pelted it with snow balls and knocked half its face off!

The snow lasted all day and probably half the night, but by morning most of it had melted and by midday there was virtually nothing to show for the beautiful snowy vistas of the previous day. I was told off by the family for having said that we are jinxed whenever we go somewhere new, because it always invites weather disruptions of epic proportions, after which Tilly was brave enough to say ‘Oh well, it is just as well you are coming to us because nothing really disastrous happens here’. Ha Ha!

While we were in that part of France, we took a drive one day to look up some old friends and had a chat-filled afternoon catching up on all the news. It was really such fun to drive around the areas that we know so well and to recognise places that we had seen before.

But there is down-side to every up-side, and in my case it was the wonderfully soft beds both at Constant and at Pieter and Tilly’s house. Soft beds are not good for bad backs and by the time we left there I could barely walk, and certainly couldn’t walk without a walking stick. It was a really depressing thought that although I had done some walking while we were away, my back and hips had given way again. Which is why, by the time we arrived back home again, the last thing on my mind was writing the blog, or even an apology for there not being one.

The good news is that after nearly a week in my own firm bed, I have almost ditched the walking stick and am feeling much, much better. The moral of the story is that one should always take good care of one’s self even if it means foregoing a soft springy bed in favour of a harder one.

All things being equal, there should be another chapter at the end of this week and then we will be back to normal.

Our place in France Chapter 95

After a rather long day for all on Saturday which included fetching Carol from the airport at Bergerac, we thought a quiet day would be good for all of us. Andre had to leave again at lunch-time in any case, so the morning was spent dodging the chilly showers and inspecting the site. The girls were delighted to find an enormous free library of DVD’s and games, a snooker table, ping-pong table and heated swimming pool. Also a sauna which they decided to try at some time. For a start, however, they  went for a swim in the heated pool after supper which was something of a novelty.

On Monday, although the weather had not really improved much we just had to get out and about. The resort very thoughtfully provides all sorts of information about things to do and to see, amongst them a list of suggested sightseeing routes. We chose Route 2 and set off on a circular tour which took in numerous charming little old villages as well. This is definitely the area of chateaux and we were treated to a different one around almost every corner. The first one was in the small village of Clerans which has a semi ruined castle in its center. As our guide book didn’t have much to say about it, I went to the Mayor’s office to find out if they had any information but all I discovered was that it is privately owned and there is simply nothing written about it’s history. A shame really. Could this be a niche waiting to be filled? When we walked around the castle, we found that one section of it had been restored and was actually inhabited but none of us were brave enough to knock on the door to find out more.

From Clerans we drove down to the River Dordogne to the spot where there is  vast barrage and a hydro-electric plant. You may think it was a boring  thing to do but in fact it turned out to be rather interesting. With the river being in flood, there was a massive amount of water flowing through the turbines and spurting out of the exit pipes. It was a magnificent sight!

Driving on we visited Lalinde and since it was about lunchtime, we looked for somewhere to eat. After lunch we retraced our steps to Couze where there was a paper factory we had decided to visit. Apparently the Dordogne has perfect water for making acid-free paper and a number of factories started their business up and down its banks. Sadly with the commercial world growing larger by the day, the demand for handmade paper was soon overshadowed by paper that was thin, smooth and  sharp-edged.. One by one they fell away and the buildings fell into disrepair. Today, one is a museum while the other is still a working mill. Unfortunately, without realising it, we visited the museum mill which closes for several months of each year, February being one of them. Anyway, we had a good look around and were amazed at the good state of the buildings.

Going on from there, we visited two chateaux – Lanquais and Banne. Neither are open to the public but are well worth seeing. Lanquais is unusual in that one half of the building is a sturdy and very solid construction and is well fortified, while the other half is full of decoration and is a direct contrast. Banne, on the other hand, is enormous and solid and makes a bold statement from its position on top of a rock. Considering that it was built by a  bishop, it somehow demonstrates just how wealthy the clergy were in the old days.

The following day was again grey and miserable so we stayed home for most of it. The office is well-supplied with DVD’s and the girls have had a ball on the days we have stayed in. In the afternoon, Carol and Neels and I went for a short drive, just round the back of the hill the resort is on. Called Lapeyrousse it has little more than a church and a few large buildings that we subsequently found out were a disused hospital and a retirement home for retired clergy. When we showed interest in the church which had an unusual dome on the roof instead of the more common steeple, and old man came wandering over to us and started giving us a tour of the property. He was simply charming and  what he had to say was really interesting. We are so glad to have stopped there.

Hooray! The next day was sunny so we hopped into the car and set out on a huge circular drive. Not far from here the Dordogne River makes two huge loops which are very spectacular but difficult to photograph. To see the first one we drove up to a viewsite above a town called Tremolat to admire the sweep of the (overfull) river; then down again to water level and a town called Limeul where all was tight shut so no lunch stop there. We could see evidence of flooding there and no doubt the day before had been a nail-biting one for the inhabitants as the high water mark was almost up to the lowest houses. As the town happens to be at the confluence of two large rivers – the Dordogne and the Lezere – and both were flooding, there was still a great deal of water coming down. An interesting fact is that the bridges over the two rivers are at right angles to each other and can be  seen together. So we had to drive on to the next town which was La Bugue.

Unfortunately, as so often happens when touring out of season, a lot of places were closed for a few weeks and the few that weren’t were already full. Finally we found a delightful place which served both a French menu and an Asiatic one. They had a table for us and with relief we sat down and hoped that the food would be good. We needn’t have worried – it was divine and if we can we will return before the end of the week.

On the way home, we visited the correct paper mill, which was worth every minute. The owner of the paper shop was about to leave but stayed on to give us a private tour around even to the places the public is not usually allowed to visit. He was absolutely delightful and we must have spent almost an hour listening to him and peering into the nooks and crannies of the mill. When we left he gave us an invitation to visit at any time in the future.

The we went to Beaumont which is another charming village with an enormous fortified church in the centre, which towers over the rest of the town. It was getting late and there was an icy wind blowing so no-one was very keen on seeing any more sights but we quickly went on to Monpazier which is a typical bastide town with an enormous square and market place in the centre. It also has some ancient grain measures in the market place as permanent museum exhibits. By now the wind was positively freezing and we could barely stay outside for more than a few minutes. This is definitely a place to visit on another occasion.

Saturday was the end of our week and we sadly packed up everything and loaded the car. Carol was leaving from Bergerac and we had decided to explore the town before seeing her off. What an ancient and fascinating place it is. We saw the statue of Cyrano de Bergerac who in fact has very little to do with the actual town, but is impressive all the same. We also saw one of the seven old hydro-electric plants that are scattered around the town and provide some of the electricity required. We admired the  ancient houses that are of a timber construction with spaces between the timbers filled with tiny bricks. The streets through the old town are all pedestrian walkways and are paved with beautifully laid brick. Little twisty streets run off from the main road through the town and just invite one to explore. Lunch at a handy creperie  and then it was time to go off to the airport.

What a simply lovely week we have had and what an amazing introduction to the Dordogne. We shall definitely have to return.

Our place in France Chapter 94

Quite a busy week this time although hardly eventful. We spent a lrge portion of the time getting ready to go away for two weeks – something I am really looking forward to. Apart from the fact that we will be in heated accommodation which will be amazing, we will also have both the grand-daughters with us and I will be seeing my sister again.

The week didn’t start off all that auspiciously as we had the heaviest snowfall of the season on Tuesday and we also received a call from the school on Tuesday telling us that Courtney was not well and would we please come a fetch her. That wouldn’t have been a problem normally, except that the night before had been exceptionally cold and the car would not start without the help of the neighbours car and jump leads. There had also been a plan to go and fetch more firewood that day but by the time we had sorted the other problems the weather had put a stop to that plan.

However, by Wednesday we were back on track and I was desperately trying to get washing done and dried to take away with us. I described before what a tedious business  it is, but , one way and another we managed to end up with enough clean and dry clothes to take away for two weeks.

As the first week was to be self-catering, we also had to buy in some groceries and to make a large pot of curry which I then froze to take with us. We also made a double batch of ever-popular rusks and hoped they wouldn’t get finished on the first day!

On Friday evening Courtney arrived back from school by bus as usual and Andre arrived with Cassidy. We had arranged for him to come with us and spend the first night in our self-catering cottage, and so the next morning we set off in convoy for St Felix la Villadeix in the Dordogne. We had asked our GPS to select the shortest route, forgetting that she always ends up taking short-cuts through farmlands and making use of less than desirable roads. Anyway, it was very scenic, but I doubt that we would choose that route again. Quite near the end of the trip we were expecting to drive through a small town and then our destination was about ten kilometres further on. Hoever, when we got to that point, there was a large notice informing us that the route was ‘barree’ – closed. Andre and Courtney who were in one car, had found an alternative route along the river, so off we went again, only to find our way barred yet again, this time by the river which had burst its banks and completely inundated the road. This was obviously the result of the heavy rains of earlier in the month, during which Paris, among other cities, was flooded. We thought we had had rain but we had nothing like this. It took us little while but eventually we found a way around the obstruction and could finally get to our destination. This was the Village of Constant, a Holiday Property Bond resort. The company bought a whole village some years ago and spent time restoring the houses and doing the gardens and now it is perfectly charming, with each house or part thereof, becoming accommodation for the members and their guests. Although we explored some of this area when we travelled in the caravan we haven’t ever been to this exact part of the Dordogne , so we are looking forward to getting out and about.

Our place in France Chapter 93

When we moved from the Witwatersrand to Knysna it was like a breath of fresh air. Country living for the family and work just a few steps away across the road for Neels. How much better could a young family ask for. If only we could have known that what was to happen soon, was a taste of things to come. Within a few months of our arrival and totally out of season, it snowed the workers in the saw-mill across the road all rushed to Neels’ office in panic asking what this strange stuff was on their overalls. They had never seen snow at close range before, and some of the workers were in their 50’s.

We bought a caravan in 1976 and decided to try it out by spending a long weekend in a campsite on the banks of the Knysna Lagoon. As we pulled the ‘van out of the garage to start packing it, a fine drizzle began. Not deterred by a minimal bit of water, and looking forward to the weekend, we carried on, in spite of the rain getting harder all the time. We drove down to the campsite and set up camp in spite of the rather soggy conditions, and spent the night listening to the rain drumming on the roof. In the morning, I had to go to work and as I set off up the road that looked down on to the lagoon, I was shocked to see that our usually beautiful, blue lagoon was a dirty brown colour and was dotted with floating tree-trunks. Those parts of the town which were particularly low-lying were now under water and the streets were littered leaves and ripped off branches. So great was the ferocity of the rain and storm that some houses further upstream from the lagoon had been flooded to the level of the eaves and a few smaller buildings had been swept away. In our relatively sheltered camp site we had been unaware of any of this apart from the incessant rain. We were later told that it was the most rain to fall in one place for about 30 years.

Some years later, we moved to Onrus River driving down with fully laden cars to an empty house. Our furniture followed us down and duly arrived the following morning. By evening practically everything had found a place although the garage was still full of boxes to be unpacked. The only items still without a home inside the house were two tables one, a fairly heavy pine table and the other an enamel kitchen table. Both fairly large. During the night a wind came up and as we lay in bed wondering what we had let ourselves in for and if the roof was going to stay on. The following morning, both tales had been upended by the wind but we were lucky – some houses actually did lose their roofs. ‘Wow’, said neighbours and friends, ‘That was the worst wind we have had in at least twenty years’!

So now we are in France and enduring the coldest weather we have ever experienced. Our neighbours had assured us that this little piece of France is in the ‘Golden triangle’ where it seldom, if ever, snows, floods or has strong gales. Oh really?! What is this white stuff that has been falling in dribs and drabs all week?. We are not alone though, as the whole of France is in the icy grip of  a really vicious winter. Poor Paris had floods and then snow all in one week. And it hasn’t snowed like that in Paris for thirty years! Do you wonder that we think we are jinxed?? Every time we try a new venture there is a weather disaster. We will not be going anywhere or trying anything new again for quite a while.

Our hibernation plans are going quite well. So far we have had two days when we didn’t have to venture further than the bathroom all day and it was blissful. We are definitely going to do more of it.

Our place in France Chapter 92

I think that next Winter, or, in fact for the next two weeks, we should go into real hibernation. Just get into bed one night and not get out again for two weeks! There are a few logistical problems with this idea, I know, seeing that we do not have the physiology of polar bears but we are prepared to deal with those problems. It just seems to be the only sensible way to deal with this climate. There was no blog last week because there was simply nothing to write about. I could, I suppose have told you about our trip to the supermarket to get eggs, butter, bread and cheese and other essentials but that would have been far too boring. Although, I could have told you how much nicer it was in the car (with the heater on full blast) than in the house before we get the fire going. Only trouble with that is, of course, the getting out at the shops!

What I am really trying to say is that this week is not too different and we have been nowhere of note and done nothing interesting. In fact, we had a trial run at hibernation on Monday and on Thursday staying upstairs in our cosy bedroom until three or four o’clock in the afternoon. It works extraordinarily well! We have everything to make coffee up there, and a supply of home-made rusks, as well as our books if we feel like reading or the TV if we want to watch for a while Apart from real food, there is no reason to venture downstairs at all. The only problem is that we are always worried that someone will come and knock on the front door and then one of us will have to go down and find out what they want. Not good!

Isn’t it amazing how accustomed one can become to a sound that occurs regularly. I’m talking about the church bells that are only about 30 metres away from our bedroom window From ten at night until seven the next morning, they are silent, but at seven o’clock they go all out to wake everyone up Seven strikes for the hour, followed by three sets of three strikes, followed by sixty-four strikes to let all the good Catholics know that it is time for the morning service and they should be getting up, or rather, up already. The sixty-four appears to be variable and we have wondered if it is more to do with the time taken to do all those strikes. Two minutes probably covers it and because our church has a single bell, it manages to fit a lot of sound into the time allowed. The end result is a bell pealing outside our window for approximately three minutes which should be enough to wake anyone. But, as I said, it is amazing how accustomed one can get to a sound which occurs regularly. As a result we sleep on blissfully for at least another hour and a half.

No pictures again this week for reasons given above, but take heart, we are going away for a week on the 17^th to a whole new area for us and will have more than enough pictures after that.

Our place in France

There is no blog this week, for which I apologise, but hopefully next week will have some news

Our place in France Chapter 91

It has rained every day this week and for the past two days it has rained continuously day and night. The surrounding countryside is becoming very soggy and fields are flooded in some areas. We only wish we could send some of it to Cape Town which is rapidly approaching Day Zero when they will run out of drinking water. We certainly don’t need quite so much here.

As a result our ventures to the great outside world have been limited to the very minimum – once to the chemist to pick up some tablets and once to get the gas bottle refilled – before scuttling back home to the warmth of the house. And yes, to those of you who know our house and how cold it can get, it was noticeably warmer than outside. Mind you, it was nice and warm in the car too, which is why we drove around a bit after picking up our tablets from the chemist, looking at the aftermath of days of rain. Everything is waterlogged and everything that even resembles a stream is running strongly. I am so glad we live on the top of a rise.

France has official sales twice a year, in January and June/July and there are some amazing bargains to be had, if you are looking for anything to buy. The sales cover all goods including foodstuffs, clothing and appliances, and the shops are crowded all the time as more items are brought out to add to the goods already on sale. It appears to us that many people save up their spending money just for the sales and then go mad. I saw a lady the other day with a whole trolley full of towels – she must have had twenty or more – but perhaps she runs a guest house and replaces her linen every time there are sales. It would certainly make sense.

The start of this week was a bad one for me. My computer was having a tantrum and the cursor kept leaping about so that I had to keep cutting out what I had just typed and paste it in where it should have been. It has done this previously but I thought we had overcome the problem. Then the computer and printer decided not to talk to each other and a few things that should have had attachments didn’t get them or only had half the attachment. When I had had enough of being messed around by a machine, I thought I would make a batch of rusks but was distracted half way through and ended up baking them on microwave for an hour! Needless to say the result could have been used in a building project Disaster!! I then gave up for the day and postponed all activities to the following day when I had more success. It must be all the damp, I think. My brain is becoming as soggy as the fields around 

Our place in France Chapter 90

I have often written about events ad other things that we find strange, odd and different about our life in France. Seldom have I listed any household chores which are different to the South African way of doing things. Take, for example, the simple matter of getting the washing dry in Winter. In South Afica it was a simple matter – do the washing on a sunny day (almost every day),, hang it outside on the line and collect it in again a few hours later, all perfectly dried. Here, the weather is not so co-operative. We wash when it becomes necessary because the dirty clothes basket is overflowing – quite often every second day if there are a lot of us in the house. After spin-drying, clothes etc are hung on a pull-up rail in the cellar which is dry but very cold. After a day or two, or when pushed by the next load of washing, that lot is moved up to an expanding rail in the dining room and after a another two days is moved again up to a wooden clothes horse in our bedroom which stands in front of a heather which is permanently on After a couple of days there, it can be removed, folded up and put away. That is a process over six to seven days as against the few hours in SA. Of course in Summer it is another story. Then, it is so hot and dry that I barely have time to fill the windy-dry with washing before the first things are dry. People ask us why  we don’t have a tumble dryer but the answer is simple – they gobble electricity at a vast rate and electricity is expensive here. It would have been nice to have had our old one here but I just know that the temptation to use it all the time would have been too great to resist. Also it was a very old one and newer driers are far more sophisticated, use less power and are designed to dry washing straight from the washing machine. Perhaps one day!

Apart from anything else, it must be good for us. Down the stairs to the cellar and back up with a basket of washing; up the stairs to the bedroom with a full basket and down again to the living room to carry on with daily life. Not quite the same as a five kilometre run, but then we wouldn’t attempt that anyway.

Having not one but two teenagers in the house for the past week has been, to say the least, interesting. They are so different in a lot of respects; so alike in others. One thing they have in common is their total addiction to their mobile phones. Goodness knows what they do on their phones all the time but it keeps them occupied. Cassidy attended school with Courtney for most of this past week and I think Cass found it slightly intimidating at first although Courtney’s friends soon made her feel welcome. At least she now has a feeling for the school system here, which takes a bit of getting used to. No lessons are shorter than an hour and are often two and three hours long. School starts at 8 am and finishes at 6pm but every Wednesday is free from 1 pm and weekends are free. Very little sport is organised by the school but scholars are free to join sporting clubs and associations, but membership of these is not free as is the schooling. There are no uniforms to wear and the pupils are allowed a remarkable amount of freedom both in and out of the classroom. I get the feeling that they are treated as adults far sooner than in SA, so that, by the time they leave school they are actually ready to face the world with confidence and a certain amount of sophistication. Or make that streetwisdom.

This week we hope to get back to our normal routine. We will be back to the usual three in the house and just the two of us during the week. This is the way we like to be although we are always ready to welcome guests.

During the past week, we have been receiving visits from various heating and double-glazing representatives. We are investigating the possibility of putting in a couple of reverse-cycle air conditioners as well as double-glazing the few windows that were never done. If one of them comes up with a reasonable quote we may be able to get a grant from the state for being eco-friendly, but we will have to wait and see. Meanwhile it is interesting to hear the differing ideas that the various chaps have about what they think is our best option. I have to admit that being warm without vast effort is very enticing but we also have to be able to survive financially afterwards too. It would be wonderful if our President would step down and let the next man get on with straightening out the country, as this might well improve the rate of exchange between the Rand and the Euro and make life a little easier for us. But if not, well, so be it.

Our place in France Chapter 89

Wishing all my readers a very happy New Year and all the very best in the year to come..

Here we are again, starting a new year, our third to be, in France. In the end, we didn’t have a white Christmas although it was certainly cold enough at times for snow to fall. Instead, we went down south to celebrate with Pieter and Tilly in their new house. It was a wonderful idea from all points of view – being a couple of hundred kilometres south, it was also a few degrees warmer and the house is centrally heated which was bliss. Tilly relay pushed the boat out for us and treated us to a lavish spread on Christmas Eve followed by an almost equally lavish spread on Christmas Day. We started with foie gras on slices of baguette which made me a bit apprehensive as I have only tasted it once and before and really didn’t like, but then it was the tinned variety. This time it was fresh and very tasty. I will certainly have it again if I get the chance. Her roast duck was superb – tender and juicy – and accompanied by numerous vegetables, among them some Jerusalem artichokes which I haven’t even seen for ages but which I love. We used to grow them in Rheenendal and I recall them being particularly delicious, as these were. These are the artichokes that grow under the ground and have a long above ground stalk surmounted b a bright yellow flower similar to a sunflower. I think they get their name from the French for sunflower (girasol) which has been corrupted by the non-French speakers to Jerusalem. This was followed by a hot goat’s cheese salad and then the cheese, and finally a Buche Noel which is a traditional cake which is similar to a Swiss roll but iced and decorated to look like a Yule Log. To wash this all down we managed to polish off a Magnum of champagne! Well…... there were six of us!

Next day we were treated to another large meal and it was only through our pleading that she cut it down a bit. We had an oven baked salmon and, of course, it was delicious! One thing you can be sure of and that is that if Tilly feeds you, you will never want for food! The following day Courtney, Neels and I started our trek home again while our hosts went off to Mallorca.

Back home again, w2e scurried around preparing the house for the Cape Town family who were due to arrive on the 30^th. There was great celebration when they arrived as this is a permanent move and not just a holiday.

On the following day we had a second Christmas with a dinner to suit and presents for all which seemed to go down well. Our dinner was somewhat lower key and only consisted of three courses. In this case, our starter was a hot goat’s cheese salad followed by a roast chicken (which I would have labelled as a Cornish hen and which tipped the scale at just over two and a half kilograms) with a variety of vegetables, and then for dessert, Courtney and I had made our own Buche Noel and she had decorated it to look like a log. There was nothing left of it by the time we had finished our meal!

The girls had been invited out to a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s house, so at about six that evening we took them to the house with Andre and Leigh arranging to fetch them just after midnight. Sadly they couldn’t stay overnight as the rest of the guests were doing, as the family were due to move on the following morning. And, all of a sudden we were alone again!

This pleasant state lasted for a few days before we packed a little suitcase and went to see how the family were getting on in their rental house. Once again, being a little further south, the weather was more pleasant, although still cold, and the house was centrally heated. We are going to have to make a plan about this house!

When we returned, we brought both the girls with us. Courtney had to start school again on Monday and Cassidy has permission to attend classes with Courtney for the week, to get a feel for the French system. Courtney always maintains that the few days she spent with her friend Connie, in Carcassone, were the best days she could have had prior to starting school here, so we are hoping the same will apply to Cassidy.

By some miracle, I managed to finish the tapestry cushion for Courtney’s present and it seems as if it was a success. Not my finest work to date, I have to admit, but she seems to love it so I am happy.

So now we are up to date. All the Christmas decorations were taken down on the 6^th in order to prevent the house from being carried away by the witches, the ghosties or Ghoulies and we are now all set to face a brand new year. We haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions as we know that we are hopeless at keeping them. We prefer to live life as it comes and hope it always turns out the way we want it to. Here’s hoping you all had  as good a Christmas and New Year as we did and are also ready to face a another 365 days.