Scary Night!

A romantic dinner on our own for Richard and I tonight. Scary or what?!

LeeLee's boyfriend has invited her round for a Hallowe'en night of watching horror movies, with a large bowl of sweets. One slight problem....the boyfriend is scared of frightening films. But what the hey - that's love for you!

Nic is off to a double birthday party this afternoon, followed by a spooky Hallowe'en 'trick or treat' around to family/friends' houses in the village.

So what do Richard and I do?! Get ourselves the largest piece of steak you can imagine, open a bottle of red wine and make ourselves tournedos rossini (a meat-eaters heaven on a plate) plus potato cubes pan-fried with mixed wild mushrooms (Martine's speciality)! And a rich red wine and onion sauce! Yummy!OK. So the photo did not do it justice - but I had to be quick with the camera because we were VERY hungry!

***

Look what is coming our way! Getting seriously worried, Richard checks the Meteo France website and finds that we are on 'orange' alert for major storms. Rain, thunder and lightening plus the gale-force winds off the sea.

Oh, deep joy!

Snow !

Richard woke me up this morning to tell me that he had been right to light the fire last night - winter has arrived.

He went to get the bread this morning and there was snow on the Espinouse Mountains behind us!

Well that is me NOT getting out of bed today - it is lovely and warm under the duvet.

PS
Last night, Richard lit the fire at 18:00. Tonight it was 16:00. Any guesses how early it will be tomorrow?!

Winter ?!

The temperature is dropping this evening and Richard walked up to Robert's house to ask for a delivery of firewood.

On his return, whilst trying to get some blood flowing in his fingers, he decided that enough was enough and that he would light the fire.

You have never seen such contented pets. Xena refused to get off her bed to come upstairs at bedtime (but I am more stubborn than she is, and so she was booted up the backside!) and Smokey sat rather pointedly in front of the flames until a sucker moved a chair close to the warmth for her! Winter has arrived in the South of France according to the Upex household.

PS
Luckily, Richard noticed part way through the evening that the candles in the bottles on top of the fire were starting to get Brewer's Droop!

Clearance

The main road (and I use that term very loosely!) that passes our village wends and bends its way down the mountain passes from St Gervais-Sur-Mare to Hérépian.

The garrigue reaches right to the roadside and is a fascinating mixture of scrub, wild herbs, flowering bushes as well as stunted holme oaks and gorse.

We have watched in curiosity this week as a team of eight workman have been clearing the garrigue either side of the road past La Sesquière.

Using a chain cutting little bobcat they have cut swaithes into the scrub, sometimes on almost vertical slopes, whilst following on behind with hand-held chainsaws. Each tree/bush is cleared around and up their trunks to about three feet off the ground.
It is a feat similar to painting the Forth Road Bridge - never ending! Such massive amounts of manpower, working continually for months on end!

What was happening?! Why?!

If in doubt, we ask our friend and neighbour Robert.....

..... and now we know.

It is on the instruction of the Conceil General. Land must now be cleared to a distance of 18 metres either side of the road to protect against incendrie. People chucking lighted cigarettes out of vehicle windows and causing hectares of fires.

Robert owns much land around here, some along the roadside. It seems he received a letter from the CG telling him what would be happening, and giving him a month to clear any wood/timber off his land before the team of workmen would move in.

Being conscientious and not wishing to lose all his oak, he set aside a week to go to work.

Except that the workmen arrived within a couple of days of his letter - and cleared his land!

They did carefully cut any substantial oak tree offcuts into usable lengths and left them neatly stacked.

OK, thought Robert. I will forgive them and take my tractor up there this afternoon to pick the logs up.

Except that a voleur got there first, within an hour of the workmen leaving for lunch, and swiped the lot!!

Last of The Summer

We picked the last of our peppers today. That's it for another eight months.

Tip-toeing Through The Leaves

Sunshine, a clear blue sky and a younger daughter asking what shall we do today?!

So into the car, and off to the chestnut woods we go. It was glorious. The light filtering through the trees. The autumn colours. As we walked along, it was obvious that the chestnuts were over their best and no longer worth picking off the ground. They were small, wizened and dull.

Then we would come across an area of large, plump, glossy brown ones buried in the leaf mulch! You just needed to use your sticks to find them - and to ensure that you were not disturbing a snake!Seems that there are lots of different types of chestnut trees and they 'fruit' at slightly different times. So another bag load of chestnuts for us to roast!

Here you can see where a 'river' forms when it rains - flowing down off the slopes, across the path and on down into the valley. Where the best fungi is found. But not today. After the drizzle we have had, mushrooms were appearing. But nothing would convince me to eat these ones!!

Early Morning Sounds

We wake up to the sounds of hunting - dogs baying and gun shots.

It is the sound of the countryside here.

Our neighbour popped round this evening and gave us a share of the sanglier he shot. Learning (after 6 years!), we remembered to ask if it was a young one or not.

Oh yes, Eric said. It was a young one - so we knew we could barbeque rather than casserole!

When we asked whether it had been a successful mornings hunt, Eric did mention that he had shot at four but only hit the one.

No wonder there are plenty of wild boars around here!!!

Richard 'butchered' the sanglier in order to end up with several cutlets to go on the fire. All he had to say was - if this was a young one, I hate to think how difficult it would be to chop through the bones of an old one!! It was delicious.

***

Martine popped round and dropped off some cosmetic 'goodies' for the girls - her son works for a company at Avene les Bains. They were thrilled!

We are so lucky to have such generous friends and neighbours.

Bonne Vacance !

Yep, it's that time again. Holiday time. But surely we have only just sent the girls back to school after the long summer?!

They arrived home on the bus tonight and you could hear them all the way up the road to our house - happy, chatty and excited.

Over dinner we asked them what they would like to do over the hols - go to the beach, visit friends, go to Montpellier ?

Their answer - stay and home and lounge around doing nothing!

So there you go. Nothing exciting happening around here for the next 10 days!

Not Always A Happy Ending

Richard went to get the bread this morning.

As he left the village he came across the owner of the horses (see yesterdays post) in the field. And the body of the fourth horse.

Unfortunately, after all the trauma yesterday, it had not survived the night.

Everyone had tried their utmost, but sometimes that is not enough.

Nosiness

Living in the countryside where nothing much happens, you get to be nosy. Yes - even us!

On his way back from getting the bread this morning, Richard found a couple of Pompiers' vehicles at the entrance to our village.

By the time he came into the house, these had increased to four. Then a gendarme car arrived ...... and a vet.Something was obviously happening. And it looked serious.

As we watched, our neighbour arrived at the scene with his big JCB and the Pompiers got out some strops and it was obvious that they were trying to lift something heavy in the field.

Usually there are four horses there. But none were visible this morning and we feared the worst.

It is a very steep field and very precarious. It was a dangerous operation taking a heavy vehicle down such a slippery slope.

After half an hour, three horses came into sight running around the field, but not the fourth one.

Another 30 minutes and finally a very muddy and dishevelled horse came into view, and the experts packed up and went on their way.

They were cheered by all the onlookers who had gathered on the main road to watch. I did mention that nothing much happens round here didn't I?!

PS
In the afternoon, Nic was out in the village playing with friends and one of them mentioned that one of their horses had slipped in all the mud and ended up partly down a puit (well). It's position had trapped the other horses against the fence.

***

A long lie-in, a visit from her boyfriend and an afternoon snuggled up on the sofa watching old videos........LeeLee is feeling a lot better.

Hunger returned in time for dinner, so all is well!!

Comfort Required

LeeLee got up this morning and said she felt unwell.

Off she was sent to school on the bus - we have been parents too long to fall for that TOO easily!

Anyway, at 8:11am the phone rang and a very weak voice told us that she had been sick and could she come home.

OK. We gave in, went and picked her up and sent her straight to bed with a bucket and a glass of water.

I woke her up three hours later to see how she was. Still feeling grim and wanting to go back to sleep.

OK.

A further three hours later I woke LeeLee up, made her a hot water and lemon/honey drink (she was awash with cold water she said!) and asked her if there was anything we could do to help.

She asked if she could come downstairs and snuggle on the sofa in the sitting room with us......

....and could she watch one of her favourite old Disney cartoon films with us both.

Sometimes nothing but good old fashioned home comforts are needed!

Out Of Date ?!

We are watching the pennies. Along with just about everyone else we know.

At the supermarkets, we keep an eye out for reduced price stickers, particularly on meat - since we have a large chest freezer that can hold enough food for an army!

Today we were at the cheese counter deciding what to stock up on for the week, when I glanced over at the dairy shelves.

There I saw a whole pile of specialist gruyere suisse (extra strong, artisanal) at less than half price.

All the packets said it had been cut from the whole drum of cheese on the 2nd October and had to be consumed by the 20th, today.

For goodness sakes - cheese matures! It does not go off that quick!!!

Richard and I had a delicious lunch - fresh gros pain, homemade chutney and a wonderfully full flavoured, mature gruyere cheese! Absolutely delicious!

Sunday, Sunday !

We LOVE sundays. Always have done. Always will.

It has always been a day that we have spent together as a family, lying in until late, eating a lazy and (usually) highly calorific brunch. Where the girls can lounge around not getting dressed, and generally we each do anything we want around the house. Like watching old videos/DVDs, reading in bed in the afternoon, etc.

Little has changed since we moved to France.

OK, the brunch has evolved away from the typically English 'fried-breakfast' towards slightly Franglaise adaptations. And one or other of the girls is usually rushing back from a saturday-night sleepover so as not to miss out on our sunday together.

But generally, heaven continues.

Today, Richard went and got a gros pain and 12 slices of bacon at the butchers.

(as he left the village he was flagged down and warned about les Flicks hiding in the bushes....so that was one less speeding ticket for him!)

1. Divide the bread into four portions and split......
2. Fry the bacon.......3. Quickly pan-fry the sliced brie along side......4. Pile the melted brie onto the bread, then the bacon on top.....OK - for those of you with smaller mouths, cut up the bacon into smaller chunks!Heaven on a plate in the Upex household.

Nature's Bounty

Today we went to pick up the keys for a new client who has asked us to look after his holiday home.

As we set off afterwards, I saw a bush on the roadside covered in fruit and shouted STOP THE CAR!

The first time I have ever seen a wild pomegranate bush! And it was covered in large fruit!I brought one home and cut into in. It immediately started 'bleeding' juice like I had never imagined. So much juice out of a hard skinned fruit.

Inside, the seeds were juicy if a little tart. Obviously I should have waited another week or so.....

***

As we were eating lunch together, one of the girls heard that the Jungle Book film was going to be on the TV that afternoon.

Amidst all their 'Ahs' and 'Oh goody, I LOVE that film, it was always my favourite' they started planning their afternoon snuggled up together on the sofa watching it.

(they are 12 and 18 years old for goodness sakes!)

Imagine their disappointment when the original black and white version with actors and real animals came on!

Then the frantic scrabble in all the storage boxes in our caves to find our own (albeit very worn out) copy of the original Disney cartoon version!

Falling Prices

One of the positive differences we enjoy here is the fact that the price of fuel is immediately reflected at the pumps - sometimes changing three times a day!

Over the past few weeks, as the price of diesel mounted, our use of our 'truck' has decreased. At its highest, we even resorted to NOT filling up the tank each time - there is something frightening about paying almost 140 euros in one transaction.

Earlier this week we saw the price drop to 1.21 euros per litre, and then the next morning to 1.19 euros.

Richard was there like a shot and managed to squeeze in as much as was possible.

What pissed him off?! At the end of the day, it had dropped again to 1.119 !!!!!! And he had no room in the tank!

The Voice Of Doom

There is something heart-stopping when you hear the voice of your bank manager on the answer-machine, asking you to meet with him in his office.

When Richard phoned him back, he asked specifically for me to be there as well. Oh dear.

Richard and I duly presented ourselves, having no idea what it could be about. He formally shook our hands and started to explain.

The bank was offering (from 1st January 2009) a new type of account.

But we are happy with our current one! I explained. Richard in particular, because he can always remember the easy account number and does not want to change it!

We would of course get to keep the last 4 numbers/characters of our current account number - the ones that Monsieur has to remember.

But we do not want to wait for all the new cheque books and paying in books to arrive! I complained.

These would not need to be altered.

But why go to all the hassle of moving our standing orders! I queried.

That will not be necessary either.

So why change?! I questioned.

Because the bank will be paying 4% interest on anything you have in your current account.

But we never have any money worth mentioning in our French bank account! I reminded him.

But you will get 4% on the little you have.

But we do not want all the hassle of declaring minuscule amounts of interest to the Taxman! I exclaimed.

This interest is exempt from taxes.

What?! Good grief - I wish we had a million euros to put in!

So do I. He replied.


He explained further that up until now, only the Post Office could offer interest on current accounts, exempt from taxes.
And that this was a major change in the rules governing French banks.
And that he was required to have a meeting with all his clients to ensure they were fully aware of this new option.
And that we would have had to sign a paper confirming that he had done this, even if we did not infact change to the new account.

Seeing no reason not to change, we agreed and signed all the forms that put us on the waiting list for New Years Day. From that date, we will be the proud holders of a Livret A rather than a Livret B.

Mr Palumbo smiled at Richard - and said he knew Madame would ask all the questions!

They still look at me slightly bemused, because I know all about mortgages, loans, pensions, etc....and indeed used to work for their 'partner' HSBC.

***

Richard went to pay in a cheque, and as he was entering the bank, the usual man behind the counter shook his hand and recommended that Richard came back later. He then went across the road to the café to have his morning noisette.

Slightly unsure, Richard ignored his advice and went inside the bank....to find Mr Palumbo (the bank manager) the only one working behind the counter!

Ah. That explained why the queue was so long.

New Plantings & Old

Driving back to the village along the back tracks, we saw this well established vine field in all its glory.As we drove on, in the middle of nowhere in particular, we came across this vaste field that had obviously recenty been planted with new vines.>
I do not think my photo is clear enough for you to see, but they are all meticulously tied to fine upright white sticks which are in turn tied to each other by another one lying horizentally!

It must have taken days to do!

Magical Colours Of Autumn

The girls both decided to take pack lunches to college today, and so Richard and I enjoyed a day together!

After lunch we jumped in the car and set off for the chestnut woods. To walk the dog.

Of course we remembered to chuck the dog in the car before we set off!!!!

The colours of the leaves were gorgeous. And Xena was in her element, looking like she was in her natural environment. The track through the woods was littered with chestnuts which have recently started dropping. You start by picking up every glossy, plump chestnut you see - until you realise that you already have 1 kilo before you have walked 10 yards from the car!
Of course our sack had the added taste of spaniel slobber...... Today reminded us why we came here - thousands (if not millions) of acres of woodland as far as the eye could see. Absolutely magical. Our knowledgeable friends and neighbours also come here to pick mushrooms. The best are found in chestnut mulch we are told! Especially up these almost-vertical slopes.Somehow, I do not think we shall be able to stop Richard from lighting the fire for much longer!And how old was this chestnut tree?!You imagine that it would be a haven of quiet tranquility. How wrong you would be.

There were rustles in the undergrowth all the time and constant 'bombs' dropping all around us as the chestnut trees jettisoned their spikey parcels.

Xena even got hit on the head by one! And I came close a few times.

***

As we drove out of the village, I was fascinated by the vines - turning from green, to yellow, orange, red and finally a deep purple colour. All in the same field.

Weevils

I found out today that I would never have been suited to the Navy in the 18-19th century.

Dinner was to be a beef casserole that had been slow-cooking since yesterday. OK, yes I did forget to switch it off before I went to bed last night!

And when I saw a recipe for Irish Mixed Grain Bread, I decided to make some (since I had everything in the cupboard).

I got down the unopened bag of multi-cereal flour and opened it. And admired all the little multi-cereal grains in it.......

.....until I realised that the multi-cereal grains were all moving around in the flour on little legs!

You have never seen a cupboard emptied of all its contents so quick in your life before! Hope the dustmen come tomorrow.

Wifi or Iffy ?

Whilst at the house of a friend of LeeLee's for dinner, they set up their new Wifi.

Goodness - the girls made tennis, bowling and golf look difficult!

***

When we moved here, we got the girls a cat each. And they were trained to sleep in their respective bedrooms. The cats as well as the girls of course.

(Yes! You can train cats. At least, I have no problem doing so, but then the girls do say I terrify everyone!)

Well Smoky has never been a particularly 'loving' cat and I have never seen her sit on anyone's lap - including mine. Which has always surprised me since cats are supposed to do this....

Nic got a bit tired this evening and lay down on the sofa - and was asleep within seconds.

A split second later, Smoky arrived and immediately snuggled up on Nic's lap. And scowled at us all as we went in turn to look at this strange phenomena.

***

Where did it go?!

Tom Toms

Winter is on its way and soon our tomato plants will have to be dug up.

But not before I have thought of things to do with all those tomatoes!

Sun-dried cherry toms. I mixed garlic, herbs and a little olive oil with the halved tomatoes. Dried them slowly and then packed them into a jar (with fresh sliced garlic and herbs) and covered with olive oil.

Also clear Herb & Tomato Jelly. Shame I do not like tomatoes!!!!

***

On the way back from Beziers, we saw the autumnal colours breaking out across the vine fields and the garrigue. And came across this incredible meadow by the road side, just bursting with wild flowers! Absolutely magical!!

Happy Birthday Big Nicole !

In our village lives a charming lady called Nicole.

To friends in the village, she is usually referred to as 'big' Nicole in order to distinguish her from another Nicole in the village who is younger - and therefore called 'little' Nicole.Tonight was 'big' Nicole's party to celebrate her 80th birthday. It was great fun, and we all enjoyed ourselves! I hope I look as good at such an impressive age.

And I want a birthday cake like this!!!!

Before Or After

It is that time of year when we have many bills to pay for our apartment in Lamalou including the Taxe Fonciere, the taxes de sejour and for our advert in the new curiste brochure.

Most of which means going to the Trésor Public.

Feeling very impressed with himself, Richard thought to check on their opening times before setting off yesterday morning.

TLJ sauf Merc AM it said on our information sheet.

Roughly meaning Toutes Les Jours except Mercredi AM.

Seemed straightforward enough.

So he did not set off in the morning but went down in the afternoon - pm rather than am, you understand.

OK then. Which of you clever-clogs realised AM meant aprés midi ?! And therefore that the Trésor was NOT OPEN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON !

Liers - bet you thought the same as us!

Going Blind & Spreadsheet Fun

I keep thinking my eye sight is going.

I decide to move to another room in the house, and when I get there - everything is foggy and I have trouble seeing clearly.

Am I going blind?! Given that I wear very expensive, and very strong, contact lenses - an optician somewhere must owe me a refund!

Ahhhhhhh

Turns out Richard is going round the house gradually replacing all the lightbulbs with low wattage ones.

That's a relief!

***

I have a dream.

Along with most other people who come to France.

I would love to rent out a few rooms as a chambre/table d'hote and serve 5-course dinners.

Smart, elegant and friendly, with tasty food.

I would also like to run cookery courses during the winter months. You know the thing -Mediterranean Recipes Made Easy.

Anyway, when I have nothing better to do with my time..........I am writing the cookery course manual/recipes on the computer as well as setting up spreadsheets that list all my favourite recipes, with their ingredients and that work out the price, for how many people and the cost per head.

It is great fun programming all the behind-the-scenes code that will automatically update everything whenever I update the central 'ingredient price list'.

Shows you can take the girl out of IT, but not IT out of the girl!

Am I sad or what?!

***

LeeLee mucked us around today and I ended up having to go back to college to pick her up - only half an hour after I had dropped Nic off there for the afternoon. I seriously doubt she is my daughter.......

Anyway, on the way back in the car, the frosty silence was broken when she asked if I would stop off at Vetimarché so she could look at clothes.

(Yes, she still lives! Just!!!)

An hour and a half later (just when Richard was ready to send out the search party) we got back and sat down to tea.

On the TV there was a female presenter - and Richard asked what on earth was she wearing?! And that it looked atrocious.

Deathly silence from LeeLee and me.

And then I explained to Richard that the TV presenter was wearing a top similar to the one that LeeLee had just bought.

Oh.

Explain to me again why LeeLee does not take Richard with her when she goes shopping?!

Archive Records

It never ceases to amaze me the number of archive records that are gradually being put onto the Internet - and are available for us to browse.

I have been looking on http://archives.herault.fr ,which has various things of interest if you happen to live in Herault like us!

I found the most recent census records (1930) loaded for our hamlet and spotted one person on there who we knew when we first came to the village. Réné (who has since died unfortunately) was 3 years old!

In particular, I love to see the old postcards of towns and villages we know that have been put on - fascinating!
In the fifth postcard on this page (number 35) we can see our apartment/house in Lamalou - just, since we know where to look!

***

The cadastre records are gradually being loaded as well and are available to view on http://www.cadastre.gouv.fr/scpc/accueil.do.

These are invaluable to anyone looking at properties in France, I can assure you! Whenever we saw a potential property, we ALWAYS went to the local Mairie and asked for a copy of the relevant cadastre records, and talked to them about the 'owners' listed. They can refuse, but more often than not they were happy to photocopy the records for us. Usually they actually knew the family and the history behind the sale - which was often an eye opener.

In one instance we found out that the person trying to sell the property was not in fact the actual owner (!), and in another case that the garage and out-buildings being sold with the property were actually owned by one of the staff at the Mairie - who had NO intention of selling them!

The cadastres detail all the parcels of land and buildings as recorded on the official records and the web site also has very useful tools that allow you to measure distance, perimeter and area (a very clever bit of web-programming in fact).

For example, our property is actually made up of 6 different elements, each with a specific number, certified area and usage designation (ie one part of our garden is constructable whilst the other is agricultural).

Yesterday we were looking at the web cadastre plan(s) for our hamlet and at our 6 elements specifically, when both Richard and I questioned whether our two garden bits actually looked like the cadastre plan said they should. We were convinced that the upper garden was narrower than the plan showed it to be. We had been robbed of about two metres in width!!!!

On the web-site, we asked it to measure the distance between two specific points in our garden and it came up with 19.38 m.

We grabbed our measuring tape and raced up the garden.....and we measured it to be 19.3 m.

OK, smart arses. So your web-site cadastre plans ARE impressively accurate. But still, 8 centimetres is 8 centimetres.....

PS
It is also possible on this site to look at very, very old cadastre plans (well it was for our Commune anyway, not sure about yours!) and it was fascinating to compare it with our cadastre plans now. Our house was there all those years ago, so the date stone in the front wall is right!!

Ice cold Fridge

Eighteen months ago, we bought a new fancy fridge freezer. With ice maker and cold water on tap.

Extravagant, I hear you mutter. But since we have never had to buy one before in all our married life, we thought it was about time to splash out!

Our first F/F was a wedding present from Richard's sister - and what an incredible piece of machinery! It is still going strong after 27 years, although not very 'pretty' to look at since it is covered in rust!

When we arrived here, the previous owners of our house could not fit their old German F/F into the lorry and so left it for us. When it finally gave up the ghost, we had to bite the bullet and buy a replacement. We are certainly a 2-fridge family unfortunately!

Which brings us back to the new one we purchased 18 months ago.......

...... back in July, the fridge compressor started making terrible noises and then the fridge stopped working totally.

Checking on the Internet, Richard found that the parts were guaranteed for 2 years - so off he went to the shop. They contacted the maker for us, again and again, but no response came our way.

Last Friday we chased the shop AGAIN, who in turn chased the maker AGAIN and they finally agreed to send an engineer out this morning.

What happened?! Saturday morning the fridge compressor made a loud noise and started working again. After 3 months!!!!! Just typical!!!!

The engineer turned up at lunchtime, and a sheepish Richard explained what had happened. 'Always happens' was the reply and the engineer proceeded to fit a new duo-cooler unit which he had brought with him.

And the explanation was eye opening. Such a novelty to get an engineer who knows what is going on even before he arrives, and brings the necessary part to be fitted with him. We were very impressed!!

It seems the South of France is an area of relatively high humidity, and we all should buy the 'tropical' versions of fridges as are only available in Africa and the Tropics, and not (until recently) in France.

The cooler unit 'cools' to a very low temperature. Because of the humidity in the air, moisture collects in there and gradually forms a solid block of ice within the gubbins (technical term for the moving parts!) which then stop working. And the fridge compartment becomes just a fancy cupboard.

He fitted the replacement part - which now has the necessary extra few bits that the Tropical version of the fridge has always had. The new versions sold in France since we bought ours all have these extra bits now!

You live and learn.

PS
Why did it start working again on Saturday morning?! Because we had a powercut overnight which allowed the iceblock in the 'gubbins' to melt just enough to allow the moving parts to start moving again.
Not a lot of people know that!

***

We had fruit as usual after dinner. LeeLee and I had bananas.

LeeLee peeled her banana and said 'This smells really banana-ry.'

Where did we get her from?!

Woodsmoke In The Air

At the moment during the day, we have glorious sunshine and temperatures in the low twenties.

Yet how do I know that winter is upon us? Because virtually every French person we talk to, within the first two sentences, asks whether we have switched on our heating yet!

It was down to 3 degrees last night.

And it is going to freeze on our terrace tonight.

How do I know?! Because I mentioned to Richard this afternoon that he must not let me forget this year to dig up the geraniums to put into pots in the cave for over-wintering.

So it is BOUND to freeze tonight just to have a good laugh at my expense, before I have had a chance to do this.

***

Yesterday I popped down to Lamalou to get bread, amidst the sound of hunting.

And came across signs put out all along the road and in all the windscreens of the vehicles telling me Prudence - Chasse!

Health & Safety is arriving down here, it seems!

Wij zijn bekend!

Look at us on here !

Our friends have helped set us up on this site - to see if we can attract some winter bookings for our apartment.

What does it all say? I hear you ask.

That our apartment is wonderful and the best place to stay in the South of France, of course.

At least, I hope that is what it says.......my Dutch is not very good!

What the ?!?!?!

There we were, cleaning and preparing a house we look after. Richard was downstairs in the kitchen whilst I was on the middle floor.

When I heard strange noises in the ceiling above me.

Noises that basically said BLOODY BIG RODENT in the floor above!

What did I do? This has-been, high-flown, senior female executive?

I shouted RRRRICHARD of course.

And grabbed the mop.

Doctors & Potential Politicians

After my appointment yesterday, I have decided it is just not fair to have a doctor who is slim, good looking, incredibly fit AND older than you!

I have also decided that computerising French medical records was a very BAD idea since it now allows the afore-mentioned doctor to look back on all the weigh-ins you have had with him - and to tell you exactly how many grams you have lost over a year.

And who on earth has arthritis in their jaw hinge?! And in only one hinge?!
(No, it is not caused by talking too much out of the side of your mouth!)

And who on earth wants to take their shoulder, that has not worked properly since they fell down the stairs 5 years ago, to a sadistic physiotherapist....who happens to be a good friend of the Doctor?!

***

Nic came home, a budding politician in the making. She was elected today to be her class sous-délégé, and is over the moon.

LeeLee asked why on earth she wanted to be one? Our suspicion is that she wants to know what all the teachers say about the class in the meetings!

I love the voting system for these elections.

If the class argue over who should be elected, the Head Teacher chooses.

If there are two candidates with the same number of votes, the youngest candidate wins.

A Little Bit Of England....

.....being enjoyed in the South of France!

When our relative, Colin, came over this month from the UK to visit us, he was carrying more goodies in his suitcase than Ryanair could have imagined!

We devoured Cornish clotted cream with home-made scones and strawberry jam..... And cheddar cheese & piccallili.

And English butcher's sausages!

Cornish cheese and even Cornish tea. Yes, they grow high quality tea bushes there now which are so well thought of by the experts that they export it to China!

Home-made truffles (which we all pigged out on) and many other items that we all enjoyed.

Thank-you so much, Colin!