The "old" year comes to a close.....

Wednesday turned out to be as wet and windy as the previous days and the short bursts of dry and sunny weather did not encourage much outdoor activity. A shopping trip to Esnandes and the Intermarche in Nieul sur Mer was about as much as we managed.
On the way back we took an excursion to see what activity there was on the development site that runs parallel to Rue des Ecoles. There are several lots where building has begun and a couple of house look completed and occupied. There are also two "blocks" that are up with rooves on but no "glass" as yet. (see the photo) and we reckon that these are the homes for rent to local people that we saw designated as part of the overall planing permission. It is a big site and will take quite some time to finish at this rate.

We took lunch in Le Relais de la Poste in Marsilly and thought eh bar was quiet lively we were the only two in the cafe. Two more people turned up before we left. Once again they are catering a do in the village hall for St Sylvester and this year's menu is focused on venison at 47 euro a head excluding drink. We are planning an evening at home.

In the late afternoon Michael Miller and Anne Marie came on a social visit on their way back from shopping in La Rochelle. We served them tea and scones and chocolate cake that (winter) Angela had baked in the afternoon. This was the first time we had met Anne Marie. They are very convivial company and we spent a pleasant hour with them. Thunder and lightening marked their departure.

We settled in front of the the log fire for an evening of reading, me White Tiger and AA (Angela/Anika) The Girls Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, music, and a bit of telly.

It is early afternoon today December 31st and we have ventured out to make sure we have all we need for tonight and tomorrow. We dropped in to take a look at the restaurant at Chez Chocolat in Esnandes. We have made a reservation there for Saturday night so more on this later. AA has just set about lighting the kitchen heater and we pan a snack-lunch and Coq Au Vin for our very own St Sylvester feast tonight.
Of course somewhere in the world such as Sydney it is already 2010
Cheers
Happy New Year to all our readers

A close neighbour demonstrates their understanding of the true meaning of Christmas

It is Santa and his helpers

Marsilly church has pulled out none of the stops!

I will try to get a snap of this when it is dark.

Le Relais De La Poste, Marsilly

The local lunchtime restaurant really knows how to "big" the festive season.....

Tuesday December 29th

Well today has been much warmer and much dryer. In fact so much so that we had to turn off the kitchen heater that we left on as the only source of heating in the whole house. When we came down the room temperature was 23c.

We took the chance of the better day to pop in to La Rochelle and enjoy a stroll around the town. Anika (in summer) is transformed in (winter) to Delia/Julia/Elizabeth/Angela so we had to buy a new mixing bowl (bread making) and baking tray (bread and pizza). I will be breaking off from drafting this to enjoy the spinach and cheese pizza and watch the loaf of bread finish off in the oven.

Peter had a stroll around Marsilly and a few snaps will decorate the blog entries. For those of you reading this as an email if you scroll to the bottom of the email and you will see "Posted By Peter to Nantilly Notes 17137 on 12/27/2009 06:46:00 PM" The bit "Nantilly Notes 17137" should be a hyperlink and if you click on it you will go to the blog it self.

Fantastic late lunch, the spinach and cheese pizza (courtesy of Good Things Cookery School) is excellent and really rather filling.

It has been a lovely afternoon and I reckon we will be settling in to an evening with a(nother) good book in front of the fire.

Amsta 90100 Delle

If you Google the above you will find a number of people in France and Belgium selling their oil fired domestic heaters of that brand and model. We think we know why. They are ugly, noisy and smelly and very difficult to get going.

However, after many trials and tribulations, SOR achieved ignition at 2.50pm today. It has now been going for 17 minutes, which is 16 minutes more than we got on the other seven goes at getting the thing lit. Weather wise it is very wet and rather cold and we are glad the thing is going - we are likely to leave it on the whole time we are here, especially since storms are forecast for later in the week.

We only ventured out one and a half times and that was to do a domestic shop at the nearby Carrefour. It had to be done as we had nothing but store cupboard provisions but we were joining a lot of locals going to the shops for the first time since the Christmas break and it is clear that everyone is preparing for the celebration of St Sylvester's day on Thursday.

By venturing out one and a half times I meant that when we got home and realised we had forgotten to get some milk so Peter popped out locally and got some.

Next on the schedule - light the log fire and settle in for the evning with a good book.

Well we are back in residence with the log fire burning and electric radiators on all over the place. It is not so cold at the moment, which is just as well as we have failed to get the oil-fired heater in the kitchen working. We will give it another go in the morning when we can have the windows open for a through draft and to carry any smoke and fumes out. Perhaps the oil is all gone?

It was back in August when we were last here and I must say that Michael and Anne Marie have done another great job in looking after the house these last four months and in getting it ready for our arrival. The dehumidifier really seems to have kept the place free of damp and condensation.

The Ryanair flight from Stansted was on time in leaving and early to arrive. Stansted was reasonably busy but since so many of the airlines have reduced winter schedules it was coping very effectively. The rental car from Avis seems to be brand new and we managed to figure out how to make it go at least as far as Rue de Nantilly. Marsilly was reassuringly quite.


Let's see what tomorrow brings....

It has been a cold and wet December

The dehumidifier is working away and a low level heater is keeping the ambient temperature above freezing. Mr Miller is popping in to make sure all is well. Just over four days to go before Sheila and Peter will come through the door and fire up the oil heater and log fire. Brrr can't wait

Braving the Weather

Up to the minute news flash - Anika and Elaine have decided to play nine holes in the rain. Peter has decided that he can take his time doing the house-closing-chores.

Starting The Day

The photo is of the 18th green at Golf de La Pree. It is defended by a horseshoe shaped bunker that is faced on the green side with railway sleepers. The clubhouse terrace overlooks the green so you can be sure of an audience.

The chicken and onion and tomato kebabs done on the bbq with roasted cherry tomatoes and oven chips were big hit and it didn't take too long to clean up the bbq afterwards.

Anika and Peter are very rosy in the face after a very warm and sunny round of golf and even this morning Peter's face is sucking in moisturiser like an elephant hovers up water at the river.

Overnight there was heavy rain and even a bit of thunder and as of now (7.30am local time) it looks like we will be rained off for any further golf. Looks like a comfort pain au raisin is needed.

More Golf in the Sun

The focus of the day was another game of golf. We had an 11.30 tee time so a relaxed morning with croissant and pain au raisin before setting off to play. Elaine decided to give golf a miss so Anika and Peter set off alone. The weather was fantastic and as we finished the thermometer in the car read 33c! Back at home the backyard thermometer screamed 38c but can't be right.

The course was very quiet but for some reason everyone on the course was in front of us and those playing first seemed at times very slow. However they all seemd to disappear after nine holes and the threesome in front of us let us through and off we went. In the end we finished in under four hours and had a very welcome bottle of fizzy water on the terrace before returning to the house.

More later, we were going to go into La Rochelle for dinner but we have decided to stay in the yard and have a bbq - so off to the shops.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Saturday
Taking the 2.00pm Easyjet from Gatwick is a very civilised way of getting to La Rochelle. Travelling with no luggage means a pleasant walk to the Tram, train from East Croyden a door to door journey of just over the hour at a totla cost of £9.00.

We were joined at the airport by Elaine who had accepted an invite for a weekend of golf. The flight ran a few minutes late but with a flight time of an hour we were still parking the rented Renault Grand Scenic (hmm bigger than I had thought) outside number 8 about 5.00pm local time.

Moules at Viviers was the highlight of the evening and we enjoyed a spectacular sunset at we finished our meal. It was pretty much full and we needed to have booked. The MKAY sign sat on the same table we used when last visiting with M&A.

Sunday
There was a competition on at the golf club and so we booked a tee time for 15.20, an hour after the last of the competiton went out and so we set of mid morning to go into La Rochelle itself. Our plan was Le petit dejeuner at Cafe de la Paix and a walkabout, showing Elaine the essence of the town. So, after picking up the making s of Sunday dinner in the Casino,parking in Place Verdun was our first destination - no problem. Hmmmm the Cafe was closed. Ah well there are the two very buzzy spots in the square by the Hotel de ville. Did you see it coming? Yes, both closed - in fact very closed.

It began to look like the season had ended and how, or was it just Sunday? Fortunatley all the cafes by the Old Port were open and we had a delightfull LPD watcing the world go by in bright warm sunshine. We strolled by the Old Port and ice creamed on the small beach just beyond the sailing school and then toured around to the Marina before heading back to Nantilly to prepare for golf.

Playing conditions were perfect although the breeze that served to cool us was a bit strong on a couple of the holes. A good time was had by all and we finished the last six holes in the company of a member who was playing by herself. She quickly became Elaine's best friend as she deceded that chattering away in freanch to either Anika or Peter was a waste fo time. It was uncanny she played every shot (except putting) in exactly the same way - a five wood plonking it forward 20 to 80 yards and merrily made her way round the course with a tidy score.

Honey, lemon and tarragon chicken with roast potatoes, haricot vert and carrots for dinner and a glass wine and long conversations ended the day.

The holiday within the holiday - part one

Monday morning sees us setting of for the 75 minute drive to Royan to catch the ferry across the mouth of the Gironde estuary to the Medoc. This 25 minute passage offered the prospect of a meandering drive through the vineyards of this part of Bordeaux. There was a small problem of the ferry in that the "driver" thoughtlessly locked the doors with the push button on the ignition key. This set the alarm and once the ferry go into motion the alarm went off. As luck would have it we were close enough to be able to reset the alarm, over and over again for the rest of the trip.

The meander down the Medoc didn't work out quite like that as there is very little wine growing until you are quite a long way down the peninsula around St Estephe. Our first stop was at Paulliac to view the Lynch Bages vines - very nice too.

We had a picnic lunch over looking the Gironde in the company a camel! Here's an update on camel diets, they don't like celery.

We drove out of Paulliac on the Route of the Chateaux which was delightful although more in the style of fancy farmhouses of viniculture like in Burgundy and not like the royal Chateaux of the Loire. Arcachon was our destination for the day and in particular Hotel Le Dauphin. [At present we are a bit confused because in days of old the heir to the throne of France was known as Le Dauphin but then again the Dauphin also seems to be the french for a dolphin...hmmmm...] The hotel staff were very good and the location was excellent even if the facilities were fairly average.
Arcachon is basically on a lagoon which creates a bay like vista that has clearly become very popular with holidaymakers and even day-trippers. As we left the town we passed through a very stylish suburb that clearly showed that the idea that Arcachon was developed for the wealthy of Bordeaux had some real basis. The centre and seafront of Arcachon is a bit architecturally conflicted with some really horrible seventies geometric concrete with a Basque influenced vernacular. I am tempted to think that when the french planning process gets it wrong it really gets it wrong!

We had excellent dinner at the Cafe de la Plage - restaurant Chez Pierre. Anika had a very glum face when she looked at the wine list as it was very expensive - the best value being 94 euro for a 2001 Chat Lynch Bages. Fortunately we realised she was looking at the "fine wine" carte and we had a very serviceable white at a very affordable price.

Tuesday's departure from Arcachon was via Pyla Sur Mer to visit Europe's biggest sand dune, 340 feet high and two miles long. To encourage responsible tourism they have created a large car parking area and camper van overnight area and a whole bunch of other facilities including a fibreglass staircase to walk up to the top of the Dune. It actually is quite amazing and well worth the stop.

The journey to Biarritz was intentionally slow, taking all the "B" roads we could find - well really "D" roads here in France and for the most part they are pretty good. Which means that they, and the area, is tres populaire with camper vanners. Lots of caravans are still about but it seems that the camper vans are really dominating that style of holiday. I will look this up in the map book and update later - we paased by a large lake that has clearly been developed into a resort area and pretty pleasing it was. Offers the thought of an away day from Nantilly for a lakeside expereince.

We kept seeing that the Autoroute was very busy and so felt quite smug about our route choice or we were until we hit the outskirts of BAB. There are three towns on the coast, Bayonne, Anglet and Biarritz and they form one conurbation, BAB, and all three attract tourists. Anglet seems to be a development of resort facilities designed to fill the coast between the two Bs. As we approached the outskirts we hit traffic - a lot of it. we were able to get a good look at the urban space as we made our way from the Northern outskirts of Bayonne to the old centre of Biarritz, the southern most town of BAB.

As you would guess along with all the traffic came the horrendous problem of parking and yes our hotel did not offer any parking and were singularly unhelpful abut the best course of action. Fortunately a space in the square outside the hotel came free and we took advantage of it to unpack the car and check in. We realised later that the hotel staff were not being unhelpful so much as merely expressing the locals' view to parking. They do the Irish thing of pulling up outside where they want to go and ignore all restriction. Having been in the car for a couple of hours and clambering out into the sunshine of Biarritz is that you are reminded of one of the negative things about having air-con in the car. You lose the sense of the "real" temperature and boy was it hot.

It took us a little while to settle into the hotel and its surroundings and really it was only after we discovered the two level roof top terraces that we understood it value. The first terrace was a dining area and we took all of our breakfasts there as well as a lunch and a dinner. The second terrace was up a level and laid out as a relax with a drink area. Both gave brilliant views as well as great vantage points to observe the life of the Old Port area.
More in part two and picture to follow.

Last day in France for P&S

So where does the time go?
We seem to have only been back from the south for five days and here we are looking down our last day. (M&A are here until Monday and we are back at the end of the month so we don't have to run around "closing up" the house but still it feels like a day of getting things done.)
We have fitted in a couple of rounds of golf, two bbq meals at home and a trip to Viviers for moules.

Our ferry is from Caen at midnight tonight so we will doing odds and ends before setting off about 5.00pm. M&A are doing us a late lunch to send us on our way so it looks like it will be back on the diet once we are back in England.
Phot0's to follow.

La Tranche sur Mer

Key feature of today has been a trip out to the north to the seaside resort of LTsM in the Vendee(as above). We went there to meet up with four friends from Beckenham Tennis club who happen to be on holiday just north of there. Marie, one of the four is from the Vendee but has lived in England for the last 30 years or so. Lunch went on from 1.00pm to 4.00pm so very french style. I think it also means that our planned supper (Moule en cidre) is going to be served very late this evening.

Back from the "holiday in the holiday"

Yesterday about 3.00pm saw the two of us back in Nantilly after our road trip. Mon frere et belle soeur (M&A) were here to greet us. [More about the trip in a later posting]
We spent the rest of the day unpacking and catching up with M&A and cooked dinner on the new bbq. We sat on until late in the yard having a good old gossip.
M&A have gone off on trip to Il de Re and we are preparing for a 3.30 tee time down at the local golf club. "Preparing" mostly means doing the holiday washing but we did go off on our bikes for an hour long bike ride. Just as our energies were flagging on the final stretch before home we were cheered on by a group of young (6 or 7 years)kids with cries of Allez, allez, tour de france!

Sunday, Sunday

Another brilliant start to the day with perfect weather for doing pretty much nothing. Well not altogether nothing as today is our last day in the house before we set off on our "holiday" in the south. Tomorrow will see us driving south through the Medoc and on to Arcachon. After an overnight stay we move on to Biarritz for four nights to sample the charm of the resort and the nearby golf courses.

We continue south to our end point of St Jean Pied de Port. St Jean dates to well before 778 when its military inflicted a defeat on the army of Charlemagne which became immortalised in the Chanson de Roland . St Jean is also the last town in France on the pilgrim road to Santiago del Compostela. To finish the holiday we travel north for an overnight stop in Bordeaux and then back to Nantilly.

So this means that today needs to include preparing the house for the arrival of Michael and Ann and packing ourselves up for the trip. And of course (no pun intended) a game of golf.

Our tee time was 14.10 - and though it was very warm (26 degrees) a cooling breeze from the shore made for pleasant playing conditions. However the course was very crowed as we were going off just after the last of a competition had started. We were sent to start on the 10th tee which was a great chance to see if Peter's poor scores on the back nine had to do with fatigue of poor skills. What can we say? - he lost seven balls! The pace of play was very slow and so we only played nine and then sat on the terrace overlooking the 18th green. All very nice.

We sat long into the evening in the backyard reading and never once turned on the TV.

Well Anika arrived on Wednesday lunchtime with a car laden with yet more (seemingly vital) supplies from Chez Knoll. Key among these was a sun-lounger, a chest of drawers for one of the bedrooms, a golf bag, and - oh yes - a barbecue. As Anika settled down to the domestic realities of opening up the house and readying it for a two week holiday, Peter jetted off to Berlin for a vital business meeting (honest) that involved a visit to Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial and a long languorous drink and meal on the terrace of the Hotel Adlon right by the Brandenburg Gate.

After a stint of working at home on Friday morning Peter was able to catch the 15.20 Ryanair flight from Stansted, being collected by Anika at La Rochelle around 6.00pm (local time). This was when Peter discovered that Anika had not be alone all the time.
It seems that after a long hot day on Wednesday, when the back door had been open all day, a frog came a courting and seemed very interested in what was on TV since it settle in under the armchair by the telly. We believe it finally returned from whence it came or else we will be discovering a desiccated frog sometime soon, somewhere in the house.

One characteristic of the immediate area of Nantilly is the strange way that one or other of the two nearest boulangerie seems to take a holiday when we are here. Last time it was Festival de Gout in Marsilly and now it is (our much preferred) one in Esnandes. Must be good money in that business to be able to shut up shop for two weeks at a go.

After such a long and hectic week for both of us we decided that the best prospect for the evening was to see if Viviers could fit us in. It was about 8.30 when we got there and with a warning of a long wait, they fitted us in. Nice start to the holiday Moules a la creme (et oui - avec frites).

Saturday morning was all go, a trip to the decheterie to dispose of the accumulated recyclables, a pop in to the local co-op and boulangerie in Marsilly and an all important visit to the Tabac at the end of our Rue to get the gas bottle for the barbecue (well yes it is a bit of a cheat but come on now we are on holiday).

This may prove to be a turning point in our time in Nantilly. The extraordinary transaction was conducted in our very bad French, his none existent English and a lot of sign language. It seemed that out barbecue, purchased in Angleterre, could not possibly conform to the French regulations and therefore a French regulator must be provided (gratuit). Much sign language ensued to explain that the regulator he was offering had a screw connection for the outlet when our barbecue had a push on - pas problem - he had an adaptor. As the papier work was completed Le Patron realised we lived behind his shop and immediately offered (we think) to come round and fix any further problems we encountered. Nice man - either that or else he just invited himself and all his family for a barbecue!!!!

During the trip to the recycle centre we were once again amazed by the high level of staffing. It is hard to tell whether this is a manifestation of the "state" making it easy for everyone or, an example of "state" control making sure everyone "does it properly". One member of the team today was a youngish and good-lookingish woman with a bit of a stare and a Union Jack wrist band. She surely was determined that no one would mix wood with metal and cardboard with garden refuse nor to confuse the "small electrical items" location with that of the huile disposal point. They have also installed a "hazardous material" point, this seems to be for paint rather than nuclear waste. Hmm thinks, since about 80% of France's electricity is generated by nuclear powered stations - just where do they put that waste.

The weather has been glorious and perfect for a round of golf which we had booked for 1.00pm. Anika played her usual brilliant self and Peter was pleased to have got around (no pun intended) with only four lost balls.

Anika has discovered a new passion - the detailed recording of every scheduled flight that lands at La Rochelle. She can now identity the livery of every ex-UK and Ireland airline that uses the airport.

So now to test drive the barbecue.

Two reminders of Nantilly

This morning I went online and paid the EDF bill for electricity for the house and Sheila checked me in for my Ryanair flight on Friday next. Sheila is taking the car over on the Tuesday night sailing and I follow on three days later. I aim to work at home on the Friday morning and go from here but it is a busy week with a trip to Berlin squeezed in - out Wednesday evening and back Thursday evening - so I will have to see how it goes.

The lavender is attracting loads of action

including this thing - about the size of a little finger end - much bigger than any of the regular bee and wasp visitors. It has a long delicate thing at the front that dips into the flowers and also has two attenna. Pictures probably not a lot of help unless you are very good at insects.

It could be England....

The Murray semi final at Wimbledon is on the telly, O'Reilly is glued to the set, a beer is by my elbow and the sun is shining. But all this is happening in Nantilly. We are here for our final weekend before our summer holiday.
Flying in you can see how beige the landscape looks and at ground level you see the cereal fields are ripening and the harvest has begun. Far less than last year, there are fields of sunflowers that should be heavy with seed when we are back at the end of July.
The backyard is almost over run with the two lavendar bushes that have gone huge - harvesting them last year must have driven extra growth and we will have to figure out what to do with them.
On arrival we threw all the windows open to let the spledid evening sun and gentle breeze air the house and once O'Reilly realised that the tennis would go on for a bit, we popped up to Esnandes for supplies. Tonight will be home cooked Pave de Julienne (fish of some sort) with bechamel sauce, leeks and some other vegetable.
Tomorrow we have a mid day tee time and a reservation at Viviers for moules et frites in the evening.
It is a fourth set tie break and O'Rielly is giving me a running commentary - well by the time you read this you will know the outcome.

Peter prepares for golf

with zen like meditation on a Taylormade Burner Driver

The longest day.....

....well in some ways....as it was 8.20 before either of us got out of the bedroom!

A footnote on yesterday- Peter walked down to the local (Marsilly) boulangerie Le Festival de Gout for breakfast to find that it had started its three week holiday on June 15th, reopening on July 7th; a long wait for breakfast.

The cycle ride to Viviers went well, although it was a bit breezy, the moules et frites were up to expectation. They have expanded the menu a little with a wider range of food and drink. We had a very pleasant Il de Re chardonnay "Soif D'Estavin" if I remember it right at 9euro.

Also thinking back to the golf we learned that sable is french for sand and that merde seems to be the french for the golf term"four". Certainly every time Henri, one of our playing partners, hit a wild shot he shouted "merde".

So to this morning and it was a cycle ride to Esnande for Peter to pick up the makings of breakfast and lunch. We are playing golf (nine holes only) with a tee-time of 2.20 so we are going to have "proper" lunch (starter, main, cheese) at 1.00pm. This will see us through the rest of the day and all the way home to Beckenham tonight.

Glorious day again and we are off to have un tasse de cafe & tea in the back yard. A bientot.

Tomorrow is a big fete for the longest day all over the region

Yesterday's 15.20 Ryanair departure from Stansted brought the two us over and by 18.00 (local time) we were in the house.Everything was in order, although there was a small chemistry experiment taking place in the fridge involving tomatoes.

By 18.30 we had visited the local shops in Esnande and bought bread and cod for our evening meal and also called at Viviers to book a table for dinner tonight. Dinner was baked cod in tomato and onion sauce served with pommes frites du four, followed by cheese and accompanied by a modicum of alcoholic beverage.

Saturday has been a wonderful day weatherwise, a little chill in the early morning sun but perfect for golf as we enjoyed our first round at La Pree in 2009. We were paired with two memebrs who wanted to play a "scramble" to practise for the competion tomorrow. This is the same competiton that has kept us off the golf course until 2.30pm tomorrow. We will have just enough time for nine holes before catching the 18.00 flight back.

Viviers tonight for moules and frites and we will be going on our bicycles to balance the frites with some exercise.

Last weekend in May

A Nantilly Note from afar.

This weekend Frank and Anne based themselves at the house and on Saturday collected Pat from Chateau Marlonge. They spent the evening at the house with Frank preparing and serving dinner as Pat and Anne enjoyed the summer evening in the back yard. By all accounts some gardening was done. One hopes the stopover at the house has dispelled some of the bad memories of her first attempt to spend a night here.

Pat made her way up the stairs for a comfortable night before setting off on stage one of her grand return. Step was a car journey (preceded by a bit of coastal sight seeing, to Poitiers. Stage two was a train journey to Lille and Stage three was being collected by Peter and Sheila and being chauffeured, via the Channel Tunnel to Beckenham.

It was a long day for Pat, reveille at 8.00am and arriving at Willow Court at 8.00pm.

It will be three weeks before we are back in Nantilly and it will seem strange that on that visit we may only have ourselves to please, and of course we are very pleased to have Pat so far down the road to recovery. The rest is up to her.

Welcome to Mary Treacy, this is Our Nantilly blog. You will get emails when we do a posting and besides seeing the post there will be a link you can click on and visit the blog and catch up with past postings.

When flying here from Stansted there are always a number of
people who travel the route regularly who chat away about journey options, some of them clearly commute on a weekly basis. The chat on Friday was all about Ryanair increasing the cost of travelling substantially, soon it will be £5.00 to check in online. It is food for thought but it does seem clear that on the routes where Ryanair has no competition they are no longer seeing themselves as a low cost provider but rather a regional supplier with a captive market. I had a taste of a "regional supplier" a couple of weeks ago when I flew from Nantes to Madrid and back with an Iberia regional subsidiary, £600 return!

A wet and cool Charente Maritime

Both Friday and Saturday nights were nights to be in by a roaring log fire and that's exactly what we did. The rain put us off the idea of playing golf and the journeys to Marlonges precluded any future afield travels. Still it has been a lovely way to spend the weekend with birthday treat galore.

There was no real DIY to do although there are a couple of finishing touches to do here and there. It is ridiculous to suggest inanimate object can feel things but the house does seem to enjoy having people around. It has been almost continuously occupied since April 13th and Frank and Anne will be back here on Thursday.

We have started to talk to Pat about her returning to England as the Maison de Convalescence thinks the time is not too far away, maybe as soon as next weekend. Sunday morning is a dismal as yesterday so a bit of breakfast, a few domestic chores, a visit to Marlonges, a meal and then back to the airport for the six o'clock flight to Stansted.

Out in the back yard one of the yucca type plants seems to have sprouted flowers - see picture.

Friday evening moves or do I mean movies?

Well we will leave about 10.00am to drive to Caen for the late afternoon ferry back to Portmouth snf then the run up the A3 to Beckenham. Just listening to England trying to score the 32 runs they need to win the match against the West Indies. Currenly 14 for no wicket. What do you think to this?

Nantes Atlantique Aerogare is a 90 minutes drive...

...which a bit of a pain compared to the 10 minutes to La Rochelle but it puts it into the scope of "possible" routes. Air France fly from London City but it is expensive, cheapest fare I found was close to £200 return.

I am musing on this as I flew from Nantes to Madrid on Tuesday afternoon and fly back there tonight. Thank goodness that this is a business trip as the fare was £600! Zoot alors as I believe personne dit!

Picture as promised

With a leap of DIY imagination the unit to house the TV, the Freesat, the DVD player and the sound system amp is finished and installed. With only several DIY bodgings needed the deed is done and in place. We went down the route of buying a couple of pine 30cm planks and cut then to size ourselves. This would prove to be a smallish DIY problem down the track. We got a supply of plastic right angle joints and a couple of bags of screws. These proved hard to find as we did not go to Leroy Merlin but a local and much smaller Briomarche in NsM. However SOR spotted what we thought we needed.

9.00 am this morning work commenced on cutting up the planks, marking up the shelves, drilling the starter holes for the screws and then assembly. That is when I noticed that the screws had a peculiar "star" head and not the cross-head I thought I had bought. Hmmmm no screwdriver to fit. About to give up and through toys out of pram when I remembered seeing a small set of Screw head bits in a boxset of drills I have and low and behold there was the much needed T20 head, perfect fit for the power screwdriver.

The top goes on fine, as does the first shelf, but the second shelf not...I had not cut it square - much grunting and groaning and planing and it sort of fits, but it does represent the major bodge of the job. The power screwdriver went flat before the job was finished so I had a break while i recharged. Total cost about 20euro and another cut on my thumb!

All this took most of the morning and so we went of to visit Pat and only installed the unit when we got back. As I worked on this SOR applied some varnish (two coats) to the new tongue and grove and in a dim light, with a drink on board, you cannot see the difference. Picture of this will follow.

A snippet from last week

When Sheila, came over a week ago she collected a new television from Darty, a rather nifty 26 inch model which makes it a lot easier to see the subtitles. A job for today is to make a stand for it. Pictures will follow.

The excitement is intense....

Le distribution de les sacs poubelles commence en Lundi and we are here. Zoot alors!

Commune de Marsilly

Just catching up on news from the Maire; during 2008 the commune recorded 27 births, 14 deaths and 12 marriages. This seems about right for a growing community. I guess it depends whether the "naissances" and parents stay in the area.

Depart Nantilly at 5.00pm local time, Ryanair 18.15 flight to Stansted, 19.00 Stansted Express to Liverpool Street, Circle Line to Victoria, 20.21 train to BJ - 21.00 over the threshold. Five hours, beat that!

Taking Stock

We are flying back tomorrow and right now we are relaxing before cooking out Saturday night dinner.
Our original plan had us on the Caen to Portsmouth ferry by now but we are staying on tonight until F&A arrive tomorrow to take over hospital visits with Pat. So flying back tomorrow and leaving the car here is the only way of getting back for work next week.

Poor Pat was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning and diagnosed as having a big kidney stone but, more significantly, also a fractured sacrum. She will be on her back for the next six weeks.

So the holiday has basically consisted of four hours of hospital visits each day and dashing about doing stuff in between. Still this is a better pattern of activity than Pat faces, being laid up in country foreign to her and surrounded by people using a language she does not know.

And stuff has got done: the dreaded "bash my head everyday" canopy over the cooker and kitchen sink - has gone, the gradually falling to bits and falling off the wall, kitchen cabinet has gone and replaced with a handsome glass fronted wall cabinet, Leroy Merlin have breathed a sigh of relief as their takings go up, my bike has new handlebars and a shopping basket on the front, we bought two safety helmets for when we are biking, we had a decent 60 minute bike ride and I discovered the cycle route to Esnande, the patio table has new "legs" as I managed to saw through one of the trestles during the DIY, the coat hooks in the main bedroom are up, we cooked moule for the first time - with some success from a Nigel Slater recipe using cider, I fell of the desk stool and broke it, the dehumidifier has stopped auto draining.

But perhaps best in the week was that we were able to recover a bit of the holiday feeling by celebrating Mary T's 65th birthday with an excellent evening at Les Flots in Chatillion Plage and then enjoyed a superb meal at Andre's Bistrot (salle de pientures) on Tuesday - her last night here. What a birthday holiday for her!

Sheila will be flying back next Friday and I will come back on May 1st. We will be based here until May 9th when we will get the car back to England.

The canopy is gone.....

...I have defintely consigned the canopy to the past and we are well on the way to finshing the project. My DIY skills are not really up to the task in terms of finesse, or even quality, or even as a bodger. I have taken lots of pictures....and I have lots of plasters on my fingers.....

The house and things are holding up well

So Pat is in hospital with a fractured sacrum and likely to be laid up, flat on her back, for about the next six weeks. We are gearing up to be around as much as possible during that time. F&A are fully involved and so it is very likely the house will actually occupied by one or some of us right through to the end of May.

Yesterday I had problems with the oil heater and even though the weather is improving it would be good to be able to rely on it as a method for the pretty rapid heating of the downstairs during the inevitable cold snaps to come.

Our caretaker reported a couple of problems: a water leak in the garage and the dehumidifier not auto emptying. I think I have traced the leak to the washing machine supply pipe and may have solved that - testing underway. As to the dehumidifier it may have been a blocked drain or possibly that it was not on a level surface. Testing of this is undeway in the garage. I have noticed just what a heat difference it makes and can understand why it is so effective in the winter.

As previously commented the "Easter" project was to do something about the canopy over the cooking and sink area. Fair progress has been made and before and after picture should soon appear.

Not quite the trip we expected

Easter time in La Rochelle is defiently a quiet time.
Work started to revamp the canopy over the cooker and kitchen sink area and to replace the "failing" wall cupboard in the same area. Early in the execution we decided to do a complete removal of the canopy and end for once and all the chances of me or anyone else hitting their heads on it.
Good progress during "morning one" with Mary T playing a key supporting role. Pictures will follow. We can get more done duting today but will need the DIY stores to reopen on Tuesday to finish off.

Sixteen and a half

In sixteen and a half days Anika will be setting off for the house with Pat and Mary and a couple of days later I will be joining them for a full week of holiday.
A bit like last year we are getting estimated bills from EDF that assumes someone is living there all the time. So we have investigated things a bit and it looks like we can get an external meter reader installed for about 80 euro. Our caretaker is taking things in hand.

Here is a reminder of refuse collection and disposal stuff from our "manual".

Household Rubbish Collection.
The recycle collection is on Wednesday morning(about 8.00am) and all recyclables, plastic, cans, aluminium trays, cartons, newspapers, magazines, should be put into a yellow refuse bag.
There is are collections on Monday and Friday mornings, about 8.00am.
The rest of the refuse (except glass) should be left in "black"plastic bag outside the front door where it can be seen will be picked-up.
Bottles (and glass) should not be put in with the regular rubbish but taken to the various glass recycle points. There is one at the decheterie (see above), one on the road out of Marsilly to Esnande and one on the road down to the "Port".

A month rolls by...

It is going to be Easter before we are back in Nantilly and if our plans are fulfilled we will have Mary T and Pat with us. As I write this it is 61 days to go before the ferry departs and a couple of days after that when I fly in to join them. We got through the autumn with an empty house OK and now with one month of winter gone we have had no alarms. Winter will be done by the time we are back and hopefully we will see signs of spring.

Rushing around to leave for the ferry...

......need I say more? Anika is off getting the breakfast M&A are doing the chores (including disposing of the redundent Calimari) and I am enjoying a cup of coffee. That's the way to start a journey!

The penultimate day of our holiday

Le Petit Dejeuner in the Cafe de la Paix in Place Verdun followed by a bit of shopping here and there gets the last day of the holiday underway. We needed two trips to Eurodiff to sort out what we wanted as well as a trip to Carrefour. Gazole at 89.9 was a bit of a bargain and has set us up for the drive back to Caen in the morning.

It is bitterly cold unless you are well sheltered from the wind that is giving 5 degrees of wind chill.
Andre's Bistro by the old port for dinner tonight. and on balance it was a great night out. Good food, spotty service but great company. XXXXXX

Happy New Year, Happy New Year

We celebrated St Sylvestre in true local style mixed with a bit of "the mckays". A feast of fish and sparkling wine (coutesy of M&A): hot and spicy prawns with salad, clamari in a mirepoix sauce, foil roasted cod with smashed roast sweet potato and carrot. Followed by Christmas pudding, custard and brandy cream.
Just before midenight we ventured out and walked down to sqaure by Marsilly church brandishing our glowing disco sticks and ready with our Bon Nouvelle Annees. There and back we saw not a soul, but we did glimpse three halfhearted firework rockets. Even down at the community hall there was little life and signs were that the Fete was a bit of a small do.

Still the walk there and back was probably good for us and it set us up nicely to settle down in front of the tele and let the New Year in again in the company of Jools Hooland and his guests. Two for the price of one and this time toasted in champagne (again courtesy of M&A). HAPPY NEW YEAR

Ma belle soeur et moi had a decent two hour constitutional in the middle of the day but I'm afraid that the rest of the day was lazy and concluded with a dvd viwing of Mamma Mia, a jolly good way to end New Year's day.