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