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.