The trouble with shopping on the internet....

...is that what turns up may be a bit different to how you expect.... but at least I'm not the albino gnome any more....and what is more lads I am getting the whiff of chocolate banana cake.. get yourselves up here! 






That's better - I reckon the cake is in the box

Bonjour a partir des gnomes

Hey this www is great, I am ordering some clothes pour the nouveau bloke....ah you can keep zee netbook, thiz tablet (avec le android OS) est superb...quelle est cette chose skype?

With the roads clear we take a lunchtime trip down the coast

....and back to La Rochelle for lunch. Everything is startling clear in the sharp winter sun.

We have a new plaque on the wall to welcome all comers and a detail from the Swiss guard (or so they claimed) to keep and eye on the wine cellar.

A busy morning dans la cuisine

Je me demande ce qui est dans les escaliers?

Hi ho hi ho it's off here we go.......les humans want to talk to vous

Well it has been all go since we arrived in Nantilly. Lots of things to unpack from the car and a house that needed to warm up. We got the fire going early on, especially since we kept hitting the limit of our electricity puissance.

The car journey from Beckenham to Portsmouth was a bit trying. Very busy with traffic and we had to take a long way round because of bad problems on our preferred route. Usually we do the journey in less than two hours,  even close to an hour and a half. Friday's journey was two and a half hours.

The ferry was very quiet and we had a relaxing dinner in the restaurant and then retired to the bar to listen to "Over Easy" - a duo who performed nightmare versions of songs we thought we kinda recognised????

Arrival in St Malo was a very civilized 7.15/8.15 and with the ferry being so quiet we were off the boat and through the Border Control and on the road by 7.30/8.30. Four hours later we were unlocking the door of 8 Rue de Nantilly.

Once unpacked and had the house on the way to being warm, we took a stroll to the shops and picked up a few essentials and decided that it was so cold that a lazy night in was in order. Back at the house and Les Gnomes who seen to be taking over!

Hey so zis iz what we look like.... we gotta do zumthing about ezz clothes!

White Out in Nantilly

 Dimanche matin et le neige est ici aussi!

Dans La Cuisine avec Les Gnomes

Core this is a bit of alright - 'e can cook as well! We are going to ave to do zumthing about his clothes though. (And it is really warm here as well)

A Message from Les Gnomes de Nantilly

We don't know where he came from - but we know e haz saved us. All hail Zee Gnome dans Blanc. There's no going back - to the garden in zee freezing cold. Gnomes of France Unite - Equality, Liberty, Gnomety

Bonjour, les gnomes veulent parler

Nous sommes les gnomes et il est temps pour l'action directe. Que dites-vous? Pas tout le monde lire le français, mon dieu, c'est terrible, oui, oui, oui
Ello, ello, theese iz zee gnomes ere - stand up Henri, they wiill zink you rrr drunk - we want to make our position clear. Pourquoi sommes-nous laissé de côté dans tout la monde quand tout le reste est pris à l'intérieur pour l'hiver? Eh quelle? En Anglais! Okay. Ze weather may be mild now but there is winter to come and we think we should be inside! Even the table and chairs get to spend winter undercover so we demand the same for us. Zo take note! And zank you to the kind lady who offered us a job in ze librairie, can it be a job share?

Mild so far, bitter later

No it is not an order for drinks in a retro Yorkshire pub but an observation on the weather. The nice Mr & Mrs Miller called in to check me out and do a bit of weeding, not sure if the vines will see out the winter. The de-humidifier is humming, its a bit of company really in the quiet winter months, and a couple of the radiators are on at a low level. That should keep the damp and condensation at bay.
And oh yes the gnomes are talking about forming a union to campaign for better conditions!