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.

Well the bedroom is done

In a slightly stop and start fashion it has been a day of finishing things. The decorating of the bedroom is complete. Anika's bike is fixed and draught excluder has been affixed around the utility room door.
In addition mounds of fish and shellfish have been acquired for a St Sylvestre feast tonight and countless other bits of comestible and beverage bought in for New Year's Day.

A 90 minute bike ride in the afternoon seems to confirm the effectivness of the repair to Anika's bike. We cycled past the golf course and saw a number of hardy souls braving the chill sea breeze for the sake of a game.

Er, hmm, I think it's bike but not as we know it....

Any time now we will get started with decorating the bedroom...

Having repaired (I thought) Sheila's bike with a new pedal we set off to Esnandes for the breakfast baked goods and a return trip via Viviers to check on the opening times. Part one went without a hitch, part two was Ok but Viviers is closed until Easter and then the pedal fell off again. So it was 11.00 before we'd finished breakfast and now one more cup of coffee before the decorating begins.

Yesterday was MEDIA day

A whole bunch of things came together to encourage us to move the furniture around in the salon and this led to all the bits of media equipment finding convergence. The end of which mean we have the CD/DVD player set up to play throught the hi-fi as well as the dvd playing the video on the TV. In additon the Freesat TV also plays through the hi-fi as does the ipod. How "media" is that?

It's a long story, but here is the news

We now have TV!
It was a step by step process that started with the idea that in the winter, when it is dark and cold and we are 8kms away from night time entertainment, playing DVDs on the player that M&A gave us would be a nice thing to do. So the plan was formed to relocate the little tele from The Knoll to Nantilly. Step two was the thought that if the Freesat footprint reached the Charente Martime and since the previous owners left a sateliite dish on the house it could be an easy job to point it at Astra 28 and get those channels. (It does and it was) Step three; the government has introduced a TV licence tax that is added to the Taxe D'Habitation and one has to pay it and then persuade the Maire that you don't have a TV, not even a UK one incapable of receiving French tele and only plays DVDs!
Step four, five, six and seven, dish moved, Freesat box bought, tele relocated and last night I watched the ten o'clock news.

A day of and for travelling...

Mon frere and ma belle soeur departed Blackpool on Saturday morning to travel to Beckenham via Bradford to join us on the road to Portsmouth for the 20.15 ferry to St Malo. By the time we decanted onto the ferry they had been on the road for 12 hours with much of it in traffic jams on the M25.

A very good dinner on board was a good end to the day and a very smooth journey this morning down to Marsilly made part two of journey most acceptable. 12.30 and we were settling into the house and enjoying a cup of tea.

Other than a modest walk the rest of the day is spent zen-ing out after a few hectic days up to and across Christmas. It is cold and dry set to stay that way for the rest of the week.

Looking forward to December 27th

We will be taking the overnight ferry to arrive in the Charente Maritime around lunchtime. It is quite daunting to think that we have not been in the house now for the best part of three months. What will we find?

It will give us a chance to examine the house painters work. The invoice has already been paid so let's hope it is all we hoped for.

Also, much to our surprise we are taking a freesat box with us and a small telly to see if we can get the digital channels of freesat. I hope it works, something extra for the long cold nights of winter.

Also we hope to do a bit more decorating - the main bedroom and the upstairs landing and hallway so we will see how we get on. Then there are repairs needed to Sheila's bike before we can use it.

The brother and his wife are planning to join us so this might sideline some of the chores.

New Year in France; this will be the second time as we previously spent this time in Paris with Pat and Frank and let the New Year in in a lovely restaurant. Maybe I will look for some suitable decorations for the house.
Cheers