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!