Back from a super trip

We perhaps cut it as bit fine in terms of leaving for the airport, waiting until 5.00pm for the 6.00pm flight. Well we have done that before but this time we were down by the old port in La Rochelle and not on Rue de Nantilly. Still we made it.
One small note - true to form one of the few shops we have in Marsilly was closed for its holidays during our stay - as the photo attests. This time it was the tabac

A new commercial centre for Marsilly

We have been tracking the housing development (La Motte Brulee) that is taking place in the big field behind La Poste and now we find that a new commercial centre is also planned. The picture shows the sign board that has been erected by La Poste about the development. The news dominates the March edition of M@rsilly Actu - which itself has been transformed into a new glossy format. If i understand it (the french) the buildings will be complete by the end of 2010 and will include a Boulangerie, Boucherie - charcuterie - traiteur, superette, salon de coiffure, Estheticiene, Flueriste, Agence Immobiliere and Pizzeria.....

I think I have read that businesses will be relocating so some of the list may be certain and some speculative. It seems that the local maire has been wanting to "recentre" the econonic actvities of the village and to increase the population. (The mind boggles.) It seems that the first part of the development began in 2003.

Well isn't that interesting?

Wonderful weather and a road trip to Rochefort

After a late start we decided against golf in favour of a visit to Rochefort. It is a lovely and interesting town. Before setting off I made sure the wee lads in the yard were repositioned.

The Arsenal and shipyard were pretty busy with school groups. The Ropery was closed because it was flooded in the storm and it will be May 1st before it is fully open.

Just when are the ides of March?

There were 181 people on Sunday on the plane over - so quite busy then, and many of them were plainly french returning from a short trip to London. We had a on time departure, early arrival and whistled through the arrivals so quick that the man from Hertz had not arrived at his desk. There was a line of four people waiting by the time he did pop up but fortunately we were at the front.

No 8 was fine and we dropped off our things and then scuttled about in search of cash and food. First stop was le distributeur in Esnande but it was boarded up and not available. We set off down the road that goes down to the shore where Les Viviers is but the road was closed and we followed a very minor road back to Marsilly. Nueil provided us with a cash machine and the Pizza place in Lagord with dinner and some wine. Along the way we checked out Zocolo - the Tex Mex place - and although the bar was open they were not doing food.

Back in Nantilly we lit the fire - a certain amount of rubble came down the chimney when we opened the vent so we might need to look at this. As the picture shows the wee lads in the yard got blown about a bit but no damage was done. Come Monday morning we discovered that one of the hand basins in the bathroom is leaking from the pipework that carries the water away from the basin so we will need to take a look at that.

Monday was at leisure with a trip to La Rochelle and a drive down the coast to Fouras. Lots of activity in terms of repairing storm damage but little sign of any significant problems in Fouras, the main beaches looked fine. The weather was glorous throughout. Back in Nantilly and we walked down to the port and along the cliff top. Every carrelet has been damaged, most of them very badly - none look useable. We did a Carrefour sweep on the way back from Fouras and set ourselves up for dining in.

All in all a very pleasant day.

Looking forward to Sunday

Peter and friend Peter are bound for Nantilly on Sunday afternoon. It will be good to see the place after the big storm. Our housekeeper has been to no8 and reported that there are no obvious problems and it looks like the only casualty was a ceramic sun ornament that used to be on the wall into the courtyard. Note to self - remmebr to take such things down at the end of summer.
We are going to be there through to Thursday evening and hope to get in a round of golf, although the last report was that the golf course only had nine holes open after the storm.

The hum of the dehumidifier can be heard quietly in the background......
Nantilly Gnome 1, "Well, what do you think happened? One minute they were here and the house was warm and busy and the next they were gone?"
Gnome 2, "Dunno - but it is freezing here, you'd think they could have let us sit out the winter in the garage"
Gnome 3, "Humans! Hey what are those two up to behind your back?.....

Well the dehumidfier is humming away and keeping the house company since S&P flew back to England last night. We heard they made it back because Stansted missed the worst of the weather yesterday. We must say it is quiet without them.

Monday January 4th

Our last full day of this trip
We had a few domestic chores to get through but much so much so we went down to Chatelaillon - Plage and had a goody blowy stroll along the full length of the Boulevard de la Mer. Glorious winter sunshine, not too much wind and not very many folk around. We parked by the Casino on the main rue and walked through to the esplande, heading north to the very end (actually the begining) of the Boulevard, and beyond before turning around and walking the other end. There are at least three cafes / restaurants south of Les Flots although none look to be a patch on Les Flots. The one at the very end, Les Graines de Sable, does have a wooden deck on the beach which could be very nice in the season.

On the way back home we called in to the fish stall at the Le Clerc on the road to the hospital and bought irish moules for dinner tonight.

One of the chores was to get a new gas bottle as the one that powers the hob ran out the other day. We had our "spare" in stock so this was just a question of replacing the spare. It wiil be interesting to see how long this one lasts. As best as we can remeber the exhausted bottle was left by the Azzapardi's when we bought the house in December 2007.

Very cold again today - below freezing but we have not turned off the kitchen heater since we last got it going on Saturday afternoon so the downstairs has maintained a steady 20c throughout. Our flight back is scheduled to leave around 6.00pm so fingers crossed for it not being effected by the weather. we have rather a lot to do back in the UK.

Saturday January 2nd
Saturday morning was a trip to Rochefort where we strolled in the strong winter sun, wrapped with hats and gloves and scarves. We had to clear a hard frost from the car windows before we set off. we should try and remember to put the car in the garage tonight. It is about 40km from here and on an off season morning it was little more than a 35 minute drive.
Rochefort centre buzzed with locals doing their Saturday morning shopping and there was a decent street market on a road that intersected with the main shopping street. It looked as if it was a regular Saturday morning thing rather than anything seasonal.
On the square outside the Hotel de Ville an ice skating rink was in full swing and a rink side cafe was doing brisk business both inside and out. Elsewhere everything else was closing for lunch. Praise to provincial France that still believes a two and half hour lunch break on a Saturday is the best way to run a shop. I hope they don't hear of this in Dulwich.
A little bit of shopping for Sunday was needed on the way home and then back to tackle that kitchen heater. It was 14c in the kitchen when we came down this morning but after three goes we gave up trying to get the heater working and left for our trip to Rochefort. The most annoying thing is that when we got back and went through the same routine to light the thing, it fired up first time. A good thing too as the weather forecast indicates that it will only get colder throughout the rest of our stay.

Restaurant de la Paix, Chez Chocolat, Esnandes.
Lots to say on this, all quite positive. On the lunchtime we popped in and made the reservation the dining room was well populated with merry looking folk in groups of six and eight. The "winter" dining room would do about 24 covers and our corner table, laid for two, could easily have accommodated two more. I called it the winter dining room as we found out (on a trip to the loo) that there is a much larger dining room with big windows that overlooks a terrace, that overlooks the car park. In addition they have a pretty big function room. Another discovery was that in the vestaire of the main entrance (from the car park) there are two pinball machines and an arcade game.

Back in our pleasantly appointed dining room they where serving a restricted set of three menus as part of the Christmas and New year service. We knew this before we arrived as they had pointed it out to us when we made the reservation. We chose the 25euro (no choice) menu - the cheapest -this was smoked salmon, confit of duck, cheese, dessert but they happily accommodated Anika/Angela not eating duck with a fish alternative. It was certainly good enough to suggest a return visit, not least because it is only a five minute drive from Nantilly. We had made a reservation for 8.00pm but arrived about 7.45, this did not phase them and we went straight to our table. We found ourselves back in the car park just after 9pm. Ah did I mention - we were their only customers and a sign had appeared saying they would be closed for the next two weeks.

Sunday morning is 2c but feels like -2c and there is 60% chance of precipitation, thank goodness the Leeds v Manchester football match is on a TV channel we can get on the telly!

We did remember to put the car in the garage overnight. This turned out not to be too bright an idea as Peter managed to clip the front wing on the garage door post - such a small car and he was stone cold sober!

Rochefort Carousel