BONJOUR!
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:11 pm
Hi all. Following a nudge from the Silver Zipper, I thought it was about time I got back on here and updated you on our French progress. (For newbies, Haze and I and Sammy the dog left the UK for France in June). It’s not been easy to get onto t’internet as we don’t have a connection at home yet, and the nearest public access point is 10 miles away. Oh, and French keyboards have all the letters in the wrong place!
Virtually the first thing we were told, on the day we arrived, was that the drains were no longer appropriate, now that we have a lovely new filtration plant. The Mayor, who is the kind of know-it-all busybody you’d expect of a politician, seemed to take great delight in breaking the news. While I’ve been digging up drains, Haze has been putting the garden in some sort of order, although the serious veggie planting will take a little while yet – gotta be self-sufficient when you’ve got almost naff-all money coming in.
Before we left Haze sold her Mini Cooper through Auto Trader. After we got here we found out that the ‘bankers draft’ was a forgery and had bounced. Much to our surprise the car was recovered by the police. Despite our assumption that it would be out of the country by now, it had been ‘sold’ to someone in Staffordshire. Now the new ‘owners’ are claiming that the car is rightfully theirs and Haze is going to have to sue them to get her own car back - WTF!
Sammy got bitten by an adder in our front garden. It was all very upsetting at the time, as the vet was very pessimistic, pronouncing all sorts of future problems as the venom shut down his system. However he’s obviously more used to pouffy French poodles than robust British mutts, so after a week of looking really gross (imagine John Prescott), Sammy is now back to usual his handsome self.
Apart from the work around the house we’ve been mainly walking and cycling, although a lot of days it’s too bl**dy hot to do much at all. We expected to do a lot more visiting towns, chateaux, markets etc but living here, rather than trying to cram everything into a fortnight’s holiday, has meant that there’s less pressure to try to do everything. Most of our visiting has been little towns and villages within half an hour or so, although we did do a motorbike tour of Mont Ventoux -SEE PHOTOS
At this time of year there’s lot’s of little festivals on, most of which involve boules, food and some godawful covers band. What is nice is having the time to discover places by chance – it’s amazing how much of your local area you can miss by rushing around. On recommendation we went to a festival, which wasn’t up to much but on the way back we found a lovely village restaurant which has it’s own swimming pool, so you can cool off, then dine. Then, on the way out of the village we found the perfect, picture postcard lavender field. We sat for a while and looked at the views across the valley and I don’t mind admitting we got quite emotional (and that wasn’t just the carafe of red at lunchtime).
We’re doing our best to try and enter into village life, which usually involves boules and booze, though we’re trying to volunteer to help out with more constructive local activities. We got invited to ‘aperitifs’ one Sunday lunch, by Jasmine, daughter of Francoise who is someone at the very heart of the village, celebrating her 30th. Aperitifs (about 50 people from all over) consisted of two hours of drinks and nibbles followed by two hours of drinks, food and ribald singing followed by two hours of drinks and boules! We collapsed at home in the evening (with more drinks -oops!)
Other bike tours we’ve done have been up to Lac Serre Poncon and Col de Rousset, above Gap - SEE PHOTOS-. Some of the roads are quite gnarly and give your wrists and butt a good work-over, but there’s also miles of snakey, smooth tarmac which is great for removing the last vestiges of chicken-strips. Visitors to Chauvac are of course extremely welcome and can have a guided tour of the best roads near and far!
We’ve also celebrated an anniversary while we’ve been here. Last year when we came back from holiday at the end of July, Hazel moved in with me! So, in the spirit of finding any old excuse to consume champagne, we celebrated our ‘1st’ on 27th July. So, after a day relaxing at the swimming lake we opened a few bottles, Haze prepared a huge chicken feast and we both dressed up for dinner – though some people made more effort than others - SEE PHOTO !!!
So that’s a whirlwind roundup of what we’ve been up to. Nothing startling, ‘cos at the end of the day we’re living here so most days are quite routine (despite our promise to ourselves to whoop it up on a three month bender). We’re a lot browner, a little bit fitter and possibly a bit trimmer, thanks to the lack of Abbot Ale. We’re trying to tread a little more lightly on the planet, by consuming less of everything – not entirely altruistically, as every day without heating is another two fingers up to British Gas. There’s a certain gratification in picking up the odd bit of wood for the stove and watering the garden from the village pump and the free cherries and apricots come in handy too.
So that’s all for now. We’d love to hear from you, or welcome you in person.
Simon and Haze. XX
PS i'M HAVING TROUBLE UPLOADING PICS AT THE MOMENT, SO GO TO MY FLICKR SITE FOR SOME VISUALS.
PPS The SV is too powerful to register in France (100hp limit) so I may have to have it restricted - or downgrade to a Storm! (joke)I
Virtually the first thing we were told, on the day we arrived, was that the drains were no longer appropriate, now that we have a lovely new filtration plant. The Mayor, who is the kind of know-it-all busybody you’d expect of a politician, seemed to take great delight in breaking the news. While I’ve been digging up drains, Haze has been putting the garden in some sort of order, although the serious veggie planting will take a little while yet – gotta be self-sufficient when you’ve got almost naff-all money coming in.
Before we left Haze sold her Mini Cooper through Auto Trader. After we got here we found out that the ‘bankers draft’ was a forgery and had bounced. Much to our surprise the car was recovered by the police. Despite our assumption that it would be out of the country by now, it had been ‘sold’ to someone in Staffordshire. Now the new ‘owners’ are claiming that the car is rightfully theirs and Haze is going to have to sue them to get her own car back - WTF!
Sammy got bitten by an adder in our front garden. It was all very upsetting at the time, as the vet was very pessimistic, pronouncing all sorts of future problems as the venom shut down his system. However he’s obviously more used to pouffy French poodles than robust British mutts, so after a week of looking really gross (imagine John Prescott), Sammy is now back to usual his handsome self.
Apart from the work around the house we’ve been mainly walking and cycling, although a lot of days it’s too bl**dy hot to do much at all. We expected to do a lot more visiting towns, chateaux, markets etc but living here, rather than trying to cram everything into a fortnight’s holiday, has meant that there’s less pressure to try to do everything. Most of our visiting has been little towns and villages within half an hour or so, although we did do a motorbike tour of Mont Ventoux -SEE PHOTOS
At this time of year there’s lot’s of little festivals on, most of which involve boules, food and some godawful covers band. What is nice is having the time to discover places by chance – it’s amazing how much of your local area you can miss by rushing around. On recommendation we went to a festival, which wasn’t up to much but on the way back we found a lovely village restaurant which has it’s own swimming pool, so you can cool off, then dine. Then, on the way out of the village we found the perfect, picture postcard lavender field. We sat for a while and looked at the views across the valley and I don’t mind admitting we got quite emotional (and that wasn’t just the carafe of red at lunchtime).
We’re doing our best to try and enter into village life, which usually involves boules and booze, though we’re trying to volunteer to help out with more constructive local activities. We got invited to ‘aperitifs’ one Sunday lunch, by Jasmine, daughter of Francoise who is someone at the very heart of the village, celebrating her 30th. Aperitifs (about 50 people from all over) consisted of two hours of drinks and nibbles followed by two hours of drinks, food and ribald singing followed by two hours of drinks and boules! We collapsed at home in the evening (with more drinks -oops!)
Other bike tours we’ve done have been up to Lac Serre Poncon and Col de Rousset, above Gap - SEE PHOTOS-. Some of the roads are quite gnarly and give your wrists and butt a good work-over, but there’s also miles of snakey, smooth tarmac which is great for removing the last vestiges of chicken-strips. Visitors to Chauvac are of course extremely welcome and can have a guided tour of the best roads near and far!
We’ve also celebrated an anniversary while we’ve been here. Last year when we came back from holiday at the end of July, Hazel moved in with me! So, in the spirit of finding any old excuse to consume champagne, we celebrated our ‘1st’ on 27th July. So, after a day relaxing at the swimming lake we opened a few bottles, Haze prepared a huge chicken feast and we both dressed up for dinner – though some people made more effort than others - SEE PHOTO !!!
So that’s a whirlwind roundup of what we’ve been up to. Nothing startling, ‘cos at the end of the day we’re living here so most days are quite routine (despite our promise to ourselves to whoop it up on a three month bender). We’re a lot browner, a little bit fitter and possibly a bit trimmer, thanks to the lack of Abbot Ale. We’re trying to tread a little more lightly on the planet, by consuming less of everything – not entirely altruistically, as every day without heating is another two fingers up to British Gas. There’s a certain gratification in picking up the odd bit of wood for the stove and watering the garden from the village pump and the free cherries and apricots come in handy too.
So that’s all for now. We’d love to hear from you, or welcome you in person.
Simon and Haze. XX
PS i'M HAVING TROUBLE UPLOADING PICS AT THE MOMENT, SO GO TO MY FLICKR SITE FOR SOME VISUALS.
PPS The SV is too powerful to register in France (100hp limit) so I may have to have it restricted - or downgrade to a Storm! (joke)I
