First Week

We had a brilliant train journey down to Agen, from Paris to Agen it took exactly four hours! And no wonder travelling at speeds of 300 kms per hour, definitely the way to travel and the train was clean and comfortable to boot.
We were picked up by our close friend Julie who kindly brought us home. When we got to the house it was perfect, the grass was short and the house was spotless and cob web free so what more could we want, it is strange to be back almost as though we hadn’t left, as suspected we missed out on all the fruit and nuts in the garden except for a few tail end figs (which were delicious) and also the permissions which are beginning to mature may even be able to eat some before we leave again. I was about to say the pond is dry (well muddy actually) but it is raining at the moment and Terry said he is not a happy chappy as he was hoping to lever out the huge limestone blocks for his folly before the pond filled up with water!!!! Back to the garden, there are big patches of beautiful yellow crocuses scattered around the garden the main flower colour the rest of the colour is the magnificent autumn leaves on the trees quite stunning, us poor colonials in Australia don’t really get a season change so it is quite beautiful to see the yellows, oranges and reds. Our tomatoes are still growing and we have even eaten some of the ripe ones with more to come, there are still some more courgettes growing, not quite self sufficient but hey.... what can we expect!!!
Still in the garden (sorry can’t help myself) .... the moles are still here, we managed to control one side of the back paddock with our last visit, not sure if you remember the fiasco with the smoke bombs and pellets, well not sure if we have a colony of moles or they are just moving from one part of the garden to the other. War has now been declared with a slight tinge of ‘who has the most perseverance or who is the master of this fine estate” anyway we are now using explosives!!!!! We meet up with some ex pat Brits that we had we met on our last visit and was given inside knowledge on how to be the Victors in this war and it was an electronic device bought at the local Gamm Vert (Bunnings, B & Q), nearly 100 euros later Terry is in his element fighting the war over the mole. Last night he set his first explosive on the mole hill nearest to house (they are getting closer) and about 10 pm we heard the bang, but this morning there is no sign that the explosive actually went off, I will keep you posted.
We had a pleasant evening with Liz and Richard (Ex pat Brits) and got up to date with all the local gossip!! And what is going on over the next four weeks, including the weekly Roontondial (probably not spelt like that but that is how it sounded) it is a weekly 20 km trek, so we are looking at getting involved with that it is only once a week thank goodness, we have also been asked to come as guests singers with the local choir, I didn’t mention that I went on a course called ‘singing for non singers” and got thrown out as my voice was so dreadful (joking) but was still a non singer at the end of the course. There is also a weekly memory/quiz meeting, well that is also out of the question considering Terry and my memories!!! We wouldn’t even complete the application form correctly (all in French).
Talking of French, I know we are back in France Terry is speaking really fluent English with a French accent (I don’t like to tell him the French don’t understand him) but the pro active couple we are, two days after arriving we had a two hour French lesson with a French teacher who was recommended to us by an American lady we met last visit. Michelle the French teacher is excellent, she had emailed me asking me what type of French we wanted to learn, is there more than one type??? So I replied social conversations (that sounded OK to me) we got there and she thought we wanted to discuss the political and economic climate in France, she quickly realised that two people who hardly knew how to say J’appelle Carol et Terry would not be able to discuss the new president of France let alone the budget. So luckily she is a flexible teacher and was quickly on the route of teaching us how to introduce ourselves, say where we lived, how many children we have and what we bought at the shops today, probably very familiar to those of you who had their first French lesson at primary school 5 years of age!!!!! We are booked in again for next Monday, so we will see how we go, I only had to kick Terry once for trying to tell Michele how to run the lesson and interrupting all the time. (His enthusiasm gets the better of him).
We went for a coffee in Nerac on Monday and bumped into a local who we met before and had coffee with him and found out some more local gossip, how much this house sold for and how much that house sold for, he renovated a house in SOS and has it up for sale so was very knowledgeable about prices. Anyway we are meeting him tomorrow for coffee in the village square in SOS, so will be able to post this blog. By public demand I have been informed you more photos, so I will endeavour to meet that request, not too many this blog, which reminds me the landscape is quite fantastic as it has taken on an ethereal effect with the mist and shadows, quite the extreme to the landscape in summer when it was bright and full of colour. Must go we are just off into Agen there is an Olympic sized swimming pool there so I am going to have a swim, Terry is taking his book as he does like swimming and apparently there is not a steam or sauna (which is what he does in Australia while I am swimming) so must be off.