August 2011

Have I only written one blog since arriving in France three months ago? Sa vrai, so today I haven't got an excuse but to sit down and write. Since my last communication in June we have been very busy with visitors and traveling, to avoid making this a boring ole travel log I will briefly high light our journeys. We had a week away in mid France near Noirt where we went to watch the amazing and spectacular Puy du Fou, where we meet up with Helene and Dudley, Chris and Dave, if you haven't been you must go. We have cycled and conquered another section of the canal du midi with Dei and Rick we cycled from Toulouse to Carcassonne and finally, last week were turned from Portugal where we spent a great few days with Chris and Tracy in their villa on the Algarve followed by a slow drive back and staying in Lisbon, Porto and San Sebastian.

We are so very very fortunate to be able to do these things and such great friends to spend our time with.

That's the travel log done.

We have had some very different experiences this year with various animals in the garden, when we arrived in France we had a pole cat /pine Martin/ fuiene in our roof and between the floors of the house. If you have ever had a possum in your roof this is very similar ie noise, smell, prolific breeding (not sure about the possum on that one) and they are awful to get rid of, so we had to call in the services of the local pest controller. He pulled up in his Rolls Royce and designer gear - sorry he should have done considering what he charges! He proceeded in putting around poison bait boxes and left with the instructions to ring him if the pole cat is still there! We think that's what he said as he only spoke rapido French, Terry eventually found the corpse and a few other animals in one spot so all we can decide is that the pest controllers French instructions were understood by the offending pests. Capet is now pest free except for the bats behind the shutters and new terrace, the feral cats, the feral goats, a stranded baby hawk, a lost dog and a stray deer. We are thinking of renaming ourselves Capet wild life park. Only joking really. I forgot to mention The Return of The Mole/s, yes, battle has commenced, explosives on hand and fully charged the score so far

Terry plus bodies 2

Terry no body 3

Moles - 12 bloody great piles on dirt on the lawn as we speak

Is the war being lost – “no will get the buggars" exclaimed the intrepid mole hunter!

Talking of strange animals, we booked into a spa hotel in Porto and found the pool and Jacuzzi closed for repairs but the steam and sauna rooms were working, as the 'beautician' (I put her in inverted commas as it was debatable whether she was a man needing a shave or a women needing hormones! ) I digress; as she/he was showing us around I asked if the other Jacuzzi was working (one that I could see in a little room next to a steam room) "no, no" she hurriedly replied as she tried to move us away. So when she left us have our steam session (which I decided against due to the amount of algae growing on the wall and the dreadful smell)oh sorry I digress again, we looked into the room with the Jacuzzi and sitting in the corner of the spa was a huge sea slug! My question to you is a) did it crawl up the drainpipe or b) is it he/she's pet or c) a source hormone treatment that isn't working?

To change the subject completely, probably a good idea, I hear you say. We are still taking weekly French lessons from the Dutch women from New Zealand (work that one out!) Terry continues to use the French lesson to talk (in English of course) to his expat buddies, it goes like this " well Jerry I hear there is a new road to Bordeaux" this is interrupted at least twice by our French teacher Nicole " OK, now Terry could you tell me in French what we have been doing" his reply " you know Nicole I don't do homework in my house" " So Jerry do you know if that road it much quicker?" and so it goes on, poor Nicole, then she actually tells Mr not in my house Terry that he could be a natural French speaker as his pronunciation and accent is very good!

Talking of speaking French we went to aperitifs with a dozen French people this week where everyone was only speaking French, it's quite surprising how much French we do know when we have to speak it all night. So with the classes we do in Oz and here maybe the brain is actually absorbing something! …and that note we have got to go and get ready for another night market, canard and frites anyone??????

Photos from our last three months in France

Capet with zoom lens!

Vianne Night Market, Philippe, Dad and Terry

Chris and Tracy

Finish the Canal du Midi

Puy Du Fou - The Secret of the Lance

Family - Mums 80th Birthday at Capet

First French Blog for 2011

Click on photos to enlarge

Kittens found in the garden under a bush

Garden at Capet

Our cherry tree

Covent Gardens

Our garden at 8pm

Chris, Helene, June and Christian

Getting ready for The Parade

Goring Hotel, where Kate got ready for her wedding

Terry and his Dad waiting for a train for London

Tall ship, The Belfast and Tower Bridge

After spending a great few days in the UK we have arrived in France, but to give an update on our few days in UK, on Sunday seven of us got a train to London with our bikes as there was a procession of the horse guards and as I was still on a high after Kate and Willy's wedding it was a real buzz to actually cycle down the mall where only one week before the royal couple had been cheered along by thousands of well wishers. I still can't believe we actually cycled ON the streets of London along with buses and taxis, initially quite scary but really quite exciting. We cycled around Buc palace ( as the locals call it), outside Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Eye and then through Hyde park. Great!!!! The reason we went to the UK was really to celebrate Terry's Dad's 85th birthday, which we did in style by taking him (once again) up to London on the train, then a couple of hours on a sightseeing double decker bus around the sights, lunch, then a West End show called the Jersey Boys, about the life of Frankie Valle and the 4 Seasons it was brilliant followed by dinner after the show, considering Ron was 85 that day he was amazing not only keeping up with us but also singing along with the show, he knew all the words ..... Sherreee, Sherry baabe!........Let's hang on to what we got........

We got the ferry across the channel and drove the 8 1/2 hrs down to our house, the French toll roads are fantastic, we averaged a slow 130 kph, I say slow because we felt like we were going very slow when we were being overtaken by cars going at least 150 kph!!!!

We arrived at the house very late at night, but by the morning OMG the house and gardens look beautiful as if we had only been away overnight not six months. Mercy beau coup Diane and Philippe.

The wildlife of rural France has been very evident around Capet, firstly our welcoming sound of the cuckoo, even a couple of ducks on the pond (a first), wild goats on the road down to our house, a family of foxes of which one of the cubs had taken residence in our greenhouse, then low and behold today we family a mother cat and four of her babies nestled in one of our bushes and the beautiful sounds of the singing birds. Yesterday we picked a large bowl of cherries from our trees probably another first as the pesky birds usually get there before us.

Unfortunately, I have had a severe dose of laryngitis and it looks as though Terry is getting a cold, this has slowed us down a bit but in a couple of days we should be able to resume our French lifestyle, all our plans of cycling and exercise has been put on the back burner for a few days.