I’m ok so long as I only want to type words containing the letters q, w, e, a, s and z. Expect some strange posts in the future….
Working from home just got that bit harder
6
Monthly Archives: July 2008
That’s entertainment
It was certainly an entertaining weekend.
On Saturday we entertained Nathalie (Joe’s teacher and the one who Lisa goes in to help with the English lessons) and her family. What a lovely family they are, and we had a really good time. We were a little concerned at our first major “night in” where we would only speak french, but I think we managed it pretty well. The dictionary was out, but we only referred to it on a couple of occasions and made ourselves understood for the rest of the night. Lisa made us all a beautiful meal and we finished the evening playing guitars and singing – something we haven’t done for ages, and we never thought we’d get chance to do again.
The kids meanwhile were off entertaining themselves with playstations and DVDs, breaking down the language barriers in the way that only kids can do. We had a wonderful night and hope to have many more. We are so lucky to count them as our friends after such a short time in the country, and especially sharing a love of music – something that has been sadly missing from our lives since we moved here.
So then we barely had had time to wash up from one evening’s entertainment (oh, to have a dishwasher) and we were preparing for our next guests on Sunday. This time it was an ex-work-colleague of Lisa’s. Helen and her family come to France every year and this year they were coming to Les Sables d’Olonne. As this is only just over an hour from us, it was great that they could come over and see us.
Once again, we had a lovely day. They have two lovely daughters who got on really well with our three – amazing as this was the first time they had met. By the end of the day they were trading MSN addresses and promising to keep in touch. I had finally got some legs for the old door that we salvaged in order to construct a big rustic table, so we set this up on the field, under the gazebo, and ate another lovely meal our there. We ended up all playing cards and taught each other new games to play – great fun. Sadly the €3 trestle legs the table was resting on started collapsing as the games got more vigorous, so it’s back to the drawing board on that one, but luckily we had another more substantial table to work with.
It was another fantastic day, just the kind of weekend we love, surrounded by great friends. Its funny how you really get to know people so much better when you see them out of their normal environment. We have noticed this with the friends and family that have visited us here previously, but it was especially evident yesterday. Helen had worked in the same school as Lisa, but they had never really socialised before. And the rest of us barely knew the rest of the family. But by the end of the day we felt like we were old friends and hoping to meet up again soon.
And of course, we ourselves have been entertained by our two new additions. Charlie and Lola have settled in well to their new home and are really starting to feel like part of the family. Charlie is clearly the biggest trouble-maker, finding the best places to explore and hide, then calling Lola over to join in. As I write this, they have managed to find the shelf under my desk and are both asleep there cuddled up together. I have the feeling that I may have this kind of company whenever I work from now on, which is really rather nice.
Welcome, Charlie and Lola
So I told you all about our fun with Tickle during out holiday and how the kids were all desperate to get a cat of their own. I faithfully putout the word on the Pet forums at AngloInfo and TotalFrance, and several kind folks answered the call. Most promising of these was Jaqueline, who runs the Magnolia Chambres D’Hotes near Jonzac. She had rescued Pickle and her 5 kittens from a nearby barn and was looking to home the babies.
The kittens were all beautiful so last night we said we would come over to take a look at them before deciding which one, or maybe two, to have. However, we wouldn’t be able to take them home as we had no equipment for them and we have lots of days out planned for the next few weeks. Jaqueline and John made us very welcome. While we chatted over a coffee, the kittens gradually all came out of hiding and did their best to entertain us. We had already picked one out – Charlie, the most lively of the bunch. But when we saw them playing together we knew they would only be happy in a pair. The question then was which one…
Lisa had lots of cuddles with Sooty, and we were about to claim her, until she got hold of Patch. Well, Lisa was smitten, and, I have to say, Patch did look very comfy. Everyone agreed, we would take Charlie and Patch. The only thing to do was change Patch’s name as we weren’t too fond of it. So, in a bit of Cbeebeies-inspired genius, I came up with Lola. Charlie and Lola.
As I suspected would happen, once we had decided it didn’t feel right leaving them behind. And Jaqueline said that they would be ok to be left for the day so long as they have food and water and a safe place to stay. So that sealed it. They gave us a cardboard box to transport them, a box for a bed and a selection of food to get them through the evening & next morning and sent us on our way.
And so that was it, we were pet-owners once again and I think these 2 little scamps will have a big impact on our lives, hopefully in a positive way. Thanks Jaqueline and John. The kittens are lovely and seem to be very happy in their new home. Rest assured I will keep you all updated on their progress here.
All-change in handball teams
We sadly missed the AGM of the Foussais handball club as it was the night before we went on holiday. From the look of the photo, it looks to have been an exciting night 
Thankfully our friends went and brought us back all the news.
Once we have got medical certificates for the kids (everyone needs one from the doctor if you are going to play in a proper team) then the kids can join the club properly. Previously Molly was playing with the under-12s and Rosie was with the under 16s. There is now a proposition that, due to the way the numbers have worked out, that there should be an under-14s team, made up of some of the girls from the under-12s and Rosie. This sounds fine with us – only 1 set of training sessions, one set of tournaments. Nice and easy!
[OuestFrance.fr - Handball : un club en progression , Foussais-Payré 08/07/2008 (ouest-france.fr)]
Carcassonne: A quick holiday overview
I know there’s nothing worse than boring people senseless with holiday photos and videos and “First we went here, then we went there, then we did that…” kind of stories, so I’ll not bother with all that. I’ll just give you an overview of some of the highlights. (Though if you do want all 600+ photos, go see my Flickr account here: www.flickr.com/photos/aragornsbeard)
Firstly, the landscape is stunning. Les Montagnes Noir to the north, the Pyrenees to the south and fields and fields of vines and, towards the end of the holiday, sunflowers. Just beautiful. And with all the hills around, there is no end of good viewpoints to enjoy it from. We drove up into the pyrenees and somehow managed to find ourselves driving up the biggest mountain in the region (2001m!). It was rather scary, but we felt rather proud that we had managed it.
Carcassonne itself is a city in 2 halves – la bastide and La Cité. La Cité is the ancient medieval walled city that has been restored into a magnificent structure that dominates the skyline. It’s a very magical place, steeped in history and legend. This region is Cathar country and La Cité was one of the few safe places for followers of this religion, until the crusaders arrived and wiped them out. La bastide is a slightly more recent addition, consisting of classic chessboard arrangement of streets around a central square. We spent several days exploring la cité, but never really visited the bastide very much this time around. I found la cité to be a fascinating place, and I love the history and folklore around it. After a while I did start to find it a little too commercialised though, with every street stuffed full of shops and restaurants. But i guess this is necessary if the tourists are going to keep the place alive.
Bastille Day was amazing. We joined thousands of other people gathered around la cité to watch the most spectacular firework display we have ever seen. Huge fireworks lit up the entire sky with a million tiny stars, bursting into different colours and patterns. At one point the whole of la cité seemed to be on fire! Quite incredible.
We went to Foix to watch the end of stage 11 of the Tour de France, which was another really great experience. We had imagined getting quite bored waiting hours for the riders to flash by in 10 seconds flat, but in fact the build-up was the best part of the day. There 
were people giving our freebies all day – water, hats, bags, sweets, foam hands, keyrings… all manner of stuff was given out. There was dancing, singing, competitions… such a great atmosphere, that the race itself really became just a side-show. As it was,the riders did race past in 3 seconds flat and we barely saw them, but it was a great day nonetheless.
We enjoyed having a pool all to ourselves. The kids had a whale of a time and we had several night of late-night silliness round it.
The house has a cat, Tickle. Before the holiday we were not really bothered about cats, but, having spent 2 weeks with this ginger tabby, we are all smitten. She really won us over and very quickly became part of the routine. So much so that the only way we could get the children to leave the house was by promising them that we would get a cat of our own when we returned. What a transformation! So if you live near me and you have a spare cat you would like to be re-homed, drop me a line.
Overall we had a wonderful time and look forward to hopefully returning again next year as there is still so much to explore. If anyone is looking for a new region to visit, I would certainly reccomend Carcassonne.
