Monthly Archives: August 2008

Work, rest and play

Posted on by Richard
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Sorry folks, its been a while since my last post, so lets catch up on what’s been going on shall we?

Well, first off, after my posting about how lucky I was to be able to work from home so much, I have had several trips back to the UK just recently. These have generally been fairly painless affairs, although each time I leave home I do attach a psychological bungee cord to the gate-post so I can come back as quickly as possible.  As we are in the high season, I have a lot more flights to choose from and I have found the EasyJet routes to be quite useful. They do mid-day flights from La Rochelle to Gatwick with a return flight mid-morning from London. This really fits in much better with my needs as I can catch a flight to London and still get some time in the office the same day. Gatwick is closer to Maidenhead than Stansted, and the Gatwick Express train service is head-and-shoulders above the Stansted Express, which is the pits.

In fact, the whole EasyJet experience is so much nicer than that offered by RyanAir. The planes are more like normal planes, and not just big yellow tubes advertising the airline. The seats are a soothing grey, and not in-your-face yellow, and they have pockets in the back. In the pockets there is even a magazine! Yes, folks, its almost like being on a proper flight. The boarding process is better organised as well. With Ryanair you are either a priority boarder or not. Hence, there is always a huge scrum at the departure gate while people jostle to get in the best position to get the best seats. At least with EasyJet you are broken down into groups: Those that have requested “Special  Assistance”, those that have purchased “Speedy Boarding”, “Boarding group A” and “Boarding Group B”. Each group is boarded separately and in my experience it works much better.

So, work has kept me away from my blog for a while. There are changes going on which may affect me and I’ve had to give it a lot of attention recently. However, it’s not been all work and no play. We have had visitors too.

For the first time since February, my sister Kathryn and her family managed to come and see us. My brother-in-law Sam had broken his leg at doing something foolish (playing football actually, which just confirms my belief that exercise is bad for you…). So their planned trip was very much in the balance for a while. Thankfully they got the all-clear from the consultant and so they made the journey down to see us. We had a lovely time and our kids were delighted to see them, especially their nephews, who they haven’t seen since February.

While they were here we had a couple of days out.

On recommendation by Kevin D, we went to the Ile de Ré near La Rochelle. What a lovely island it is, although the €17 toll to cross the bridge is rather steep! We found a nice beach at La Flotte and had a great day doing the usual building of big sandcastles and playing in the sea. This day also saw the christening of our picnic-hamper-rucksack-thing, which Kathryn and Sam had bought us. It was very pleasant eating our lunch on the beach with proper plates, knives and a cheese-board. All very civilised! Sadly we had all managed to forget to bring a bottle of wine, so we failed to finish off the event in true style. Maybe next time :)

The Beach at La FlotteAs the sea started to come closer we decided to go for a walk along the sea-front up to the harbour. Sam, who is still on crutches as he has all sorts of pins sticking out of his leg, stayed behind to soak up some sun. The harbour was a very nice part of town, made all the better in Molly’s eyes by the inclusion of a Chi-Chi stall.

For the uninitiated, Chi-Chis are like long thin doughnuts and are totally gorgeous, freshly fried and caked in sugar. No good for the diet, but heavenly :)   Most seaside resorts sell them somewhere round here and we always like to indulge. Well, once has to support local businesses don’t you think?!

When we returned to the beach to join Sam, the sea had come right in, leaving a throng of people clinging on to the 10 square meters of sand that was left. It was all rather amusing, seeing the masses of people spilling off the beach and up the steps, onto the grass verge above. No-one was willing to give up on the sunshine, so they just escaped as far as necessary from the sea and plonked themselves down there to sunbathe. It looked rather like a refugee camp to be honest!

We were totally won over by Ile de Ré. It looks like a beautiful place and is certainly somewhere to come back to and explore further (preferably without the tourists ;) ).

We eventually toddled back to Foussais and enjoyed moules et frites once more. Lisa makes a very nice m&f, though she was inspired by those we had in Carcassonne to add lots more wine & garlic. Still she felt she hadn’t reached the same level of flavour, so next time there will be even more! When we visited Niort a while ago we tried Moules au Pineau, which was rather delightful too. Though it seems a bit of a waste to cook with Pineau… we’ll have to see.

Anyway, back to the visitors.

There was a fête in Maillezais on Sunday, so we went to explore. It seemed to be fairly busy, and there was the Yeovil Brass Band there, which we though would be fun. However we were a bit disappointed with what was there and the band only played a little during the day. The whole fête seemed to be focussed mainly on the evening’s concert by the brass band, and we weren’t really looking to stay out that long, so we moved on.
Maillezais fete
After our great night at Nieul the week before, we thought we would go back and see the village on a “normal” day. Well, it being Sunday, it wasn’t really normal as everything was shut, but at least we could explore a little. First things first though, we needed something to eat, so we stopped at the auberge near the abbey for a lovely meal. They certainly do know how to make good goats cheese salads round here :)

After starting the day quite cool, the weather really improved while we ate, and so we decided to head back home and let the kids jump in the pool. Yes, our pool is still standing, so far. I can’t remember if I have told you the tale, so I’ll fill you in another time.

We were very sad to say good bye to Kathryn, Sam and the boys. We always have a great time together and this one has seemed all-too-short. We’re already looking forward to the next time.

So there you go, it has been a busy few days and I’m sorry for neglecting you, my faithful readership. I’ll try to keep on the ball from now on :)

Nieul, Village de Lumière

Posted on by Richard
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On Saturday night we paid a visit to a most amazing evening of entertainment that was only 10 minutes from our door. Each year, the village of Nieul-sur-l’Autise is sealed off and puts on a evening of music, dance and many other entertainments from various eras of the village’s history.  All this is set throughout one of the most beautiful villages in the Vendee, with the backdrop the stunning 11th-century abbey. The evening is entitled “Nieul, Village de Lumière” and is a very well organised night out.Nieul-Sur-l'Autise

We arrived into the parking area, very well signposted and marshalled by some chaps in hi-viz jackets. Carcassonne could learn something from this for Bastille Day! Then, after paying a very reasonable €5 each for entry, we strolled into the village itself. What a beautiful place it was. Apparently the abbey was granted the title of Royal Abbey in the 12th century by Eleanor of Aquitaine, so the place is steeped in history. I have to say the abbey was truly stunning. It was a lovely clear summer’s evening and this gave the building a fantastic background. From every angle it was a picture-postcard scene. I could have taken hundreds of photos of it…

Nieul-sur-l'Autise

We walked through the abbey and the cloisters – some really amazing architecture and the gardens were beautiful. We’re not religious in any way, but there was certainly something about the building that was very peaceful – one could almost imagine the monks shuffling silently around hundreds of years ago.

Nieul-Sur-l'AutiseIn contrast, the shows that were dotted around the village were not so peaceful. Upon arival we were treated to “le french cancan” – yes, they say french rather than français! -  all screams and whoops and clapping wildly.

There was a flamenco dancer, some traditional French folk dancing and a live performance by a baroque group (I’m not sure if they called it baroque-and-roll, but it was quite jolly :) ). This gave way to a show based in the same period which featured various characters in fencing duels – nice to see some ladies taking part in this one!  There was also a brass band from the Napoleonic era playing traditional songs and firing VERY LOUD guns – a little more warning would have been appreciated chaps!

Nieul-Sur-l'AutiseThere was also a “dancing fountains” show, where fountains are played with lights and they weave patterns to music – this was very impressive. The path up to this show was lit by different coloured lights shining under umbrellas on the ground. I really liked this affect and was a great way to set the mood for the entertainment to come.

As the  darkness fell, the abbey and the surrounding buildings were lit up with combinations of lasers, lights and projections. The abbey itself had some amazing stained-glass effects projected onto its front elevation – something quite unusual but also beautiful.

There were various bars and restaurants around, and when it got to around 10pm were were getting peckish. It was then that we discovered the only bad thing about the evening – everyone had run out of chips! I know, what a nightmare! We had seen people walking round with some huge chip butties (sorry, “baguettes aux frites“) and by the time we got round to getting one they had all gone. We had to make do with a hot dog (well, just a bun for Lisa, being a veggie) and it was not really the same. Still, we got over our disappointment and managed to make it to midnight when the fireworks began.Nieul-Sur-l'Autise

Wow. What an incredible display. We thought the Bastille Day show at Carcassonne was good, but I think this show was at least an equal to it. Only 15 minutes long, but it was set to music and contrasted lively music and huge explosive fireworks with downbeat music and pretty colourful fireworks. The whole effect was stunning and we were left totally speechless.

At the end of the night, as we were guided out of the village by the same friendly marshalls and gendarmes, we were left thinking what a great night it had been. All that entertainment right on our doorstep for just €5 each. Now that’s what I call value for money.

Missed the horse show?

Posted on by Richard
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Foussais-Payre recently hosted a show-jumping event in one of the fields near our house. Unfortunately it coincided with our ill-fated attempts to dig out a space for our pool, so we never made it there.  Well, someone went and has posted the video. Here it is for those of us who couldn’t make it. We’ll try next year!

[via DailyMotion - Cavelierdu85]

You’ve got to go there to come back

Posted on by Richard
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I have just returned from a brief jaunt back to England, my first for a long time. My job being what it is, I am able to work from home most of the time, which has been fantastic. Setting up home in a new country is hard enough without the strain of having to leave it all behind every week to return to the rat-race.  It can be quite tough though, working remotely. After a while you do start to feel a bit forgotten and, although there are always conference calls, email, MSN and Skype, there’s not really any substitute for a 1-to-1 face-to-face meeting.

So I actually don’t mind spending odd days back in the office. It serves several purposes.

It keeps my brain active. Being one of the more senior guys there, I am generally a magnet for enyone with tricky questions. This does me good as you can very easily “zone-out” when working from home, especially when home is a quiet corner of rural france and its sunshine and blue-skies outside!

It reminds people who I am. In a large organisation it can very easily become a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind. And you can find people unconciously excluding you from conversations or going elsewhere for information just because they haven’t seen you in the office for a while. It’s nothing personal, you just start to “fade-out” of their conciousness after a while.

It’s a change of scenery. My desk faces the corner of the wall, so, like a naughty schoolboy, I can see very little of what is going on around me. The lazy spider that lived near the cieling above me seems to have slipped down and is now hanging on his web, looking rather dead. So I don’t even have him for company. Going back to the office gives me a new view of the world, with lots lots of faces around, none of which are generally dead.

I get to earn loyalty points at the hotel. One of the few perks of the job – staying in lots of hotels means one soon collects a stack of hotel loyalty points. I shall soon enjoy spending my collection on a bunch of nice stuff :)

I can reconnect with the organisation. Working at home it’s easy to forget that you are part of a wider organisation. Just visiting HQ for a day reminds me that there is more out there.

But the best thing for me about going away is that I get to come home. As I drive into Foussais Payre and see all the sights that have so quickly become my signals of home, I can feel myself relax and all the stresses of trains, planes and automobiles are left behind on the road.

It’s worth going away just to get that feeling.