After enduring the arctic temperatures of last week, we now have oil for our heating and the house is finally warm again.

After coming close to running out of gas for the cooker we finally have a new bottle to keep us going so hot meals are back on the menu.

We have even finally had a delivery of wood for the fire, so we can enjoy cosy nights in with out visitors.

Everything, you might think, is in place for a comfortable week with my visiting family.

Well, you might think that, but you’d be wrong.

Here’s the note that was handed to us by a chap in a van this evening…

The joyous news is that on Wednesday we will have  no water. No water! For pretty much the whole day.

Aaaargh!!! What the blinking flip is going on round here?

I tell you, if this is all some crazy French version of “Beadle’s About” there is going to be big trouble.

Firstly, like the rest of the region, we are shivering under the grip of the current arctic conditions. Normally we would be happy to have a cold snap, knowing we were warm and cosy inside, but this week the coldest temperatures for months also coincided with us running out of oil for our boiler.  And of course, because it is so bloomin cold, everyone needs oil so we have to wait until Friday before we can get any more. Not great timing. The trouble is that the level indicator on our oil tank doesn’t work, so it’s all a bit of a lottery as to when it will run out.

So we find ourselves living like it was 1950, all huddled round the log fire at night, kids sleeping in one room with a tiny radiator to keep warm, putting more clothes on as we go to bed than we have been wearing all day… Even the hot water pipe in the kitchen has, we assume, frozen up, as it doesn’t seem to be working, when all the other hot taps do (I think the pipe runs out the back of the kitchen wall and into next-door’s garage, which obviously is rather cold).

Luckily the kids have not been at school for the last 2 days due the the snowy conditions forcing the school buses off the roads, so we have not yet had to endure a 6.30am start. But tomorrow it’s back to normal, so I’ll be lighting a fire before the sun comes up in the morning. Oh joy!

Still, it’s apparently good for killing off all the bugs in the air and just imagine how warm and toasty we’ll feel when we can finally crank up the boiler again!

Meanwhile, medical issues have been on the agenda. Today the kids went for their second set of vaccinations at the doctor.  To be honest, we really didn’t follow quite what sort of vaccination it was or why they needed it. Each time we go he tells us, and we seem to understand, then as soon as we walk out the door we are confused and just know that we must come back for more. So they had another one each today and once again we walked out with more prescriptions and another appointment for February. I wonder if we’ll leave next month requiring more, or if the end is finally in sight?

The poor cats also have an appointment tomorrow. The time has come for the local vet to do his thing and sterilise Charlie and Lola. They have not  been able to eat this evening, and won’t be able to have breakfast tomorrow. Wow, are they going to be grumpy?! It was bad enough tonight, having to keep them in to stop them eating anything unsavoury outside. They were going wild, chasing each other round like they used to when we first got them. Tomorrow morning will be hell. Luckily we have to be up early with the girls, as I think there will be much whining and moaning over the lack of food and fresh air. And we are stealing ourselves for the bill at the end of it. A hefty one is expected…

And after the winter break, Chateau Barley is once again taking bookings for friends and family visits. Next week my parents and and sister come to stay. We then have Lisa’s mum and sister coming in March, with her other sisters pencilled in to do the same at regular intervals through the year. The summer is quickly filling up, with several friends looking to combine a week on the coast with a week at our place. Luckily the schools in France break up at the end of June, so we will have chance for a week away before we start entertaining. It will be nice to have visitors again, especially now we have been here a year, as  we have now experienced so much and seen the area in each season. Suggestions for good, easy recipes to fill lots of visitors will be gratefully recieved!

Pendant les vacances, we…

spent a wonderful 2 weeks exploring Carcassonne and the surrounding area, saw the Tour de France and witnessed an incredible Bastille Day celebration at la cité…

discovered we all loved cats…

and soon after, welcomed Charlie and Lola, our kittens who have now taken over our lives…

entertained Nathalie & Thierry + boys…and Helen and her family…

managed to get out and about again with my parents…

enjoyed a fabulous evening’s entertainment at Nieul-sur-l’Autize…

entertained Diane and John…

filled the pool again…

were delighted to welcome Kathryn, Sam & the boys after so much uncertainty…

visited the beautiful Ile de Re…

and had simply the most fun possible with Annie, Drew and the girls…

In fact, we’ve been so busy, I think now we could do with a holiday!

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

As 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.

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