A couple of faultless flights from London Stansted to Poitiers and back again find me sitting on the Stansted Express train going into London on a Sunday night, after a lovely, but short, weekend in Sigogne with almost wall to wall blue sky and temperatures into the twenties, this is why we moved to France.
It was a busy weekend since it was a short one, normally I fly back on a Monday morning. So I got stuck into the building work with a vengeance, though it is one of those weekends where you really can’t see much evidence of work representing a day and a half of toil. There was lots of measuring and scratching of my head going on as I worked out where the new walls were going to go and then marking up the floor, walls and ceilings accordingly.
It’s always jobs that you think are small that turn into the big ones and this weekend something that I thought would take an hour to do ended up taking 4 or so. All I had to do was chop out some poured concrete to lower a step by about 6 inches ready to be built up again to the correct height for the new lay out.
I started off by trying to save my tired muscles and so got out all the gadgets at my disposal, which comprised my mini kango drill, and when that was not working well it was joined by an angle grinder with a concrete cutting wheel, but between the two of them after and hours work I had not shifted more than a few square inches, so in frustration I hit the step with a hammer that happened to be laying around and a chunk bigger than that managed by the angle grinder and kango just fell off. So it was down to the garage for a club hammer, and after 45 minutes of brute force most of the step was off, so much for modern technology making things easier, there’s no replacement for a bit of brute force and ignorance.
Before I can go much further though I am going to have to buy some more materials otherwise the work is going to grid to a halt (pardon the pun). Also during the week our builder put in a plea for us to stick to our original plan to put in a wooden ceiling in the upstairs bedroom we are building, as he had already fitted up the ceiling to take the wood and not the plaster board we had changed our minds to on cost. So we went to the local DIY store and discovered some wood at a reasonable price, so he will have to work out how much he needs then go with Franca to buy it. So I have to remember to allow for that cost in my purchase of materials in these challenging monetary times.
As I mentioned before the weather was stunning and so we decided to take Fleur to the local park, half an hour’s drive away, well actually she asked to go and I could not refuse since I had been working all day yesterday. So we set off just after 11, and alarm bells started ringing when we saw only one car in the car park, the park was basically closed for the winter, though you could get in and play on the permanent activities such as swings and slides, all the trampolines, water slides and pedelos had been packed away for the winter, as had the snack bar that is there too. So Fleur played a bit on the swings and roundabouts then we went for a short walk along the river before heading back home again somewhat disappointed.
So that was my short weekend, though for many that do the same commute as me, this was a normal weekend, I am lucky to be able to travel back on a Monday morning most weeks. The winter schedules for our band of long distance commuters is going to set us some interesting challenges, as the cheap airlines turn their attention to the winter ski and sunseaker destinations. I can still get my Monday morning flights, but Fridays is proving to be a bit difficult until after Christmas.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Bed and Bathroom no. 4
Work in porgress in the future shower room and part of the large bedroom to be!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Driving up and down France...
Well where to start with this blog, I guess the beginning. I drove the Jaguar back to the UK on Monday ready for it to go in for its MOT and then had a manic week getting the BMW fit for the drive down to Sigogne on Friday. I had to get new front brake discs and pads plus front shock absorbers from Kwik Fit as well as a service from BMW to keep the full BMW service history going. I also need 2 new tyres but they weren’t in stock so had to drive to France on the old ones which only just legal. I was also buying building materials to take back to Sigogne, but in the end I did not get as much as I wanted, the car was half empty. So on Friday morning I was up bright and early at 4:30am to head down to Dover to catch the ferry over to Calais then the drive down to Sigogne. I have to say the BMW, it’s a 1996 BMW 518 touring never put a foot wrong, easily keeping up with its younger counter parts, despite having a reputation for being under powered, obviously it does not go a fast as my Jaguar, but they both cruise at 130kph with no problems, the BMW just takes a little longer to get there.
So I arrived in Sigogne just in time to surprise Fleur and pick her up from school, so she was a happy bunny for a while until the excitement of having papa around and tiredness caught up with each other and then it was time to calm her down stories and sleep, just another Friday night at Au Bellefleur.
Franca was also a happy bunny because amongst the cargo brought from London was an Indian take away from Franca’s favourite Indian restaurant, it not only survived the journey but tasted great as the empty plates attested, and the good bit was there was enough left over for Saturday too.
During the week in London I did my good Samaritan turn and put up a new fluorescent light in a neighbours kitchen, and having almost no tools in London I was looking for the easiest and quickest way to put up the light without heavy duty tools. I chose to use metal screw in rawl plugs however I had not bargained on how tough 1930’s lathes were (I find they usually disintegrate on impact), and I pulled a muscle in my right shoulder forcing these plug in, even with a pilot hole, but in the end the light was installed and they were happy, I even got a tip of 2 cans of Old Speckled Hen mmmmm very nice they were too.
I am not sure if I have already mentioned this, apologies if I have, but having had the summer away from building work, not only has my girth expanded a notch on my belt but last weekend being the first weekend I had taken on any serious building work since July, my muscles were aching like nothing on earth, having cut and laid 12 sheets of 22mm flooring. Now this weekend I have the added disability of being unable to raise my left arm above my shoulder, things are not going entirely to script at the moment. So Saturday morning I tidied the garage, to get myself moving again, which also meant Fleur could help which she likes to do these days. Then it was time to start tackling the planning of the two new bathrooms I am working on. Planning is hard work because neither of us are very good at visualising the finished article from an empty space so a certain amount of building was done in the form of putting up the frame of a wall to give us the size of the room and putting a shower tray and toilet into the bathroom for scale which we just happened to have laying around, as you do. So the wall moved 3 times, and that was before Franca saw it, but luckily it was OK for her. The upstairs bathroom is not as big as I had imagined it to be so there is not really enough room for a bath so it is now going to be a luxury shower room upstairs and a proper bathroom for the room downstairs. Both have to be built together for the services like water and waste to be run correctly, though each will have its own hot water supply. Sunday was more of the same though to preserve my muscles so they are usable over the coming weeks I stopped at lunch time, much to Fleur’s delight.
The weather I hear you ask… it was absolutely fantastic, summer has finally arrived, well it feels like that, though by UK standards the summer was great, but looking at the grape harvest going on all around us most of the grapes were still quite small and very very bitter in taste…
So I arrived in Sigogne just in time to surprise Fleur and pick her up from school, so she was a happy bunny for a while until the excitement of having papa around and tiredness caught up with each other and then it was time to calm her down stories and sleep, just another Friday night at Au Bellefleur.
Franca was also a happy bunny because amongst the cargo brought from London was an Indian take away from Franca’s favourite Indian restaurant, it not only survived the journey but tasted great as the empty plates attested, and the good bit was there was enough left over for Saturday too.
During the week in London I did my good Samaritan turn and put up a new fluorescent light in a neighbours kitchen, and having almost no tools in London I was looking for the easiest and quickest way to put up the light without heavy duty tools. I chose to use metal screw in rawl plugs however I had not bargained on how tough 1930’s lathes were (I find they usually disintegrate on impact), and I pulled a muscle in my right shoulder forcing these plug in, even with a pilot hole, but in the end the light was installed and they were happy, I even got a tip of 2 cans of Old Speckled Hen mmmmm very nice they were too.
I am not sure if I have already mentioned this, apologies if I have, but having had the summer away from building work, not only has my girth expanded a notch on my belt but last weekend being the first weekend I had taken on any serious building work since July, my muscles were aching like nothing on earth, having cut and laid 12 sheets of 22mm flooring. Now this weekend I have the added disability of being unable to raise my left arm above my shoulder, things are not going entirely to script at the moment. So Saturday morning I tidied the garage, to get myself moving again, which also meant Fleur could help which she likes to do these days. Then it was time to start tackling the planning of the two new bathrooms I am working on. Planning is hard work because neither of us are very good at visualising the finished article from an empty space so a certain amount of building was done in the form of putting up the frame of a wall to give us the size of the room and putting a shower tray and toilet into the bathroom for scale which we just happened to have laying around, as you do. So the wall moved 3 times, and that was before Franca saw it, but luckily it was OK for her. The upstairs bathroom is not as big as I had imagined it to be so there is not really enough room for a bath so it is now going to be a luxury shower room upstairs and a proper bathroom for the room downstairs. Both have to be built together for the services like water and waste to be run correctly, though each will have its own hot water supply. Sunday was more of the same though to preserve my muscles so they are usable over the coming weeks I stopped at lunch time, much to Fleur’s delight.
The weather I hear you ask… it was absolutely fantastic, summer has finally arrived, well it feels like that, though by UK standards the summer was great, but looking at the grape harvest going on all around us most of the grapes were still quite small and very very bitter in taste…
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
A day out in the cottage
This is no where near as grand as it sounds, our cottage is a leaky breeze block building we use to store all the stuff we do not currently have a place for in the house. The cottage mainly has a lot of Fleur’s toys and things in it, on one side and building bits from me on the other. It was in a mess after a summer of getting things out and just throwing them back so we were on a mission to clear it all up, and get rid of as much rubbish as possible. We need to do this as the cottage has sprung a couple of leaks in the roof, and it has to last as a store room for a few more months before the new storage area is ready. Then we can demolish cottage to make way for the swimming pool and associated out buildings. It took most of Saturday to get the non building side sorted out as Franca and fleur were going through every photo album which somewhat slowed the progress of tidying but did mean we got rid of lots more rubbish, so worth it in the end and quite a few memories along the way.
Sunday morning I returned to building work with a vengeance, as I found some insulation and a couple of plaster boards I had forgotten about on the building side of the cottage which meant I was able to get and start insulating and boarding the ceiling in the new first floor bathroom we are building. That was the start of tidying up the building side of the cottage, well I got rid of two bales of insulation and 2 of the three plaster boards lurking against a wall.
Progress is pretty slow at the moment as our cash is flowing out faster than is good for us, but it is our expensive time of year, hopefully by November we will be back to positive cash flow again and able to push forward with the refurbishment of the next two rooms for the B&B.
On Sunday afternoon we went to a 60th birthday barbeque, at some friends of ours that Franca first met through her blog. They only live 45 minutes away and it was a nice drive from Sigogne to somewhere near Ruffec. The barbeque was great fun, with good food and drink, great company, and very friendly Belgian hosts Jan and Simonne, a better afternoon you could not wish for, and the weather was fantastic too. I think it may have been made better by the fact that on this occasion I did not have to concentrate hard to understand all the French being spoken, as there was hardly any, for once it was my two languages Dutch and English, probably never to be repeated, so I’d better get on and learn French. See tne blog below for the pictures....
Whilst flying to and from the UK I use the time to study classic car magazines and the market prices of classic cars in preparation for trying to set up a classic car hire business as an add on to the B&B, I am quite pleased with my self so far that I have not gone out and bought a car yet, I’ve seen some absolute gems which would be perfect for the business, and good fun for me if I am honest, however it will probably be yet another year before I can seriously start investing any of our meagre funds in what looks on the face it a somewhat frivolous enterprise. So perhaps I should be reading Practical Builder, or even Swimming Pools monthly as a better use of my ‘air’ time.
Next week I will be driving back to the UK as the Jaguar needs a new MOT and a service, so the BMW estate will be switching places with the Jag for a while, so another opportunity to bring some materials from the UK, I’ve almost run out of emulsion paint again.
Sunday morning I returned to building work with a vengeance, as I found some insulation and a couple of plaster boards I had forgotten about on the building side of the cottage which meant I was able to get and start insulating and boarding the ceiling in the new first floor bathroom we are building. That was the start of tidying up the building side of the cottage, well I got rid of two bales of insulation and 2 of the three plaster boards lurking against a wall.
Progress is pretty slow at the moment as our cash is flowing out faster than is good for us, but it is our expensive time of year, hopefully by November we will be back to positive cash flow again and able to push forward with the refurbishment of the next two rooms for the B&B.
On Sunday afternoon we went to a 60th birthday barbeque, at some friends of ours that Franca first met through her blog. They only live 45 minutes away and it was a nice drive from Sigogne to somewhere near Ruffec. The barbeque was great fun, with good food and drink, great company, and very friendly Belgian hosts Jan and Simonne, a better afternoon you could not wish for, and the weather was fantastic too. I think it may have been made better by the fact that on this occasion I did not have to concentrate hard to understand all the French being spoken, as there was hardly any, for once it was my two languages Dutch and English, probably never to be repeated, so I’d better get on and learn French. See tne blog below for the pictures....
Whilst flying to and from the UK I use the time to study classic car magazines and the market prices of classic cars in preparation for trying to set up a classic car hire business as an add on to the B&B, I am quite pleased with my self so far that I have not gone out and bought a car yet, I’ve seen some absolute gems which would be perfect for the business, and good fun for me if I am honest, however it will probably be yet another year before I can seriously start investing any of our meagre funds in what looks on the face it a somewhat frivolous enterprise. So perhaps I should be reading Practical Builder, or even Swimming Pools monthly as a better use of my ‘air’ time.
Next week I will be driving back to the UK as the Jaguar needs a new MOT and a service, so the BMW estate will be switching places with the Jag for a while, so another opportunity to bring some materials from the UK, I’ve almost run out of emulsion paint again.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Party-time
On Sunday we were invited to Jan's 60st birthday party, (we know Jan and Simonne through Franca's blog, you never know where blogging will take you). Well, the Belgians certainly know how to lay on a party. The bbq tasted fabulous, the company was a meltingpot of all nationalities, Belgians, French, English and Dutch.
What a great (and typically French way) to spend an afternoon, thanks Jan and Simonne!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
more from the Circuit de Remparts
More From the Bugatti race qualification
Two photos of Jackie Stewarts's Matra Cosworth from the Tyrrell Team 1969
(that is not Jackie Stewart driving)
Two photos of Jackie Stewarts's Matra Cosworth from the Tyrrell Team 1969(that is not Jackie Stewart driving)
Some of the cars in the static exhibition
Monday, September 22, 2008
Circuit des Remparts – Angouleme 2008
This year marked the 30th Anniversary of the staging of Circuit des Remparts in Angouleme, a classic/vintage/historic car rally and race our the city walls of Angouleme on a street circuit. I knew it was on around this time every year and last year being our first year here in the Charente we did not realise the significance of the event. This year unless Franca had not read another blog we would have totally missed the event, as it was we missed the Saturday, because we only found out on Saturday afternoon. So Sunday morning we got up early and took the 30 minute drive to Angouleme where we were lucky to find a parking place in the centre of Angouleme not far from the action. Luckily the French do not do early mornings, later in the day Angouleme was basically grid locked, if you pardon the pun...
Being a car nut I was like a little kid in a free sweetshop, I did not know which way to turn, luckily I had a disinterested wife (and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but cars are not her thing), and a 6 year old daughter to keep me under control. There were literally hundreds of historic, classic and vintage cars to look at on static display at various points around the city, Angouleme it appears has several car clubs, we came across the Mini club and the Alfa Romeo club but there are several others.
Then there were the races and demonstrations themselves. I have never been to a motor race before, my reasoning is you pay £100.00 for a ticket to blink and miss cars rushing by, then end up spending loads more money and you still have not seen much of the race and your wallet is a lot poorer for the experience, so I prefer to watch on TV. However for the princely sum of €10.00 you can get up close to the action and because the circuit is so small you can get around most it pretty quickly and most vantage points have more than one view of the track so you can see what is going on. The noise of some the engines is glorious especially the GT1 and GT Plus cars, my daughter loved it too, but sadly this put the wife off even more. The highlight of the event for most people is the vintage Bugatti only race, it is not only unique, but fun as well, the later models being really powerful machines and the early models with less powerful engines that glide around the course with a certain elegance being lapped again and again by their later bigger engined family members. We were also able to get up close (almost too close) to a Jackie Stewart Matra-Tyrell F1 car with a lovely sounding Ford Cosworth engine.
I could go on for ages, hopefully my lovely wife will post a couple of pictures here for me, it was a great break from building work for me, thanks to my wife and daughter for letting this big kid into the sweetshop for a few hours. I'll back next year for lots more...
so I will leave it there for now, next year we hope to have some of the people taking part in the circuit des remparts staying with us, Au Bellefleur would make a great base for this special weekend in Angloueme's calendar.
A Euro A Euro, my kingdom for a Euro
Or Floored by a Euro – or the lack of one
On Friday night I knew the title of this blog, but events over the weekend changed everything. So first on Friday night after I arrived at Bordeaux airport I hot footed it along to the big DIY store in Bordeaux to buy some flooring to get the new bathroom floor started this weekend, only to be foiled by a humble 1 Euro piece, or rather the lack of one. As with all big stores you have to put a coin on the trolley to release it. One of my main objectives of the week before flying is to have as little in the way of coins in my pocket as possible, this week I had done particularly well, by giving Fleur my Euro coins to use at the fair last week, and just having enough English money to buy myself a car magazine at the airport, and hey presto no coins to carry through the x-ray machine. No coins for the DIY shop trolleys either... hey ho, so no floors were laid this weekend, which turned out not to be such a disaster after all, read on, although the way that the blogs are laid out you will have already read what I’m about to call the next instalment already…..
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Knights with Mucky Armour.....
Franca always says that if things are going to go wrong they always go wrong on a Monday just after I have left the country. Well this started at the weekend but took a turn for the worse on Tuesday when our drains started to play up. In fact with a full B&B suddenly a number of our waste pipes for bathes and the washining machine decided now was the time to completely seize up.
Franca gave a friend of ours, Steve who lives nearby, a call and he came round to have a look and spent a few hours draining down water that had built up in the waste pipes and clearing a block he had discovered ,(luckily not the toilets though), and recommended that we gave all the drains a good jetting. He was star to come straight round and the crisis was averted.
Then low and behold, today Steve arrives on the doorstep unannounced with Bogdan our builder and a big jetting machine to jet out our waste pipes. Better friends you could not ask for, and if you take a look at Franca's blog you can see the guys getting well and truely stuck in.
Being 500 miles away I can't thank them enough, as that was going to be my weekends work, but they cleaned the pipes in a hour or so, Bogdan having managed to borrow the machine from one of his friends. Sitting 500 miles away there are times when you feel completely helpless in this sort of situation, so it is good to know that there is help at hand should we need it. As I said on Franca's blog, who needs the A Team when you've got real friends like Steve & Bogdan, thanks guy I am in your debt....
Franca gave a friend of ours, Steve who lives nearby, a call and he came round to have a look and spent a few hours draining down water that had built up in the waste pipes and clearing a block he had discovered ,(luckily not the toilets though), and recommended that we gave all the drains a good jetting. He was star to come straight round and the crisis was averted.
Then low and behold, today Steve arrives on the doorstep unannounced with Bogdan our builder and a big jetting machine to jet out our waste pipes. Better friends you could not ask for, and if you take a look at Franca's blog you can see the guys getting well and truely stuck in.
Being 500 miles away I can't thank them enough, as that was going to be my weekends work, but they cleaned the pipes in a hour or so, Bogdan having managed to borrow the machine from one of his friends. Sitting 500 miles away there are times when you feel completely helpless in this sort of situation, so it is good to know that there is help at hand should we need it. As I said on Franca's blog, who needs the A Team when you've got real friends like Steve & Bogdan, thanks guy I am in your debt....
Monday, September 15, 2008
A busmans holiday
A shortish blog this time, as for me most of this weekend was a busmans holiday sat behind a computer trying to rescue data and kill viruses and spyware. After a day and a half I rescued all our data, but I had to give up on rebuilding the computer, so I am bringing the hard disk back to the UK for a complete wipe and re-install, not my idea of a fun weekend, c’est la vie.
It was also the weekend of the village festival celebrating the vendage, the start of the grape harvest, though I think it will be a few weeks before it really gets going as the vines are still suffering from lack of sun.
We had the demonstration of the pressing of the first grapes, which if harvested in the fields around Sigogne must have been from a very favoured position judging by the sweetness of the juice.
Fleur had plenty to do with a fair in town, she is slowly graduating away from fishing plastic ducks out of a pool to shooting balloons, but the prizes are still the same old junk that 6 year old children find irresistible.
We ate out on Saturday night, (not in the tent as mentioned in the previous blog) though eating out gives it a much grander title that it deserves, we ate in the local bar, which a couple of our guests had tried and found to be OK, however all that was on offer on Saturday night was, sausage & chips, pizza & chips or steak & chips, we though because they were going to be really busy, but it turns out our table of 8 plus two other couples we were about the only guests for the menu rapide.
Eating out was followed by the Sigogne fireworks display, which for a small village is really amazing. It starts with a lantern procession for the children from the centre of the village to the football field where the display takes place each year. Fleur was a bit afraid of the loud bangs from the fireworks at the beginning until she got used to them, then she really enjoyed it, although throughout the display she would not let go of me, so after nearlly half an hour of holding my arms we devoid of all feeling. After the fireworks there was a disco in a tent back in the centre of the village which we went to for about an hour then it was time for bed as the B&B was busy this weekend so we had to be up reasonably early to make breakfast, well Fanca made breakfast I carried on trying to fix the computer.
Well that did not turn out to be very short...
It was also the weekend of the village festival celebrating the vendage, the start of the grape harvest, though I think it will be a few weeks before it really gets going as the vines are still suffering from lack of sun.
We had the demonstration of the pressing of the first grapes, which if harvested in the fields around Sigogne must have been from a very favoured position judging by the sweetness of the juice.
Fleur had plenty to do with a fair in town, she is slowly graduating away from fishing plastic ducks out of a pool to shooting balloons, but the prizes are still the same old junk that 6 year old children find irresistible.
We ate out on Saturday night, (not in the tent as mentioned in the previous blog) though eating out gives it a much grander title that it deserves, we ate in the local bar, which a couple of our guests had tried and found to be OK, however all that was on offer on Saturday night was, sausage & chips, pizza & chips or steak & chips, we though because they were going to be really busy, but it turns out our table of 8 plus two other couples we were about the only guests for the menu rapide.
Eating out was followed by the Sigogne fireworks display, which for a small village is really amazing. It starts with a lantern procession for the children from the centre of the village to the football field where the display takes place each year. Fleur was a bit afraid of the loud bangs from the fireworks at the beginning until she got used to them, then she really enjoyed it, although throughout the display she would not let go of me, so after nearlly half an hour of holding my arms we devoid of all feeling. After the fireworks there was a disco in a tent back in the centre of the village which we went to for about an hour then it was time for bed as the B&B was busy this weekend so we had to be up reasonably early to make breakfast, well Fanca made breakfast I carried on trying to fix the computer.
Well that did not turn out to be very short...
Going home...
14 days of exile have come to an end and I am heading back to France for the weekend, and this is not just any weekend, this is the weekend of the Sigogne vendage festival, a tad early but I guess they do it for the weather, however the forecast does not look that handy.
The B&B is also full this weekend so we will doubtless be running between the festival and the B&B. We are due to do the usual eat in tent on Saturday night with the rest of the village, and luckily we are only providing dinner on Sunday night for some of guests.
Over the last 14 days I have managed to move from Southend back to South East London to the street where we used to live before moving to France. I am looking after the house of some friends of ours who have also moved to France, though nowhere near us. It was handy being in the UK last weekend so that I could get my self sorted out and organised. Living in SE London means I am only on the train for 20 minutes each way so I get 2 hours of my life back, thought most of that time is spend washing, cooking and cleaning, though this is preferable to commuting for an hour and half in each direction. Though I do miss my family when I can’t get back to France for the weekend it is useful sometimes to be able to sort a few things out.
It seems very strange to be back in the same road where we used to live, especially as I am on my own, but very handy. I have already met a couple of our old neighbours, the gossip network had already heralded my arrival, so they were not surprised by my sudden appearance. Most things have not changed a bit in the 18 months I’ve been away, not that I had really expected it to, which was reassuring.
This is my one and only run on Ryanair, in the coming weeks, as I use it to switch from La Rochelle to Bordeaux. The BA flights have already come down to the level where I can afford it and the convenience of the Monday morning flight is wonderful.
Some of my fellow travellers have uncovered a very cheap way to use the Eurostar/TGV to travel back and forth for only €49 each way. The French railways have a certain amount of cheap seats which if you book at the right moment are certainly are good value, and since I like travelling by train I will also look into this as an alternative to flying.
The B&B is also full this weekend so we will doubtless be running between the festival and the B&B. We are due to do the usual eat in tent on Saturday night with the rest of the village, and luckily we are only providing dinner on Sunday night for some of guests.
Over the last 14 days I have managed to move from Southend back to South East London to the street where we used to live before moving to France. I am looking after the house of some friends of ours who have also moved to France, though nowhere near us. It was handy being in the UK last weekend so that I could get my self sorted out and organised. Living in SE London means I am only on the train for 20 minutes each way so I get 2 hours of my life back, thought most of that time is spend washing, cooking and cleaning, though this is preferable to commuting for an hour and half in each direction. Though I do miss my family when I can’t get back to France for the weekend it is useful sometimes to be able to sort a few things out.
It seems very strange to be back in the same road where we used to live, especially as I am on my own, but very handy. I have already met a couple of our old neighbours, the gossip network had already heralded my arrival, so they were not surprised by my sudden appearance. Most things have not changed a bit in the 18 months I’ve been away, not that I had really expected it to, which was reassuring.
This is my one and only run on Ryanair, in the coming weeks, as I use it to switch from La Rochelle to Bordeaux. The BA flights have already come down to the level where I can afford it and the convenience of the Monday morning flight is wonderful.
Some of my fellow travellers have uncovered a very cheap way to use the Eurostar/TGV to travel back and forth for only €49 each way. The French railways have a certain amount of cheap seats which if you book at the right moment are certainly are good value, and since I like travelling by train I will also look into this as an alternative to flying.
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