I am writing this while sitting at our new dining table, gazing out at a furnished room. Until yesterday, we still had lots of stuff in boxes, some of which were being used as coffee tables etc. but after receiving our delivery from the UK, we’re well on our way to being completely unpacked.
On Friday, we went to Villbois to collect our new dining suite from Barry. First we had lunch at his restaurant, Le Lavalette, which was the standard 3 course meal for €12. The food was very good and both Will and I had chicken livers to start, not something we’d normally eat but they were very tasty. We then borrowed Barry’s camionette (small truck) and took a load of stuff back to our place. The second trip, Barry drove the truck and followed us back so he could see our place and the new home for his furniture. Unfortunately, he was nearly out of diesel by the time he got to ours so first we tried syphoning some from our car. Will drew the short straw and ended up with a mouthful of diesel and none in the car. So I drove to Thiviers to fill up our jerrycan and that did the trick.
The lovely weather continued all week so on Saturday, we did the second round of planting. This time it was lettuces and spring onions in the veggie plot and some more herbs in the front. We also planted the xmas tree that had been sitting outside in a pot since we moved here. It is now at the border of the back garden. Apparently, the big pine in our front garden also started as a xmas tree so I like the symmetry of having one on each side of the house. The source of this info was Lucien and it turns out that we also own a row of large pines that comprise the border between us and our other neighbour. This is the plot on the other side of the road and originally we had been told that it was just the enclosed area but Lucien remembers when the previous owner planted them so turns out they’re ours. I’d be happier if they were walnut trees but I won’t complain.
Our biggest excitement so far this week was yesterday when we finally took delivery of our stuff from the UK. Back in February, we found a company on DVN (local online bulletin board) that does deliveries from UK to the Dordogne. They quoted us €75 to collect from London and deliver to our house which seemed insanely cheap to us. They seemed legit so we went ahead and booked with them but their next available spot wasn’t until mid-March. So when we were back in London in Feb, we collected our framed prints that we still had there, along with a coffee table that didn’t make it when we first moved. In addition, Will’s dad made us a kitchen unit and a spice rack that he brought down to London. So we left all the stuff at Iain’s (former neighbour) and although it took some doing, finally arranged for them to collect the stuff the week before last.
We were expecting to hear about delivery last week and finally got an email on Thurs saying he’d be back on Friday afternoon. I sent a few emails back to arrange delivery but didn’t hear anything until yesterday morning. So we spent the weekend wondering whether we’d ever see the stuff again, especially since it was worth a lot more than €75. To our surprise, we got an email yesterday saying he’d be over in the afternoon and despite a bit of trouble finding us, he showed around 5 with everything accounted for and in one piece. The kitchen unit was made by Will’s dad and is absolutely beautiful. The top is glass on three sides and it sits on a bottom unit with two drawers atop a large cupboard, all in oak. We moved most of our dishes and pots and pans to it and this has freed up loads of space in the kitchen itself.
He also gave us a spice rack, also in oak, that we will soon be putting up in the kitchen. Also, we’re now reunited with our coffee table that we had back in London. At the time, it sat downstairs in a room we didn’t use much but now, it’s the perfect size and shape for our sofa so it now makes for a lovely centrepiece. In addition to the furniture, we also have five framed prints that we need to put up around the house. Later today, I’ll be getting some picture hooks that should make that job a bit easier. We still need some shelves for books and CDs and also some bedside tables but apart from that, most of our furniture needs are taken care of.
We had one social event during the week and that was on Saturday night. The social club at Milhac had organised a 70’s night at the local Salle des Fetes. We talked about going with Nat and Jill but none of us was massively enthused. In the end, we decided to give it a try since social events are few and far between in these parts so Will and I went down around 9:30 and paid our €5 entrance fee. The average age of the attendees was around 65, which is about the same for the population in general. There were about 30 people, most of whom were wearing some form of 70’s attire. The entertainment was two guys with a cd player and mic; one dj’ing and the other singing along while strumming a guitar that wasn’t plugged in. We stayed for about thirty minutes, had two watered down beers when Nat and Jill arrived. We’d already had enough at that point so rather than go in, we decided to bail and head back to theirs for a drink or two. I’m glad we gave it a try and we ended up having a nice night anyway.