It’s been a busy week and a number of things happened so I will try my best not to ramble. I restarted work on Tuesday and picked up exactly where I left off. The only change is that I’ve moved my office day from Thursday to Wednesday so that I can still attend the conversation group in Milhac. The pool is open Wed afternoon so I can still go swimming twice a week (in theory anyway). It’s good to have the work and since this contract is like the last, I will get a lump sum at the end of it, effectively a 10% raise.
We had Lee, Richard and their good friend Suzie who was visiting last week over. She’s been here a number of times but this was the first time we’d met her. The weather turned cold and rainy after the storm last week so she wasn’t too happy about that but it was better than back in England anyway. Lee made dinner, a lovely chicken and barley stew with roast potatoes, leaving only dessert for us to do. I made some oatmeal fig bars that we discovered last year and with custard on top, they came out alright. Being tax season, Will helped out Lee with a few forms and they arranged to go to the tax office on Friday.
On Thursday, I went to the conversation group and actually did my homework this time. You are meant to write something in both languages for the others to correct and then everyone goes around and reads it in their non-native tongue. Each time, you break into small groups of 5 or 6 people and last year, I shifted groups a lot. This time, I have been with the same people each time and I’m enjoying it more, mostly because of their company. A new woman, Francoise, came the last two times and she is roughly my age and spent the past 8 months in Australia so speaks good English.
The first time we met, she mentioned that her sister lives in Mazeroux and if we would be interested, she would organise a dinner with all of us. So on Thursday, she invited us over to dinner the next night and I readily accepted. Also at the group that night, Josienne mentioned that it was her birthday and invited all of us over for drinks on Saturday, filling up our weekend just like that.
Friday, Will headed to Villebois where he met Lee and went to their local tax office, only to discover that they’d need to go to Angouleme for what they needed. There was a long queue so they grabbed lunch and then came back in the afternoon. They had a bit of a nightmare but finally got out of there around 4pm with less than satisfactory results. There were more forms to fill out when they got back so Will didn’t make it home until nearly 7pm which is when we were due at Chez Francoise.
We still arrived mostly on time and were there before her sister, Nadine and her husband Jean Claude. Francoise is married but her husband was spending the weekend in Bergerac for the vendange (grape harvest) so he wasn’t there. She lives in the house at the old equestrian centre, just down the road from us, but sold the business to Jenny so it’s now in Mazeroux. Dinner was salad to start, a pork and potato dish for the main, cheese and then a fruit tart. We had wine with the meal but then most everyone stopped drinking afterwards while we chatted – very different to an English meal.
The sisters grew up in Monaco but have lived in these parts for many years. Nadine is film director and has recently finished a short film. Jean Claude is a very humorous guy and used to live in London, married to an Englishwoman so his English is excellent. They have an apartment in Paris and spend time there often. All three of them consider themselves snobs and look down on the locals here but not in a mean way. We all had a nice evening and we look forward to seeing them again.
On Saturday, we got our second shipment of wood, twice as much as last time. I made some room in the log shed but it’s still more than we have room for. It’s also way more than we’ll use in a winter but since we had none and it often needs to dry out, I overbought this time around. All the wood is 1 metre in length and needs to be sawn in half so we’ve had chainsaw on the shopping list for some time. After the wood-man left, we had lunch and then headed to Perigueux to get Lola serviced (new shocks and brakes) which meant another few hours hanging around the outskirts of town. We ended up buying a chainsaw since they cost the same as on line and also, a pair of coveralls and goggles.
We were due at Chez Josienne at 6pm but didn’t make it there until closer to 7. In addition to her and her husband, Cami, there was Francoise, Carol (our neighbour) and a couple from the village, Barry and Carol. It turned into an appero-dinnatoire, when it’s called drinks but ends up being enough food for dinner. In this case, we drank a bit more than we ate. They live just down the road in a hamlet called Maumont and the house used to be Josienne’s grandparents’. She and Cami moved in about six years ago when it was a wreck and he’s done an amazing restoration job. She is vivacious and outgoing so a pleasure to be around. Barry and Carol used to be teachers back in the UK (Midlands) and retired here last year. They are both soft-spoken and a bit shy although Barry livened up after a few glasses. We all share similar political views so had a good time setting the world to rights.
Sunday was time to try out the new chainsaw. The manual was only in French but we got the gist of most things. I had to run out for petrol so it was midday by the time we were ready to start it up. We weren’t successful for some time and decided to have lunch and do some research. I downloaded the English manual and discovered where we were going wrong so we were in business after that. Of the 8 steres (cubic metre), only one is really ready for this season so we started with that. By the time we got it cut and stacked, we were both knackered so around 5pm, we called it a day with a mere 7 more to go. We chilled for a bit and then I made the oven fried chicken from a few weeks ago and it came out even better this time, especially since it had two days to marinate.
I’m happy to report that to go along with our copious amount of wood, the wood burner was delivered today. The guy had a bit of hard time finding us but Will guided him in over the phone. He only got it as far as the front door so Will and I had to manoeuvre it in ourselves. Now we just need the chimney swept and Will’s folks to come out and help us install it and we’ll be all set.
Lastly, a note about the garden. The tomatoes have some unripe fruit but it’s not likely to change much at this point. We ended up with a paltry four butternut squash and I’ll leave them to harden on the vine. We’ve got a load of peppers waiting to be harvested and some brussel sprouts that are looking ok. The big harvest today was our special plants that are now hanging to dry in the loft. Despite the deer attacks, it’s all looking and smelling rather lovely so I’m hoping it may be ready by my birthday in a few weeks.