Happy Valentines Day and also, a happy birthday to Gavin who left us on Monday. After Will’s operation, we all returned home from Perigueux and got caught up with Gavin over a leisurely dinner of baked cauliflower mac and cheese. Thursday was a quiet day and the main activity was a longish local walk. It’s been raining here a lot so the trails were good and muddy but both of us had on our walking boots. We had leftovers for dinner and played cards that evening.
On Friday, Gavin and I went horseback riding, compliments of Jenni at our local centre equestre. Our only compensation from her for the use of our land is free rides. To date, we’ve only taken advantage of this twice, both times were pony rides for friends’ kids. Gavin saw Jenni’s new site that Will just made and expressed interest in riding and Jenni was happy to oblige. The two of us went over after lunch and our horses were already saddled and ready to go. A friend of Jenni’s also accompanied us and we rode for 1 1/2 hours which was just long enough. We covered some new ground for me including a pretty hamlet not far from here. The horses walked most of the time but also did some trotting, which is bit more difficult since you’re meant to stand up and sit down in rhythm with the horse. Both Gavin and I really enjoyed ourselves and Jenni invited me back to ride any time.
That evening, we went to a launch party for the Grapevine, a local directory of English businesses for expats. We paid for a small advert, our first attempt at reaching people outside the DVN (our online network) so time will tell if it ends up being worthwhile. We are the only company offering web design so that’s a plus. The party was held in a large gite in St Pierre de Cole, about 20 minutes from here. The meal was a hog roast with the usual trimmings, served with champagne and wine. Sue brought a selection of her Indian starters but much to Will’s dismay, the samosas were all gone by the time we got there. The evening was a good chance to do some networking and both Will and I did our best, with Gavin also pitching in. We met two cattery owners, one nearby with an existing web site and another who needs one. The local folks expressed interest in using us for hosting but even if that doesn’t work out, I enjoyed chatting with them so hopefully, we’ll see them again.
The last time I went horseback riding, my back was in agony for days after but this time, the only soreness was my legs which is to be expected. Gavin wasn’t too feeling too bad either so he and I went for a walk that afternoon. We had a light supper and then played cards and watched a film that evening. On Sunday, Gavin took us out to lunch at Le St Jean, in the lovely village of St Jean de Cole. Since it was the weekend before Valentines Day, many places were doing special menus (i.e. the usual menu at an inflated price) but not Le St Jean. The restaurant was nearly full and most of the other diners were French, including a few large tables of families. We each had 5 or 6 courses, all delicious and left after a few hours, pleasantly full. It was a cold rainy day so we came home and stayed in for the rest of the day. That evening, we had a light meal and then watched Groundhog Day, which Gavin had never seen.
On Monday, Gavin and I had a brief stroll through the village before I took him to the airport in the afternoon. The rest of the week, Will and I have been focusing on work. I spoke to Abby about taking over managing one of her client’s sites. The site had been falling over last week and I was able to help stabilise it. It still needs some adjusting to make it even more stable so I’ll be focusing on that in the coming week. My other task has been moving our site, as well as a few of the sites we manage, onto a new server. Our current hosting company is good in some ways, but not great when it comes to site availability. We’ve tried in vain to get them to do something and in short, they haven’t. So I’ve set us up on a VPS, our own server within a server, and so far, so good.
Also this week, I had a meeting for some work at a nearby transport and storage company. They have two websites that were done by someone in the UK and he doesn’t have time to update them. The company are looking for someone to make incremental changes on an ongoing basis, roughly one day per week. The meeting seemed to go well and I think they will hire us, which would be great since it means steady income. Will has also been busy with some Sites For Homes enquiries. In the past week, we’ve had three requests for sites: one from Greece; one from Italy and one from Canada. We have largely abandoned S4H since we started Port 80, mainly because they are a pain for Will and not well paying. That is still the case but I have plans to automate it so we may spend a bit more time on it in the future.
Will’s hand is healing but a bit slower than he’d like. A nurse has been coming to change his bandages every other day but during the last visit, she said the hand looked a bit infected and he should see the doctor. He has done so and thankfully, the doc says there’s nothing wrong but the nurse should come every day to change it. Will should have his stitches out in a week or so and be fully healed a week or so after that. His hand is still painful, especially after they change the bandage, so the daily changes aren’t great news but obviously for the best.
Finally, a note about the cats. They have been somewhat less troublesome at night but still pesky. We’ve had a few nice sunny days and they usually take advantage of them. The forecast for the next week is for sun, with temps in the 10-12C range so we will be kicking them out as often as possible. The other day, as Gavin and I left on our walk, the Smoo had just gone out and started to follow us. We kept walking further into the woods, hoping that he would take the hint but he too was enjoying the walk so after a minute, he’d be right at our side. Eventually, we had to give up and escort him home before we could carry on. I wouldn’t mind taking the Smoo for a walk but he’ll only go so far before he’s out of his comfort zone so it’s a short-lived game. At least he sates my desire to get a dog.