Quite an eventful week this week. Dave & Rosie left us on Sunday and the following day, we took the car to a garage about a half-hour drive away, in Périgueux. Despite it having very recently undergone a full MOT, we were sure the car’s brakes were worn out, so we wanted them looked at. We explained what was wrong and got Lola booked in for a “diagnostique freinage” – a bargain at just €20, and refundable if you then agree to the repair work being done. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do it that day, so we arranged to come back the next day. That was trip #1.
Trip #2 to Périgueux the next day, Lola had her diagnostic as planned. This did indeed show that the brake pads were worn and had at best about 1000 km left in them. It also showed the car needed more brake fluid, and that the handbrake needed tightening. Her windscreen wipers were also very worn, so we bought new ones. Quite how all of this was deemed acceptable when she was MOT’d is beyond me, but there you go…
The quote for all of this work was about €150 – not too bad, so we agreed to having it all done. “No problem”, said the man, “but we can’t do it today”. Merde. Yet again, we arranged to come back the next day. Later that afternoon, Matt’s aunt Mimi got in to Angoulême train station as planned, having just flown in to Paris from the States. We had a nice meal and a warm evening in by the fire catching up, but all of us were tired, so we weren’t long to bed.
We got up the next day and took Mimi to Brantôme for a stroll through town, followed by lunch at cute-waiter-restaurant. Afterwards, we had to face trip#3 to Périgueux to actually get the work done on the car. We had been told it would take about 2 hours, so we braced ourselves for a tedious afternoon. Where the garage is, there are a number of shops but very little else, and after 2 trips already this week, there really wasn’t too much we needed. Anyway, we managed to kill the time and more or less stay out of the biting cold until Lola was ready and then finally made it home around 6.30pm.
The forecast for that night was for a small flurry of snow, unlikely to settle on the ground. Not quite on the money: we woke up the next day to a gorgeous carpet of snow, several inches thick. The countryside out here is beautiful anyway, but now it is really breath taking – check out the photos. And how glad we are to have gotten the brakes sorted just in time for icy roads! Eager to get out and play, we jumped in the car and took Mimi to our latest favourite place, St Jean de Côle. We had a fantastic and leisurely lunch at the only restaurant in town, during which time, the snow started up again. We then strolled through the town for as long as we could stomach the cold before making our way homewards.
That evening, we had Sharon (and Oscar), James (and Kusa), Jeff and Belinda over to dinner. Jeff lives up the road in Mareuil and has been out here for over 10 years – and is a very funny chap, who we had met once before over at Sharon’s. Belinda, who we met for the first time, also lives nearby and is a long-term ex-pat and also very lovely. The seven of us had a great evening, chatting away and working our way though the box wines until the last ones standing called it a night at around 3am.
Today, we got up to find no new snow had fallen, but nor had any really melted. We took the car to our neighbouring village, Mareuil, to see its chateau – a gorgeous building from the 13th Century. We trudged through town for a bit, but at -5°C, it was a little too cold to be out long. Safely back home, we got the fire going and had some lunch. This evening, our last with Mimi, we are going to eat at a restaurant in Brantôme we haven’t been to yet, and then tomorrow, we start off on our journey back to the UK!