It’s my turn to do a post but there’s not an awful lot to report so this is likely to be a short entry. I enjoyed my birthday celebration and am looking forward to receiving all the new films / tv programmes I ordered from Amazon using the gift vouchers given to me by numerous people.
I’m writing this offline since our internet connection is currently down. In addition to Orange refunding most of the money they owed us, they also increased our line speed from 2Mb to 4Mb so we’ve finally got the fastest line possible at this location. When we originally asked about upping the speed, they said the phone line between us and the exchange wasn’t in great shape and if they upped the speed, we would have a much less reliable connection. We never had any outages when we were on a 2Mb line and this is our second outage since switching it to 4Mb so I’m hoping this is just coincidence. If not, we may have to choose between a reliably slow line or an intermittent fast one. Apart from that, we got just about everything we wanted from Orange so I take it as proof that you can get decent customer service in France, you just have to work at it for a few months.
We’ve been spending a lot of time and money on the car this past week. Lola had her controle technique (MOT) and it turns out, she needs new front shock absorbers so we booked her in for an appointment at the garage in Perigueux for Friday morning. They had a look and in addition, she also needs some associated parts but the garage isn’t able to order those for us so we must do so ourselves. I know next to nothing about cars but with the help of the internet, I found a manual that lists parts by car type and using the part numbers, found what I believe we need from an outfit in the States. So the parts are on their way and once we get those, we’ll take her back to Perigueux to get them installed, assuming of course I ordered the right stuff. Once that’s done, we go back to the place that did the controle technique for them to verify that we’ve done the required work. By the time we’re done, we’ll have spent at least €500 on the car so I really hope that will keep her happy for quite some time.
On the social front, we had a nice day on Friday with Lee, Richard and Lewi, Richard’s son. Lewi is 8 and lives with his mom in Lancashire but was here spending half-term with his dad(s). We decided to use his visit as an opportunity to take up Jenni and Guillaume on the offer to go horse riding. The boys came over around 4pm and we wandered down to the equestrian centre around 5:30 where we were met by a young woman who guided Lewi through the process. First they selected a pony and brought it up to the barn where they brushed it and cleaned its hooves. Then they saddled it up, Lewi got on and they she led them on a walk around one of the nearby trails before returning and then completing the same process in reverse. We had planned for Lee to join them on horseback but that may have been lost in translation so just Lewi went this time with the adults following along on foot. Jenni said that we were welcome to go next time so perhaps we just need to be more specific with our arrangements.
We came back and being one of the first cold nights, decided to light the fire for the first time this season. Richard brought along ingredients to make a lovely chicken and champignon pasta bake and that was dinner along with bread and salad. Lewi isn’t a fan of mushrooms which is why we called them by their French name but he wasn’t fooled. They boys left us around 9pm, very early by our normal standards but understandable given the circumstances. Both Will and I were very impressed with Lewi. In addition to be being bright and inquisitive, he is also very polite and well-behaved. In short, he’s the kind of kid you want to spend time with so I understand why Richard returns to the UK to visit him so often.
Apart from that, there’s not much to report. I’ve gone back to swimming a couple of times a week and Will is working out twice as much. We don’t have any visitors scheduled between now and Dec when Gerald may join us, Lee and Richard for a Big Gay Xmas. I don’t get back from the States until 21 Dec which would make it difficult to turn around and head to England so instead, Will will go back in early Jan to celebrate his mom’s and brother’s birthdays. On the work front, we put together a proposal for the Fois Gras merchants in Nontron so we’ll see if they’re interested. I’m still waiting to hear about the part time project management job for the bank. Things are moving ahead slowly with the book app but that may still materialise.
I’ve started playing online poker again, still micro-stakes and although I’ve only played a few days, I’m up a few pennies. That’s what passes for excitement around here. The only other thing to report is the attack of the fleas. We dose the cats with something that kills fleas and ticks, but it doesn’t work instantly. So when the cats come in from prowling during the night and get in bed, they often bring the parasites with them. Both Will and I are covered in bites, although I seem to be worse off than he is. They itch like mad and take a few weeks to go away. I’ve had to prevent the cats from getting in bed with us the past few nights and I’m hoping that will do the trick. I’m praying for a hard frost but there isn’t one forecast for the next week. That’s life in the country (with cats).