The Christmas Ark.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

  Some readers of the Ark may have remarked that I was not on line for a week or so. This was due to the fact that the Ark was not on station, having sailed some 650 kilometers to the north east so that we could spend Christmas with our good friends Cécile and Patrick at Wattignies, near Lille. This is our usual routine but this year we did have a difficulty-- our usual exchange where we look after our neighbours Ian and Sarah`s dogs and cat, while they in turn look after our menagerie had broken down. Ian and Sarah were going away for Christmas too! Luckily Phillipe, another friend and neighbour kindly volunteered so we could go with a quiet mind. We have given English lessons to a couple of family members, so the trade was not too heavily biassed in our favour...
  This is the first year we have made this trip with our new Berlingo, so we decided to see if we could do the journey in one day, last year we stopped off at Orléans. The Citroen drives very comfortably, so in sharing the driving we got there not too exhausted.
   The Porez family always make us very welcome indeed and we have the use of their guest room. As the new kitten, Mounette, was still too young to be left on her own, she had the run of the room and behaved very well, using her tray without a single `accident`. This meant she could share our bed as she is accustomed at home, and had plenty of cuddles during the day.

And boy, didn`t we eat! The highlights of Christmas up in Lille is a huge family party and meal as the French are accomplished arrangers. But as Cécile and Patrick each have their separate large families living locally, this translates as TWO huge meals to which we are invited! As Cécile`s mother suffers some age-related impairment, she lives in a Granny annex next door to Cécile and for tis reason, both parties were held there, with over 25 guests for the first and 18 for the second. Patrick constructs a huge trestle-table in their large principle room and it looks most impressive when decorated by Cécile.

The meals were copious and well-lubricated, the first being cooked by Eric, Patrick`s brother-in-law, and the second being provided by a Cuistot, a hired caterer, who even brought his own stove to cook the dishes, and announced each one! Father Christmas arrived to distribute the presents from under the tree and each dinner lasted several hours... We particularly appreciated the Cuistot`s cocktail, a delicious concoction of a particularly vivid green! The foie-gras was delicious too...

Suffice it to say that after all this feasting, we have returned home to nurse our stomachs with a low diet and will not be celebrating the New Year with a binge. It was lovely to be able to celebrate with our friends, but equally pleasant to find our peaceful and slower-moving life back on the Ark`s permanent moorings.

   Bye for now, going to cook a LIGHT meal!

To Plymouth and back, despite the Bonnets Rouges.

    Well, it`s all worked out in the end, I did succeed in travelling to Roscoff, crossing the channel with the dogs, spending a week with Kim and Alyson at Al`s house in Plymstock, and finally in bringing Kim back with me to France! Phew, what a relief after the previous debacle, described in my blog entries last but two. If you haven`t read them do now,  it`s an adventure story to make your toes curl up...
   After missing the ferry last time, due to the blockade of the Bretons, protesting at the new Ecotax on lorries, I decided to leave a day early and to avoid the direct route, which is easily blocked. I decided to go cross-country via Bressuire, avoiding Niort altogether, together with the Motorway, and go from Nantes to Vannes, where I had booked a Formule 1 hotel to stay the night. The next day, I would go cross-country from Vannes to Morlaix and Roscoff, the ferry terminal. The scheme, though a little long worked out well, with just a slight worry around Carhaix, where the Bonnets were holding a rally. However, the action was in the town, which my (or rather the Satnav`s ) route avoided, though I did see a Police presence and a hugh pile of brushwood heaped on the roundabout outside the town to be set alight later.

   One advantage of cross-country travel is that you see far more of the countryside and villages, lets face it, all motorways look alike you could be on the M5 near Bristol or the A10 near Melle and if you forgot which you`ld never know the difference... What do you think, for example of this enormous shrine erected alongside the road in a small village?  I HAD to stop and get a pic. It was in the form of a sort of bridge with steps leading up to a huge stained-glass window, but no stream ran beneath it.... very strange.

  Or this typical Breton cottage beside the road further on.


 But what I really wanted to see was Brittany Ferries ship Bretagne waiting at the dock at Roscoff to carry me, the dogs and the faithful Berlingo across the sea to Plymouth.

   Bye for now, I`ll tell you later about my day in Roscoff.

As one door opens, another closes, new door for the Ark

     Well, as you can see, the Ark`s kitchen has been modified with the substitution of this rather snazzy full length UPVC double-glazed door. The door consists of a single length pane to allow the maximum amount of light to enter our rather dark kitchen. The crossbars you can see are, in fact, the screen door outside the glazed door; this serves to keep out mosquitoes in the summer when the glass door is open and to keep in cats and dogs at all times!
    We have been sorting out this transformation for some time, we got an estimate from the firm which did our back door, Messrs Guitton. The estimate being acceptable the door was ordered and on Thursday, when we had forgotten all about it, Vincent Guitton rang to say would it be alright to come next day at eight fifteen to fit it!
  Well, he was there with his assistant  at eight thirty, which is prompt by local standards. The existing door was a massive affair in solid wood, about three inches thick.. It was originally half glazed with four single glazed panes. I had added two more in plastic and a sort of double-gazing over-all with plastic sheeting but it still let in a horrid draught in winter. It was hung on huge pintles built into the wall and there was no way of demounting it!

  M, Guitton cut through the iron hinge-straps with his angle-grinder and the door was unceremonially dragged out into the street. Shame, really as it was probably a hundred years old or more, but it was not a thing of beauty, even before I `modified ` it...

 The wall was then chased out to accept the new frame and with heavy screws and loads of silicon it was put in place. My sole contribution was to step on the wet silicon going out of the door!  Not much damage done, I was assured.

  As the day was pretty nippy the kitchen grew icy, in spite of the stove so I and the cats retreated to the sitting room and the comfort of a gaz heater leaving the Workers to suffer, still they were getting paid for it and in fact didn`t accept my offer of coffee. In very short order, the frame was attached and the new door hung on its hinges. A plastic foam was sprayed around the frame to draught-proof it and oozed out in a disgusting fashion. This would set hard overnight and Vincent would be back to trim it off the next day In almost exactly three hours they had finished and departed, having swept up with their own vac.  I did have to mop the floor and dust all flat surfaces, not surprising after the use of a grinder.
  Vincent was back today to trim off the polyurethane foam. I enquired about the payment but he said a bill would be sent in due course, very French! Altogether a very slick change of entrance door and SO more cozy in this chilly weather!

  Bye for now, going to sit in our warm, draught-free kitchen!

What does THAT remind you of?

I`ll give you a clue!

The Travelling Ark

   One of the major disadvantages of having animals is that they present great difficulties when you want to spend time away from home. Indeed many people avoid having pets at all to leave themselves free to take off with the wind whenever they want. I can sympathise with their wishes to simplify their lives, but we feel that to have a house empty of animals would be a sad life indeed. On the other hand, the logistics of ensuring that the passengers are cared for when we are away is complicated to say the least.
  Cats can`t normally go on holiday with you, though we have taken very young kittens with us within France on two occaions. Dogs can now even go abroad but the formalities are complicated and expensive. Sheep and fowls must stay at home...
   If I am voyaging to the UK, here`s how it goes;-  I arrange to treat the two big dogs against ticks less than 120 hours before I sail under the terms of their Pets` Passports, a visit to the vets involved, of course. Jacquie Brown kindly agrees usually to look after Toffee the smallest dog, though I have added him to the `Travellers Club once when Jax was not available. Mounette, the latest kitten is too young to be left and our friend Agnès Watson has agreed to lavish cuddles on her at her house while ours is empty.  Ian MacDonald will usually agree to feed and survey the remaining part of our menagerie, a heroic task involving twice daily feeding of the cats, tropical fish,sheep and fowls. I am more grateful than I can say to these friends. I do make some return in looking after Ian`s dogs while he is away, however and have in the past looked after Minnie, Jax and Adrian`s dog. I do feel a bit guilty at the work I impose on these generous people.
 All that remains then is to deliver the various boarders with their food, baskets etc and to set off at the appropriate time with the traveling Ark to catch the ferry at Roscoff, 540 kilometers away.

  And that, in fact was where all went wrong last Saturday, when the infamous Bonnets Rouges blocked the RN 12 causing me to miss my ferry and forcing me to cancel all these arrangements. My sympathy for the Breton cause has considerably weakened or even disappeared! I hope to do it all over again in two weeks time, successfully this time I hope!

   Bye for now going to stroke the kitten!

 

The melancholy journey

  I find I haven`t written a blog for nearly a month, the impulse comes and goes and for four weeks it had went! However, I would like to bring you up to speed with the drama of last Saturday`s disastrous journey to Roscoff in the attempt to cross the Channel to see Kim and Alyson.
  It all started so well! I was programmed to leave on Saturday morning with two of the dogs in our new vehicle. All the preparatives had been carefully arranged, the dogs had been treated for ticks as their passports demand, arrangements had been made for our kind neighbour Ian to feed the cats, hens and sheep, and the new kitten, Mounette, had been left with Agnès to cuddle. All was set for me to depart to cross to England and spend a week with Kim and Al. Originally, Kim was supposed to come back with me, but we had accepted that Al is still not sufficiently recovered from her shoulder operation to be safely left. Still we were looking forward to spending a week together.
  All was packed and prepared. I was due to leave by eleven for the six-hour drive to Roscoff in north Finisterre. In fact, I left at ten, intending to pass any spare time exploring the town and perhaps eating a crèpe. All went swimmingly until just north of Rennes, with the journey over half completed. As I pulled in to the service area of the Armour et l`Argoat, I saw that the road ahead, the National 12 was completely blocked by almost stationary traffic. I saw a couple of Gendarmes at the Aire and asked them what was going on. They said that the Bonnet Rouge demonstrators were trying to destroy the Ecotax gantry further up the road and it was blocked for the foreseeable future.
  Well, that was not the answer to the maiden`s prayer!  Nevertheless I had hoped to proceed via an alternative road, the N 24 towards Brest. The problem was that I was stuck on the N12 and the first turn off was  two and a half kilometers ahead, no chance of a U turn due to the central barrier. Would you believe it took over two hours to reach the turn, and the alternative route was longer. It became obvious that I wouldn`t be able to reach the port in time for the boat, night was falling and eventually I decided to stay somewhere for the night, eventually landing up in a Formule 1 hotel in a small burg called Le Rheu.
   The f1 hotel was very welcoming and I was tired out after a long day`s driving. I spoke to Kim on the mobile and found there was no ferry on the Sunday, to add to my troubles but there was one on Monday morning.
  After a night at the F1, I set out refreshed, having worked out a route to avoid the N12 but go cross-contry to Roscoff , only to find the ferry terminal closed. Kim then tried to book me onto the Monday ferry, but it was full! The only offer was a ferry on Tuesday from Caen to Portsmouth! I was tempted to take this but realised that the dog`s inoculations would have run out. They have to be done less than 120hours before sailing and more than 24 hours. As the vets were closed on the Sunday, even this minimum time was to long if I had renewed their jabs. It was no good, we sadly decided to abort the crossing altogether and for me to return the 540 kilometers to Mort Limouzin. It had all been for nothing....
  The return journey passed without incident, although I passed many traffic radars burnt by the Breton demonstrators.  As the CRS riot police had protected the gantries, they had taken their spite out on the radars and had even torn up long lengths of safety Armco! I arrived home safely but very tired, having driven 1200 kilometers in the two days.
   We have since decided to re-schedule the trip in three weeks time, after a month Alyson should be recovered and Kim can return safely with me. Kim rearranged the booking with Brittany Ferries, who only charged an alteration fee of £25 which, considering I had failed to catch the booked ferry, I think is very reasonable indeed. An airline would have recharged my ticket!

   I am already concerned at possible delays on the road and am seriously considering going up the day before!  Certainly I shall leave LOADS of time for the trip!  I`ll let you know in future how I get on this time.

    Bye for now! Cup of tea time...

A much-travelled car

Resusci Anne--the problems of an inflatable woman

  I have just seen a header for an article on the side of the BBC news dealing with this useful dummy, familiar to all first-aiders and indispensible for practicing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and cardiac massage. In my time I was a member of a St John`s ambulance group, we had a dozen or so members and a decrepit retired ambulance and we used to provide first aid cover at fetes and a local beach. we also used to train on Friday nights before retiring to a local pub, where the incident which just made me smile took place.
  The group leader was a lady of a `certain age` called Joy, I think she was an ex-nurse and was responsible for looking after the Resusci-Anne. This fairly life-like but rather small figure, dressed in a blue tracksuit, folded into a suitcase. When the lid was opened the dummy suddenly sat up which surprised a number of unsuspecting newcomers! Unfortunately, our training aid had developed a puncture in her rubber skin where her two legs met....
   Joy was describing the steps she had taken to mend this and was speaking rather loudly as the pub was crowded and noisy. However, at a crucial point in her account one of those sudden silences fell, that the French describe as due to the passing of an angel. Joy was saying, in ladylike tones,  `Then I got her down on the floor and smothered her crutch with glue...`  The silence extended for several more seconds as everyone in the pub was absolutely fascinated at this revelation and the only sound to be  heard was the flapping of many pairs of attentive ears. Joy went rather pink  and continued much more quietly to the obvious disappointment of her new audience. I still smile today remembering that night !

   Bye, got to feed the menagerie!

The pig got up....

   Isn`t Google wonderful?  I was thinking of the poem, which everyone knows, which ends, ` And the pig got up and slowly walked away.`  In fact, I had forgotten most of the words, so I typed `the pig got up` and Google posted six or eight versions, including a thirties musical version. There were several different sets of words, but the one I liked best was this.


  It was one night in late October
  When I was far from sober
  Returning with my load with manly pride.
  My poor feet began to stutter, so I lay down in the gutter
  And a pig came near and lay down by my side.
  Then we sang `It`s all fair weather, when good fellows get together,`
  Till a lady passing by was heard to say
  ` You can tell someone who boozes by the company he chooses`
 But then the pig got up and slowly walked away...


   A real classic, as I`m sure you`ll agree!

The changing of the Stove

   This has been an eventful week for the Ark. We had decided to replace our faithful but superannuated Franco Belge cooking woodburner for a more efficient Supra spaceheater, the pic of which you can see above. We had bought the new stove from a local `Things for sale`` site some weeks ago but hadn`t got round to installing it, well, with summer weather, who needs a stove? However, a cooler few days and an alarmist forecaste of snow for Britain had encouraged us to extract the digit, and with the advice of our neighbour Ian, we had commenced the change-over




But first, we had to consider the removal of the old faithful, whose installation had needed four hefty blokes and that was before the wood flooring and fender had been put in... We had an offer of assistance from our friend Clive at Matha to come over Thursday and help budge it but on Wednesday, we commenced the job of lightening the poor old Franco-Belge to make it more portable
   The stove-pipe and cast-iron cooking surfaces were easily removable and then our attention turned to the oven door and iron fire doors, together with the cast-iron frame into which the cooking surfaces fitted. You should have seen Mrs Noah attacking the frame in a berserk frenzy, an alarming sight! Cast-iron is brittle as glass, if hit hard enough and soon all these parts had joined the heap of dismantled scrap piled in the Berlingo. Her attention then turned to the fire-box, also in cast-iron. We were surprised to find this distorted and broken in places and mended with fire cement. Our decision to replace it seemed more and more prudent!  The pieces were prized and broken out and joined the scrap heap.
  Now with Ian`s help we were ready to make the removal. We protected the woodwork with a stout rug and man-handled or rather manandwoman-handled the lightened but still weighty stove end over end out of the chimney breast , across the floor then end over end out of the front door. The mess had to be seen to be believed.... Still, a Dyson soon worked wonders.
  Next day, Ian arrived to help us fit the new, much more portable replacement, which Kim and I had already put in place with the aid of the Diable, not as you might have thought with satanic aid, but by using what we English-speakers call a sack-barrow. Ian contributed a posh, chrome-plated pipe extension and after the hole in the chimney blocking board had been enlarged slightly the connection was made!
   Now it merely remained to try it out....Rather nervously we lit a couple or fire-lighters under bark and twigs and checked for any smoke...no, it caught easily with never a puff, hooray!! We kept it burning until the evening and even with the house door open it gave a good heat, we`re very pleased!
  Phillipe took the dismembered corpse of the Franco Belge away with his tractor, so now we`re all ready for colder weather. Of course, it`s now got very mild, but it will come, sooner or later!

   Bye for now, going to admire the (cold) stove!

The body in question

   I came downstairs the other morning to a rather disagreeable sight. On the top of the chest freezer, Lillou the cat was dismembering and eating something grey, the size of a young rat. She was just in the act of eating the body of the creature, which was grey and had rodent-like feet. Its neatly decapitated head lay beside it, a sharp, mouse-like face with large eyes and long whiskers. Also on the freezer top was its tail, not rat-like and skinny but thick and furry. Both head and tail were disdained by Lillou, together with a length of pink intestine...
   I did some research on Google and established that the deceased was a dormouse, which made me a bit sad as they are creatures which are regarded with affection. However, Margarite, who writes a blog My Rural France based not far from here speedily disabused me. She has caught 20 of the creatures recently, an absolute plague as they attack electrical wiring behind plasterboard false walls! In fact, one had kept her awake the previous night doing just that, and she was not feeling at all benevolent towawds the species. So perhaps Lillou has done us a favour, after all! Thanks, Lillou! Bye for now.

The Ark has a new tender and a new passenger!

A tight fit in the 106

   Yes, folks it`s true. If you see Mrs Noah and me on our travels, it will no longer be in our old Peugeot 106, but in this rather snazzy Ciroen Berlingo Bivouac. The Peugeot is still running well, in fact, we used it the weekend before last to visit the Pyrenees a round trip of nearly 900 kilometres and it took us there and back without a hiccup. Still, it has covered nearly 400,000 kilometres in all and was really due for replacement. Additionally, the capacious rear compartment is much more suitable for our family of dogs, who were very cramped in the 106, not that they didn`t gladly jump in if a ride and a change of scene was in prospect. We feel a bit sad at retiring the Peugeot, it has been a faithful steed for many years, but our garagiste has been on the lookout for a van-type car for a while and came up with this one at a price we could afford. It has had a very thorough `révision` and a new Controle Technique and should be good for a long life too, God willing....

  I mentioned also a new member of the Ark`s complement. Well, while we were in Orthez in June, staying at a friend`s house, her cat had a litter of kittens, one of which was a very pretty grey tabby. As the country method of feline birth control involves a bucket and some water, Kim took pity on this little scrap and obtained a reprieve, provided that the kitten joined the Ark`s crew. We have therefore been back to fetch her, and of course to spend a further weekend with our good friends Arlette and Laurent at Orthez.  The kitten is affectionate and amusing and has soon adapted to her new home and the other Ark occupants. Lets hope she too has a long and happy life!

A Shocking Sight.

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  We went shopping yesterday in our new vehicle (more news later on this) and decided to try out the Leader Price store in Melle. Melle is a picturesque and rather sleepy little town a half hour from us, and originally founded by the Romans, who mined tin there. We were waiting in the short check-out queue and in front of us were four or five teenage girls. What we found shocking was that they were buying several bottles of vodka and other spirits together with a bottle of blackcurrant juice and some lemons. I would guess almost certainly they were preparing a party. They were really very young and the cashier looked on askance as they sorted out from their various purses enough money to pay the bill. The staff security guard was also interested. Eventually one of the girls produced a Carte d`Identité to prove that she was just old enough to buy drink and the purchase was done in her name.
 Apart from the obvious problems apparent down-line, once these young people had drunk the strong spirit we were asking ourselves what the store could do? Well. what COULD they do?  Could they refuse to serve these girls, even if proof of age had been produced? Is it up to the store to try to protect these stupid girls from their own folly? I don`t know.... But we were very glad it was not our problem.
  We had thought that this sort of thing was an English one or at least in the seedier towns of France. Sad to see it is becoming international.

  Bye for now, going to drink coffee....
 

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness?

Is this the end of the summer dry weather, or just a temporary set-back? Who knows, certainly not me! Last night we had the first rain we have had in a month after three days of scorching temperatures above the thirty degree mark and very welcome it was, too. I woke at four or five when Laika announced a clap of thunder and I went down to pull the computers. I saw that it was drizzling outside and hastened to pull in the sun-loungers which had been left out and were getting wet. This morning 

, I could see by the level of water in the sheep`s dishes that there had been some rain, though not a lot. Nevertheless, it is very welcome and has just about refilled our water reserve in the plastic barrel Still, this morning the rain has stopped and the temperatures are due to be a much more supportable twenty degrees so we can get on with collecting and processing our grapes. 

As you can see from my header pic, the main vines here are of the Bacco variety originally (not sure of the spelling ) once used to distill into brandy or eau-de-vie, though of course you can make wine from them. They are illegal to plant nowadays, apparently and were said to `rendre fou` I don`t know whether this was because the wine was over-strength? At any rate, our only attempt at wine-making was disappointing and produced a very sour wine. We now use the grapes for producing grape juice for drinking un-fermented.  You boil the grapes for a moment, still in their bunches, crush them with the potato masher and strain them through muslin to produce the juice. We pour this into old lemonade bottles and put in the freezer, otherwise you get wine willy-nilly and exploded bottles to go with it! We also use the juice to make a delicious grape jelly. Neither has driven us mad, as far as we can judge...

   The fig crop has been disappointing up to now, there are loads on the trees but small and un-ripe as yet, perhaps later. The quinces look promising but that`s for later. We have already picked most of the accessible damsons and a good supply of  damson jam has been made, My favourite, I think.

  Kim`s veg patch is producing loads of courges, tomatoes and green beans and she has already harvested onions, garlic and some potatoes. So you can see that my title is quite appropriate!

   Bye for now, going to see if Kim is stirring, she had a bad night so is being left to sleep late.

Home again, home again joggety jog...

    It`s nice to be back home!

 We have spent last weekend with our friends Arlette and Laurent, who live near Orthez in the Pyrenees Orientales. They have a large, old fashioned farmhouse deep in the country, and the family rear chickens for meat, buying them in as day-old chicks and selling them to a contractor after they have been fattened up. They have, I think, about fifteen thousand birds, it`s not a small enterprise! They also grow most of their own feed for the hens, about a ton a day, and incidentally, most of their own food, too! Laurent is semi-retired from the business, which is carried on by his son, Joe but remains always busy with his huge garden and fruit trees.
   We had stayed a few days earlier in the year with these hospitable folks, but the excuse for another visit was a kitten named Mounette, who is currently purring on my knee as I type. Their cat had just had a litter, which were to be put down apart from one, reserved by a friend. Kim fell in love with a tiny, grey tabby and obtained a reprieve for her. We have just fetched her home and find she is a very cuddly and adaptable cat who is not giving any trouble in settling down. Her name derives from the lieu-dit of the farm, La Moun. It was too soon during our last visit to separate her from her mother, although we have reared young ones on the bottle, they do best with a good start from mum!

  So here we are, back at the ranch, with one more mouth to feed, never mind! One extra cat among a dozen doesn`t make any difference, and it`s always fun to have a kitten about the place.

  I wrote in my last blog that we have a new vehicle in prospect. We had hoped to have it available to do the trip to Orthez, but it was not ready in time. Our garagiste, also called Laurent, is doing a full service and Controle Technique and `en principe` it should be ready by the end of the week. In fact, I was just as pleased not to try out a new car on a long voyage before we had established its reliability and the little Peugeot 106 is still running steadily, didn`t give us a moment`s worry on the 850 kilometre round trip. If the Berlingo can do as well. I shall be overjoyed.

  Well, must wrap this blog up and cuddle Mounette. Bye for now, I hope to write more frequently now the rentrée is here!

Busy, busy, busy Life is mouvementé!

   Lots of things have been going on in our lives at present, I`ll tell you of some, not necessarily in the right order, as they are all mixed up in my head!  We have continued our cycling craze, we`re both really enjoying it, and are sure it`s doing us good. On Saturday, we decided to try out the cycle-paths on the Ile de Ré. Being of a mean nature and allergic to unnecessary expense, we arranged to leave the car on the Mainland in the free carpark at Belvedere just this side of the ENORMOUS Ile de Ré bridge featured above. This cannily avoided the 16Eur car fee (bikes go free ha ha) However, we found we earned our passage by the fact that the bridge is two and a half kilometers long, the first half naturally going up!

   However, the Ile is indeed a cyclist`s paradise, with loads of cycle paths, you need scarcely share a road with motor traffic, just with foot passagers sometimes. I`ll tell more of our 23.5 k later perhaps.

   Another other major event is the process of changing our car. We had asked Laurent, our friendly local Garagiste, to look out for a van-derived car, a Berlingo, Partner or Kangoo, and he rang a few days ago to say he had a Citroen Berlingo we could have. We went to see it and as it seemed ideal and at a price we could afford we said we`d have it. We can`t take delivery yet as it`s holiday time in France, the car is awaiting révision and Controle Technique so will be a fortnight or so. However the 106 is still running well so that`s no problem. The ennuis started when we decided to get a car loan from AXA, our French Bank to finance the deal. What a load of French rules and regulations!! First, the car was a year too old to qualify for a car loan at their special rate. No problem, we could have a personal loan (no doubt at a higher rate.... Could we please provide photocopies of my passport, French and English tax returns, full details and a pro-forma invoice for the car (why if it`s a personal loan?) etc and return for another meeting. The dossier would then be sent to head office but could be delayed due to holidays season, of course. If approved, a further delay of a week would follow to allow us to change our minds.... Well it didn`t need that long for us to decide to do this, and we decided to draw on our reserves in the UK.  AXA didn`t seem too disappointed. Our currency firm changed the sum to Euros and it was with us in two days, much more like it! There was more of the same to change the car ownership, photos of passport, taxe d`habitation, driving licence, much easier in Britain, unless it`s changed since I last did it which is more than likely!

   A third event was that Jimmy Renoux, our wood provider, said he had a window of opportunity to deliver our winter wood yesterday before getting back to the harvest. As we had arranged to visit the Doctor for our three-monthly check-up, we asked him to leave it in the cour, as usual. We had decided to do the trip to the doc`s by bike, and it was not until we were coming back that I suddenly remembered that we had left the car in the open barn and risked having to shift five stères of wood before we could use it!  I sprinted on ahead and found Jimmy in the course of dumping the wood from his trailer but of course, he had thought to leave enough room for us to get the car out, Phew!!

 Jimmy is today delivering 15 Stères of wood to our neighbours, the MacDonalds so if we thought we had a job shifting a mountain of wood indoors, They have three times the problem! By the way, if you haven`t come across the measure, a Stère is a cubic metre of wood.










Hero seems to have the idea that the wood is there to provide a convenient perch



  Well, I want to get this blog on line, as it is showing worrying signs of disappearing, so i shall say `bye for now, more later!

PS What do you think of Kim`s new hair do--- chic, isn`t it!

Riding the rails from Melle Station

   If you go from Melle town centre, down the hill past the famous church of St Hilaire and up the succeeding hill, you will come to Melle Station, shown in my header pic. The substantial station building serves the narrow-gauge railway between the SNCF line at Ruffec via Villefagnan and Chef Boutonne towards Niort. Or rather, served it. A careful look at the departure and booking hall shows no sign of train details and the two doors are labelled 3/6 and 6/11. This is not, as I first thought, the English prices of First- and Second-class tickets but the ages of the children now schooled in the building!  For in fact, the trains have not puffed along this branch line for many years and the building has been re-allocated
    The track also is long gone, but local government has adapted the permanent way into a cycle track, laying fine gravel over the ballast and providing signage, picnic spots and extra railings etc. The result is a shady, almost level track for some  8 kilometers to the town of Celles sur Belle. This was the route we proposed to ride on Sunday afternoon.

  Once started on the track, it is plan that this is a railway line with all the bridges, cuttings and embankments remaining.  However, the finely gravelled surface and the long stretches of shady trees make it a fine cycle route, especially on a hot French afternoon. And there are always sights to be seen--the first being a hedgehog, who crossed in front of us to take a cooling drink at the track-side streamlet. Leaving him in peace to enjoy his drink, we passed on, stopping at an intriguing tiny graveyard beside the track. Here, the charmingly-named Mme and M. Momplaisir occupy their final resting places separately, while their daughter and son-in-law share the plot next-door. Why did they choose this remote spot beside the railtrack?  Were the trains still running when they were first buried? Were they residents of the cottage near-by on the other side of the rails? We don`t know. There must be a story.....

                                                                                       
   Continuing on, we came eventually to the end of the converted section A dwelling, probably a former railway crossing- keepers cottage, stood with its garden gate barring the track, which abruptly swings left to join a near-by lane. To get to Celles and possibly to rejoin the track some road riding is needed, for another time perhaps,  We had come far enough and turned our wheels for the Melle station yard.
  On the way back, we saw a deer
crossing our way a hundred yards ahead. Apart from him and the hedgehog only the very occasional cyclist shared this tranquil bye-way.

   We arrived back at our start-point, loaded the bikes on the rack and drove home. An evening out at the Les Gours restaurant with Jacqui and Adrian and Ian and Sarah was planned for the evening and we did not want to miss that!

   A very pleasant day, how lucky we are to have such places to go!

Afternoon cycle ride in the Marais Poitevin

   Yesterday we decided to continue our `Fitness through cycling` programme with another trip through the Marais. Preparations had been made the night before, picnic made by Kim, while I strapped the bikes on the rack behind the long-suffering 106.We were going after Choir -practice at Matha so all had to be ready for the off afterwards. Our joy was  somewhat diminished by some shocking news:- Yves, the Matha Pasteur, came into church during the session looking distracted as well he might. One of our parishioners, Max, had just been found dead by the side of the road along which he was cycling. The police had been unable to contact his wife Edith, and had sought the Church`s help in locating her mobile number. It appears to be due to a heart attack rather than a traffic accident.The Choir practice terminated abruptly while Yves and Jacques left to try to find Edith and break the awful news to her. We held a short prayer session for both persons involved.

   In a sombre mood we set out to drive to Maillé, the town we had chosen from our new map to start our ride. There was a circuit shown called the Circuit des Ecluses, or canal locks, which at 20 kilometers would be ideal. But having arrived at 1.30 lunch called first! Maillé is a quiet little town and we ate our lunch on the green next to the church before demounting the bikes and putting the necessary items in my improvised front cycle-bag, which is working quite well. We were then ready to set out.

Ready for the off, in front of the Mairie. Note the cycle bag ( no, not Kim!!)

    We started in what we thought was the right direction, but the path soon turned to a narrow footpath along the canal, so narrow in fact, that we were fearful of landing up IN the canal, (See the header pic.) Kim pointed out that the first section was supposed to be `goudronné` or paved so we retraced our path to Maillé and set out in the opposite direction along the marked cycle route. Although this did in fact cross a canal lock, it turned out to be part of a long-distance path leading far to the north. Never mind, we decided to follow it through Maillezais to the village of Liez and then join a cut-off back to Maillé by a different route. We very much enjoyed our ride on a roughly paved farm access road along the water-ways with small bridges leading to the fields on the other side. We passed two remote cottages whose only access was via several kilometers of this small private road, how they cope for deliveries and emergencies Heaven only knows.

    Having reached Liez we continued on a bit but were unsure of our route and having already covered well over half of our allocated distance, we felt it safer to retrace our path by the same route, which we did after having a drink and our dried apricots, energy food! Near Liez, we spotted this strange Dryad near a country cottage

  We found our way back to the car, there was so much to see that we didn`t mind re-covering the same route Kim. spotted three ragondins beside the canal, who promptly leapt in and swam across to their burrow, we also saw an impressive Abbey beside the road in Maillezais. When we had finally arrived back at the church car park, we found we had done 25.5 kilometers so we were quite proud! It only needed energy for the one and a half  hour drive home, luckily by an easier route than the outward leg this time via the outskirts of Niort.

Altogether, a VERY happy day!!

   Bye for now, breakfast calls.

Summer storm

   We have had about a month`s dry, hot weather and our store of collected water for watering the garden was almost used up. Yesterday was the hottest yet with outside shade temperatures at 35 degrees. it was so hot and sticky that we did not venture outdoors much once we had returned from church and a tentative plan to cycle was abandoned.
   Towards evening, we were not surprised to see dark clouds building up and then the Remote Storm Detection System went off. I hurried to give the dogs a quick trot up the road after pulling the plug on the computers. Returning I put the fowls to bed and collapsed the parasol while Kim dragged the loungers and hammock under the cover of the hangar. By this time, it was spotting with rain and claps of thunder came from all around. Then it really started, heavy rain, wind and loud thunder-claps which really made the RSDF tremble.

The RSDS

   We peered out at the sight, but I did venture out when the water-but filled, to transfer the overflow hose to successive jerricans. The result is that we have a full water stock again and were feeling pretty smug when we went to bed, having correctly read the short-term weather.
  However, this morning we were surprised and concerned to find some local friends were not so lucky, with damage to trees and pergola frames. Still, no home damage seems to have been suffered, so all`s well that ends well! Today it`s back to hot and sunny. Good chainsaw weather, perhaps!

  Bye for now, going to stroke the RSDS!

This WAS Ian and Sarah`s rear gate

   

A Blogger`s audience--who are they all?

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   I think that blogging has to be it`s own reward.  I must admit I enjoy, when in the mood, sharing my thoughts and the details of our life in France with friends and relatives. It is a good method of keeping people we know in the picture and if others find it amusing or instructive so much the better. It`s not a case of slaving over a hot computer. Blogger is a fairly easy system to use and produces an article which looks fairly professional to my prejudiced eye. Occasionally I get a comment or even some praise but that`s not the raison d`etre.
  My blog doesn`t have a vast following and I don`t bother to distribute it on sites like Networked Blogs. Nevertheless, I was a bit surprised the other day to find out how widely it IS read!  Blogger has a feature whereby you can see the number of readers and their countries and I had a look at the monthly `hits`. I was surprised to find the US is now my top readership!  Here are the monthly totals;--


       USA  126
       France  112
       UK  65
       Lithuania  57
       Russia  42
       Germany  40
       Rumania  19
       Sweden  15
       Ukraine  14
       Holland  9

  We know few people in America and none at all in the other counties apart from France and Britain.  Who are these Russians, Lithuanians and Ukrainians so keen to read about goings on in France in English?  How did they find the Ark and do they like it?  Perhaps you could comment and tell me, Messieurs, Comrades, Freunden?  You will be most welcome but if you want to remain anonymous you`re still welcome.

  Bye ,You-all have a nice day, Au revoir,  Auf Wiedersehen, etc. I`m going to brush up my German...

The OTHER Tour de France- third leg- Tour de L`Ile d`Oleron

    We had decided to continue our effort to become fit cyclists with a visit to the Ile d`Oleron.  The plan was to head off after choir practice at Matha yesterday. Accordingly, we loaeded the bikes onto the new cycle-rack the evening before and Kim prepared us a picnic. As we haven`t yet bought bags for the bikes, I had modified a kitbag we bought at a house-sale to fit on the bars of my machine. I was determined not to repeat the experience last week of removing a rucksack from a sweaty back and feeling that damp clammy feeling of the perspiration trapped underneath! In fact, my bodge worked well and we could carry all the necessary stuff without my having to carry it on my back, much more comfortable.

   The weather was slightly cloudy though the Météo hinted at light rain at 2pm. We took no notice as the summer heat-wave is well established here and is unlikely to change for some time. In the event no rain arrived, of course and the afternoon was increasingly sunny. We headed out after choir and made our way onto the Island by the impressive viaduct, having set our Satnav to Le Chateau d`Oleron, the first big town after the bridge. The plan was to buy a map in the Tourist Office to plan our route but the Bureau was closed until 3, typical, must have time for a good lunch.... We decided to have OUR lunch in the square near the cafés and a roundabout which was adding a touch of gaity to the scene and then to go on to the main town on the island, St. Pierre. After enjoying our sandwiches, we drove on to St Pierre and parked near the tourist office, which WAS open and a young and helpful lad sold us an excellent map showing the cycle paths for only 50 cts.

   We left the car where it was, unloaded the bikes and bag and set out to find the cycle-path leading towards Boyardville, which we did after having made our way out of town, partly by a one-way road in the wrong sense-- there are SOME advantages in riding a bike...We found the track and very pleasant it was, going first through fields with occasional horses ( See the header photo ) then on road through the small town of Sarcelles, then through woodland to Boyardville. Here we rejoined the road to return via Sarselles to our start point at St Pierre.  On the rather narrow roads,we were both struck by the far different attitude towards cyclists of the French motorists; they give cyclists a wide berth and are much more patient in overtaking than their English counterpart, perhaps due to the influence of the Tour de France?

  As we were reloading the cycles, Kim announced that we had exceeded our previous record by a third, having covered 17.72km ! Alright, it`s not a lot but it`s some time since I could ride 50 miles from Plymouth to Exeter to stay with my Uncle John--over 50 years in fact!! so it will take a while to work up our endurance. Besides, we are touring cyclists, here to see the sights and yesterday`s tour gave us great pleasure in a lovely corner of France. We returned home tired but content with a vintage day out!

   Bye for now, got to unload and adjust the bikes, Kim is complaining that her steering head is too tight!