I'm back!

I cannot believe how long ago it was that I posted on here, I really don't know what the problem was but I seemed to be running out of ideas and once you have to force yourself to write it's no fun anymore.

Well it's Jan 2016 and I'm going to resurrect this blog and see if I can't keep it going this time, I used to have followers on here, I don't blame any of you if you have just disappeared but any who are out there, a word of encouragement would certainly be helpful.

This is short as it is just something to start me off.

How about this that I found in the garden today!

Can you believe it? Asparagus in January, whatever is happening to our weather.

It feels good to be back :)

Spring at last

Spring at last! Well it's still early March but what a difference a couple of weeks make. I only seems like yesterday that we were all obsessing about the continual incessant rain that we seemed to have day after day and now we are out eating our lunch out in the sunshine on the decking area.

We have been out in the garden most days and it is beginning to show. The ground had a real "wintery" look about it.

Unfortunately as the area was close to a strawberry patch and also has a huge rock just under the surface in one place I had to hand dig it. However it is now all done and have already put in two rows of early potatoes and sown a row of parsnips. There is also room for a couple of rows of carrots which will go in during the next few days.

I have also cleared the main planting area and ploughed and rotavated it all as you can see from the next few pictures.

Avril has also been as busy as me in the fruit plot weeding out the raspberry canes and strawberry plants and mulching them with old leaf compost.

So we are all set up and ready for the planting season in the weeks to come, I'm going to concentrate on the things that I know grow well in the soil which unfortunately is quite acidic.

Writing out a cheque in France

I have come across a number of people living here in France who have never made out a French cheque as they are afraid of either making a mistake, getting it wrong or just not sure where to fill things in.

French cheques are laid out differently than in the UK in that the position for writing the name and amount in words are in different positions, also it is necessary to fill in the actual location of where you had written the cheque ie: town or city.

It is all fairly simple once you know so to this end I have provided a sample below that should help anyone in this situation.

Going to the cinema in France

Perhaps, one of the few things I have missed about the UK since moving here to Brittany is the fact that we used to visit the cinema on a fairly regular basis. This is something we haven't done at all since moving here, the thought of watching a film all in French is just one step too far!

That has all changed now though, the key is to look for the French abbreviation VOST as in the photo below.

The actual French for the abbreviation, VOST, is "version originale sous titree" or Original version with subtitles.

On Monday night we went to our local cinema which is actually walking distance from our house ( although we didn't walk due to the weather ) we are very lucky indeed to have a cinema in a village of under 1600 people and so close. It is not your average "Odeon" or "Vue" as you can see from the photo. And certainly no Popcorn and Cola at inflated prices!

We watched "The wolf of Wall Street the latest Martin Scorsese film with Leonardo DiCaprio which premiered on Christmas day.

The cost of a seat at the cinema was 5 euros or a little over £4 so a real bargain, in addition we were given a loyalty card which means that every tenth ticket is free, making it even more of a bargain. The cinema, although small ( around 80 or so seats ) was a lot more modern than I had expected with comfortable seating and a good view of the screen from everywhere.

Happy Christmas

A very Happy Christmas and all our best wishes for 2014 to everyone

Christmas Update

I can't believe how much time has gone by since I made my last post on here but we have been away on an extended holiday to the UK to visit all of our sons and families and New Zealand to visit our daughter and her family. In addition we have spent a total of 7 days in Penang in Malaysia.
We had a fantastic time with just a couple of little hiccups. We had to get an internal domestic flight from Penang to Kuala Lumpa ready to catch an international flight to Auckland in New Zealand, the transfer time was quite tight at just over an hour, as we had to transfer between the domestic and International terminals but when the plane was 35 minutes late arriving it was nearly impossible, we had to clear passport control and pretty much ran all the way arriving after the takeoff time with everyone else boarded. The staff had to phone the plane for permission for us to board but we got there.
However when we arrived in Auckland there was an announcement asking me to go to the desk.......Our luggage hadn't made it!
The baggage handling company a toilet bag and tee shirt each and $153 ( around £75 ) New Zealand dollars as compensation and delivered our luggage to our Daughter's house in Wellington the next day.
Whilst on holiday there I was using my debit card in ATMs to withdraw cash about halfway through the holiday one of the machine's kept our card! I went to the nearest branch of the bank that owned it only to be told it would have been destroyed by the machine as a security measure. It wasn't a problem to us as I had several other cards with me to use but it is a warning to others that If you rely on only one card you could be in a bit of trouble If this happened ( there was plenty of money in the account so there was obviously a problem with that machine )

I would have liked to post while we were away but didn't want to advertise the fact that we were away from home. Here in France where we live it is even more pertinent as under French law if we did get a squatter in the house while we were away we could not legally evict them during the winter period. It is against the law to evict anyone from November the 1st until the middle of March.

We had a terrific holiday but as always were pleased to be home when we got back, the traffic in the UK particually seems to get worse and worse, I think when you live in it you get to accept it more but the difference to the roads around where we live is difficult to describe. Driving here is a pleasure.

Even though I was expecting it the amount of leaves that had fallen from our lovely line of lime trees and the big acer's on the front lawn still came as a bit of a shock.

It took me five days to clear them all with well over 100 barrow loads of compressed leaves, they are all being composted and eventually will be incorporated into the soil in the vegetable plot. We have established that our soil is acidic and needs the PH levels raised. It won't happen overnight but hopefully year on year it should improve. We are adding as much compost as we can plus a liberal spreading of lime pellets which should all help.

Since getting back home our social life has taken off again, we are very lucky to have a wide and varied set of good friends and there is rarely more than a day or two before we are meeting up with someone or another for a drink/chat/coffee/meal etc. I don't know how I ever had the time to work.

With the winter starting to set in we are starting to make good use of the fir trees I cut down and logged. The wood we are putting into the wood burner now is over 2 years old and fully dried, an essential thing if you don't want to tar up the flue. It also burns a lot hotter with little ash, the ash by the way also goes onto the vegetable plot and helps raise the PH levels.

I am hoping that I have around 3 winters worth of logs in stock now.

It is nice to be looking forward to a New Year arriving once again and already have a few projects in mind including painting the exterior of the house in the spring.

A very happy Christmas and a great New Year to everyone.

Commana Horse Fair in Brittany

Last Saturday ( 21st Sept ) we went to the annual Commana horse fair, the whole of the centre of the village is closed off for this annual event which has been held here since 1798.
The fair has developed during the last 20 years to encompass not only trading and showing of horses but the selling of small animals, a large amount of retail trade stands plus a Vide Grenier ( equivalent to the UKs car boot sale.)
It is very well supported with a large attendance and a good place to catch up and chat with friends.

Here is an old photo from the Commana web site   showing the horses:

For anyone visiting or living near here i can thoroughly recommend  this as a good day out.